International Opportunities in Higher Education Promoted by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of A Three-Country Teaching-Learning Experience

Jens Holst; Julie Hard; Mathieu JP Poirier

doi:10.23887/ijerr.v5i1.44442

Authors

Jens Holst Professorship for Medicine with Special Focus on Global Health Department of Nursing and Health Sciences Fulda University of Applied Sciences http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0896-1549
Julie Hard International Relations - Faculty of Health York University
Mathieu JP Poirier Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology Faculty of Health - School of Kinesiology & Health Science York University Toronto http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3842-0011

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23887/ijerr.v5i1.44442

Keywords:

Internationalisation of the student experience, International student experience, inter-university teaching-learning, transnational education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges and opportunities to teaching in higher education. The sudden pivot from in-person to online education posed unprecedented challenges to both teachers and students. At the same time, the sudden worldwide suspension of traditional ways of lecturing opened a space for experiments with innovative pedagogic approaches and techniques, including various forms of real-time inter-university exchange and student cooperation. COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden and disruptive shift to emergency remote learning and teaching, as well as a simultaneous halt to international mobility of students, faculty and staff. These changes to established modes of teaching and learning in higher education along with the de facto end of all international mobility efforts led global health course directors from York University in Canada and Fulda University of Applied Sciences in Germany to establish a globally networked learning environment involving shared virtual lectures and international collaborative group projects. Students reported benefits of an enriched learning experience through the sharing of different perspectives, approaches and debates with international professors and peers. Coordination relating to time differences and expectations played a key role in success and overcoming challenges for collaboration among students. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that cross-border inter-university teaching and learning is a feasible and beneficial pedagogic option.

Author Biographies

Jens Holst, Professorship for Medicine with Special Focus on Global Health Department of Nursing and Health Sciences Fulda University of Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Dr. Jens Holst, head of the study programme International Health Sciences at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany, holds a Doctorate in Public Health (University of Bielefeld, Germany). He is a medical doctor specialised in internal medicine and has long teaching record in German and abroad covering a wide range of topics including medical sciences, public and global health, health care systems, social determinants of health and health policy and politics. In addition to his academic work, he has been engaged in international development since more than 20 years and worked as a consultant for giz, KfW, WHO, ILO, AOK, Swiss Tropical Institute, and others in Latin America, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, including assignments in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. He is also funding member of the German Platform for Global Health, a consortium of different actors dealing with global and local health.

Julie Hard, International Relations - Faculty of Health York University

Julie Hard is responsible for building international programs designed to foster experiential learning and global partnerships for meaningful impact. Since 2017, she has senior level undergraduate, graduate students, and faculty at York to engage in meaningful international programs and to assist in applying academic activities towards global issues in the workplace and research settings. Prior to this, Julie Hard worked within development and humanitarian sectors for over a decade in resource poor contexts. @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-469750017 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Mathieu JP Poirier, Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology Faculty of Health - School of Kinesiology & Health Science York University Toronto

Mathieu JP Poirier is an Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology and Associate Director of the Global Strategy Lab, where he directs Global Legal Epidemiology research. He previously conducted vector-borne disease research for the Notre Dame Haiti Program and analysed the global impacts of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. His research ranges from evaluating international law to developing health equity metrics and generating policy-relevant research on socially and politically determined inequities in health.

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