Cultural Transfer in University Teaching: Academic Migrant Perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Although the Higher Education market is a global one, there are marked differences in the quality and challenges of migration. Being a global scholar but remaining inside the global English speaking tertiary education system can be challenging but it seems even more diffi cult when changing countries and Universities also means teaching and publishing in a different language. This chapter will explore such challenges by looking at the different perceptions (Continental European versus British infl uenced education system) of what University is and should be. The shift towards seeing higher education as a tradable commodity is an international phenomena, but the actual processes of re-structuring are going on at very different paces. Therefore academic migrants will almost certainly not just change countries and campuses but also enter a new version of the 'modern' University. Accordingly I will discuss issues around questions migrants and Universities should have in mind but often do not. Examples of such questions are the notions to which degree students are seen as clients, the tension between the locality of campus life and the multinational academic faculty, the variations in the concept of research-lead teaching, different national school systems, different ways of learning. Most examples will be drawn from migrant academics working at New Zealand Universities; New Zealand has one of the highest percentages of multinational faculty in the world.Moving campuses is part of an academic career; it is surprising, then, how little attention has been paid to such mobilities in the past. It is only with the increasing tendency for academic mobility to become international that such processes have become a topic of scholarly research (Kolapo 2009 ). The positive glow projected on

‘So far so good’: Aotearoa New Zealand’s tertiary vocational sector academic migrants relate their experiences of relocation

“…While the potential value of international academic staff to their institutions and communities is increasingly being acknowledged (Altbach & Yudkevich, 2017;Handal, 2014;Kim, 2017;Mason & Rawlings-Sanaei, 2014;Minocha et al, 2019;Pherali, 2012;Rumbley & de Wit, 2017;Walker, 2015), an interesting question raised in recent literature is whether current global research into academic migration is focused on elite universities and their faculty, rather than "worker bee" faculty (Mihut et al, 2017, p. 15). Bönisch-Brednich (2014) acknowledges a significant international faculty presence in New Zealand universities but the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP) sector also employs migrant teaching staff, whose voices are under-represented in the literature. This paper aims to highlight some of the important contributions made by academic migrants working in the vocational education and training sector.…”

“…Adapting to New Zealand's bicultural and multicultural context could create further 'uneasy dynamics' for migrant teaching staff as they navigate a space in which local staff are perhaps not wholly comfortable themselves (Bönisch-Brednich, 2014).…”

“…Altbach and Yudkevich (2017) stress how important it is that the new staff member feels part of the academic community while Lewis (2005) proposes that targeted communal professional development can provide opportunities to reflect on new experiences and leverage collective knowledge. Orientation and mentoring might aid with some adjustment factors (Bönisch-Brednich, 2014;Lewis, 2005;Minocha et al, 2019;Sawir, 2014), with local staff and students also being key stakeholders in creating a receptive and supportive environment (Bönisch-Brednich, 2014).…”