This year to date, the GEC coordinated six new short programmes, offering international students the opportunity to spend time abroad and broaden their knowledge. These include the J-Term (“January Term”) programme on photography, as well as a programme on language and culture hosted with the SU Language Centre for students from Pardubice University in the Czech Republic. The other new additions were a three-week Sport Science offering for Vrije Universiteit Brussels, courses on leadership for social justice and on social work for Christopher Newport University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee respectively, both from the United States, as well as a programme on invasion biology for the AC21 International Graduate School, presented together with SU’s Centre for Invasion Biology.
Every short programme is as unique as the institution it is hosted for, says Werner de Wit, the GEC’s coordinator of short programmes and summer schools. “All of them are tailor-made with different themes and different durations. In essence, we develop new programmes every time.” The process is initiated when a foreign university approaches SU to develop a collaborative programme that complements one of their courses. The overseas university also takes care of student recruitment for the short programme. “So, we really only facilitate their courses taught here,” Werner explains.
But international students are not the only ones benefiting. SU’s own students and staff also get the chance to meet and integrate with the visitors, experiencing intercultural exchange in the process. Students in programmes extending over a few months are truly immersed in SU campus life. These include those from Northwestern University, United States, whose programme on global healthcare technologies lasts 11 weeks, while students enrolled for the course on public health and development in South Africa stay on for 12 weeks. Scholars in education-focused programmes, such as those from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States, or Humboldt University in Germany, even teach in local schools together with SU teachers.
Whatever the subject, though, all short programmes are aimed at creating a transformative student experience through global education. “The short programmes are an important opportunity to give both foreign and local students a global perspective on their studies as well as life in general,” Werner concludes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on all of us. South Africa entered a national lockdown on 26 March 2020, and since then we at Stellenbosch University (SU) have worked tirelessly to find innovative ways of dealing with the impact of the pandemic and continuing our work in the new reality of business unusual.
read moreThe internationalisation of higher education has become a formidable force for change in the past decade. Having long outgrown its baby shoes of mere development cooperation, cross-border education today involves high-impact partnerships and collaborative research, often with competitive commercial outputs.
read moreAs COVID-19 intensified its grip on the global community from January 2020 onwards, many meetings were cancelled due to international travel restrictions.
read more