Transcript Bridging the Gap: The Saudi Arabian Health Science Project Diané Ranck, Mohsen Soliman, Judith Amed The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project.

Bridging the Gap:
The Saudi Arabian
Health Science Project
Diané Ranck, Mohsen Soliman, Judith Amed
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
The Process – Saudi Health Program
Saudi/USYD – 60 Scholarship selection – including English
Selection /
Placement
20 – 45
Weeks
CET English top up
to IELTS 5 or 5.5
40 – 59
Weeks
IELTS 5 or 5.5
Foundation Year
EXIT
PATHWAY
Other
Accommodation
Homestay
Minimum 4
weeks
MENTOR
6.5 IELTS or Equivalent
Faculty of
Health Sciences
Bachelor of HSc
(3 YRS)
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Pharmacy
BSci (Nutrition, Forensic)
BMedSci (Psychology)
(3 YRS)
BPharm
(4YRS)
Possible Combined
Degrees eg, Bachelor
Of HSc / Master of
Nursing
(4YRS)
EXIT STRATEGY for those not sitting GAMSAT
GAMSAT
All eligible candidates to sit
GAMSAT or equivalent
Graduate
Entry
Programs
Pharmacy
Medicine
Human Biology
Unit
Dentistry
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Nursing
Graduate Certificate
Graduate Diploma
Other Masters Applied Health, MPH, MIPH etc
Graduate Entry
HSc
PhD
Student progress – November 2007
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 4
CET
Foundation
Undergraduate
Graduate
Postgraduate
36
57
15
Ready to start stage 2 foundation program Feb 2008
Expected to complete Taylors College in Dec 2007
and Jun & Dec 2008 (+ 4 UG entry deferred to Mar 2008)
Saudi UG students in USYD Faculties - Started Mar & Jul 2007
+ Taylors graduates starting in Mar & Jul 2008 and Mar 2009
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
The gap: Social issues
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Food
Transportation
Timetables
Prayer rooms
Student diversity
Reaction to Asian
students
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
The gap: Academic issues
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Punctuality
Learning style
Taking notes in class
Preparing for classes
Doing independent
research
• Active Participation
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
The gap: Motivation
 There is direct correlation
between English language
ability and other parameters in
social and academic
progression.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Bridging the gap:
Possible solutions
• Be sensitive to these issues (Cultural
workshops)
• Promote Australian culture and Australian
institutions as being friendly to Muslims
generally.
• Promote stories of successful
and happy Muslims in respected
positions in our university and
Australian society.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Bridging the gap:
What we’re doing in the project
• Conceptualization of the academic,
psychological and social needs of Muslim
Saudi Arabian students.
• Identify strengths and challenges.
• New plans for pre-selection, homestay,
cultural adjustment, teaching and learning.
• In-service training for staff, administrators
and other students as well as Saudi Ministry.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Research Aims:
• Enhance teaching and learning
• Promote quality international tertiary standard
benchmarks
• Raise cross cultural competencies and
understanding
• Contribute to knowledge
about the specific needs
of this international
student group
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Themes influencing the proposed
research questions:
• Conceptualizing the Saudi Arabian scholarship
student
• The development of the Saudi Arabian Health
Scholarship Program SAHSP
• Supporting all stakeholders
• International tertiary
education; equity,
inclusion and standards
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Sample of literature influencing
research questions:
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Learning Styles Leask (2002)
• Rote learning and lack of class participation
• Lack of interaction between Australian students and
international students from Asian backgrounds as “one of
the most disturbing aspects of the internationalization of
higher education in Australia.”
• Prioritizing international goals,
“the development of a campus environment and culture
that motivates and rewards interaction across cultures for all
students”
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
International Students as a Global Economy
Altbach (2004)
“Australia is an especially aggressive recruiter of foreign students”
• Global economy
$12 billion dollar value each year, hosting 586,000 international
students
• Post-September 11
Significant declines in international students to the US and
numbers have decreased 10% overall. US has become more
stringent with its policies on study visas.
• International students perceptions
“see the US as a less safe place to study” and that
• Tertiary Muslim student research internationalization to a
certain extent is largely ignored “…providing Islamic services is
not enough to keep fee-paying Muslim students content to
tolerate being marginalized and excluded.” Asmar (1999)
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Valuing International Students Singh and Doherty (2001)
• Valued if…
“the (international) student adapts or acclimatizes to the
knowledge in the curriculum packages”
• Teacher bias
Teacher’s hold the cultural power and influence the thoughts,
beliefs and actions, and is largely teacher bias that control the
learning environment.
• Acculturalisation
Arab students experienced, because they entered a
dominating cultural environment that overrides their culture,
that students tend to adapt at the expense of their own, largely
to accommodate the more powerful one.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Contextual Offshore Models Pannan and Gribble (2005)
• Offshore local context
Access to local contacts and knowledge is central to the success
of offshore education programs, as all the key factors are
immersed in and affected by the offshore environment.
• Offshore teaching model
Influenced by economy, culture, industry and employees, politics
and education.
• International students difficulties
Students encounter various and often enormous or very serious
difficulties, as they adjust to a new educational teaching
environment.
• Different learning styles
Requires those involved to develop an appreciation of the offshore
student cohort as well as an understanding of their cultural and
educational background.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Methodology:
“Multiple realities are presumed and individuals experience reality
differently. Knowledge is subjective, and constructed and based on
the shared signs and symbols which are recognized by members
of a culture” (Grbich 2007)
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Initially model was a participant action research model, but was altered
due to limitations in accessing all participants.
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Grounded theory approach will be used, where the research is governed
by the findings and iterative processes refine the research journey.
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Limitations of this model is that it is controlled by data and subjective.
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Qualitative research will be conducted via semi structured interviews of
student, administrational and staff members from the 2005-2008 cohorts.
Individual as well as focus group interviews will be included.
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Research schedule included observations and pilot groups held in 2007
and actual data collection for thesis in 2008.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
Concluding statement:
Essentialising Muslims as the exotic
‘other’, is to fall into the old “Orientalist”
trap, which constructs non-Anglo
realities as essentially inscrutable and
thus unfathomable. Yet Muslims are
not qualitatively different from other
human beings and deserve to be
understood in all their living complexity,
instead of being marked as utterly
different and put into metaphoric
glass cases (White 2007)
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
PhD Title: Bridging the Educational, Cultural
and Religious Gaps: The Saudi Arabian
Scholarship Program SAHAP
• PhD student: Judith Amed
Acknowledgments:
• Supervisor: Associate Professor Chris Roberts
• Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Jill Thistlewaite
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
References:
Altbach, P (2004)
“Higher Education Crosses Borders”
Change (March-April, 2004)
Asmar, C (1999)
“Whose values are valued? Muslim students and the globalized campus”
HERDSA Annual International Conference, Melbourne 12-15 July 1999
Grbich, C (2007)
Qualitative data analysis: an introduction
Sage Publications; London
Kagawa-Singer, M; Kassim-Lakha, S. (2003)
“A Strategy to Reduce Cross-cultural Miscommunication and Increase the Likelihood of
Improving Health Outcomes”
Volume 78(6), June 2003, p 577-587
2003 Association of American Medical Colleges
Leask, B (2002)
“Crossing the bridge from both sides- strategies to assist international and Australian
students to meet each other half way”
17th NCL Annual Conference. ‘Innovating the Next Wave’. Launceston, Tasmania, 8 July
2002.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project
References:
Merton, J.M (2003)
“Diversity discourses/ Diversity experiences: Teaching for and with cultural diversity”
Faculty of Education. Deakin University, Melbourne
Pannan, L; and Gribble, K (2005)
“A complexity of influences on teaching in transnational environments; can we simplify
and support it?”
RMIT University
Sanderson, G. (2004)
“Existentialism, Globalisation and the Cultural Other”
International Education Journal. Volume 4, Number 4, August 2004.
Singh, P; and Doherty, C (2001)
“Navigating Cultural Sensibilities: Respect and Provocation as Pedagogical Partners”
Paper Code: SIN02180, Centre for Language and Diversity, Queensland University of
Technology.
The Faculties of Health, Saudi Arabian Health Science Project