Internationalisation at Home: Developing a Global Change Biology Course Curriculum to Enhance Sustainable Development

Abstract

Internationalisation of curriculum can enhance graduate awareness of global issues, such as climate change, and shape behaviours in ways that facilitate sustainable development. To ensure all students can develop this perspective, internationalisation needs to be done at home using a variety of approaches. There is a growing body of research exploring internationalisation at home; however, much of this research focuses on Western academic institutions, with other regions being largely overlooked. This study investigated the application of an internationalisation at home approach, specifically the use of contemporary media, during the “Global Change Biology” course taught at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Case studies of the international aspects of global change were introduced to students through the use of news articles at the beginning of lectures. Student responses to this activity were identified using surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the course. There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the sharing of case studies and internationalisation of the curriculum, with students at the end of the course reporting increased knowledge confidence about the global effects of climate change. Further, students were able to share more location-specific examples of the effects of global change, and indicated they may shift behaviours in the future so that they adapt more sustainably to climate change. In terms of the teaching approach used, students stated the sharing of news articles provided them with a greater appreciation of the global nature of climate change impacts. Together, these results indicate that internationalisation at home can be effective, and allow an internationalised experience for students regardless of their access to travel.

1. Introduction

As climate change progressively affects more communities worldwide [1], emphasis is increasingly placed on the need to effectively teach about this issue (e.g., [2]). Such focus can be observed in the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 of “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” which includes a target to improve education [2], with the SDG Academy creating and delivering educational content on a range of critical issues for the future of people and planet, including climate change [3]. It can be argued that to be able to combat the impacts of climate change, they first need to be understood. Environmental education is an opportunity to impact individual understanding, as well as to motivate people toward advantageous behaviours [4,5]. Consequently, in response to universal challenges such as environmental change, it is necessary that graduate students are globally aware and competent [6,7], and internationalisation is on the agenda of many higher education institutions [8,9].

Within the context of higher education, internationalisation is a pervasive and often contested concept, posing both challenges and development opportunities [10]. Structural factors have often been the focus of approaches to internationalisation—such as enhancing the mobility of students to other locations via, for example, study abroad programmes (also referred to as internationalisation abroad, borderless education, education across borders, global education, offshore education)—which can develop the international competence of students in a cross-cultural environment (e.g., [7,11]). Internationalisation abroad can also include the mobility of faculty, projects, programs, and providers. However, internationalisation abroad is not always possible due to either personal circumstance (e.g., socio-economic background), or broader issues (e.g., exchange opportunities are limited at the university; restrictions on travel have been introduced due to a global pandemic) [12,13]. As a result, it has been argued that internationalisation abroad can contribute to perpetuating social disadvantage [14]. Consequently, strategies are increasingly moving towards more comprehensive approaches that will enable all students to have an internationalised experience [15], with a call for a greater emphasis on internationalisation at home [16].

Internationalisation at home is intended, among other things, to offer the benefits of internationalisation to a wider segment of society than could be, or want to be, geographically mobile. Specifically, internationalisation at home is the “purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments” [17]. Typically, this approach involves activities that help students develop an international understanding as well as intercultural skills through a curriculum-oriented approach to prepare students to be active in a globalised world. Traditionally, internationalisation at home incorporates three principal components: (1) diversity as a resource, with the diverse social and academic spaces within universities seen as a potential resource for home students to experiences that otherwise would not be available; (2) an internationalised curriculum through integration of knowledge and perspectives from a range of different contexts; and (3) a culturally sensitive pedagogy based on the view that universities should deliver programmes responsive to, and make the most of, the diverse student body [18]. More recently, internationalisation at home has broadened to also include teaching and learning processes, curriculum and programmes, research and scholarly activities, and extra-curricular activities [19]. Focusing on the first of these points, a variety of instruments can be used to internationalise teaching and learning including international case studies and practice, guest lectures by speakers from international universities or research centres, comparisons of international literature, guest lectures by speakers from local cultural groups or international companies, and digital learning and online collaboration [17,20,21].

An area of research interest is, therefore, internationalisation at home and how this can be used in the context of teaching about challenges to global sustainable development, such as climate change. In terms of internationalisation at home, areas of particular focus include curriculum internationalisation, especially in terms of understanding the pedagogic tools that are used, and how these relate to student learning opportunities (e.g., those included in [22]). However, many of these studies have considered the experience of students in Western countries, with their specific cultural context and focus. This emphasis is occurring despite other countries emerging as powerful regional stakeholders [23]. In terms of China, the government and higher education stakeholders have noted the significance of internationalisation, and are looking to graduate more globally competent students [24]. In China, internationalisation is primarily seen and implemented in terms of traditional approaches including international physical exchange of staff and students, joint international degrees, curricular adaptations, and collaborative research ([25] and references therein). The proportion of Chinese students pursuing an education abroad is, however, small compared to the whole student population; many students are still not able to afford such opportunities in part due to high tuition fees, costs of living abroad, and caring duties [25,26]. Few studies have considered how this non-mobile majority of students and staff experience internationalisation at home (however, see, for example, [25]). Similarly, much about what is known of effective climate change education has been derived from examples in the USA. However, just as with studies considering the effectiveness of internationalisation at home, the contexts and challenges for furthering climate change education are likely to vary across nations and educational jurisdictions [27], with the diversity of global impacts also varying across nations.

Internationalisation at home has the potential to be an effective pedagogic approach to provide graduating students with experiences that will enhance their global competence, equip them with knowledge required to better understand universal challenges, and motivate them to take action to address the impacts of global challenges [13,21]. Such an approach could be particularly beneficial when applied to the study of global climate change and sustainable development, by enhancing knowledge of the diversity of issues that will manifest and regions that will be affected. Yet, knowledge of the effectiveness of this approach, particularly in non-Western contexts, is lacking.

Context of the Study

Consequently, here, focus was placed on applying an internationalisation at home approach of incorporating international case studies of global change impacts and management approaches into the “Global Change Biology” course offered at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR, China) during the 2021–2022 academic year. This course covers the impact of global environmental changes on biological systems, ecosystem services, and the ways humans can respond. Specifically, the international case studies were included as news articles at the beginning of each lecture, with the goal of providing students at home with an indication of the news they could be exposed to elsewhere were they travelling internationally. The effects of this activity were quantified through surveys completed by the students at the beginning and end of the course. As such, the findings of this research will provide an initial contribution to a broader understanding of the effectiveness of internationalisation at home, and how this approach can be employed in the context of climate change education and sustainable development.

2. Methodology

2.1. Case Study Background: Description of the “Global Change Biology” Course, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong

This study explored the experiences of university students who took the lecture-based “Global Change Biology” course during the 2021–2022 academic year at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong SAR, China. This course discusses the impact of global environmental changes on biological systems and their ecosystem services. Notably, the course also covers the ways in which human populations can respond to global change and the biological impacts. A range of global change issues are considered, from global warming to altered rainfall, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. While the focus is on climate change, other aspects of global environmental change, such as habitat loss and destruction, species over-exploitation, invasive alien species, and pollution (including from microplastics), are also incorporated.

The practice of internationalisation is actively promoted at CUHK, both through exchange programmes and supporting internationalisation at home initiatives (including the current study). For background as to the student composition at CUHK, in 2019, the undergraduate enrolment was 17 611 with 973 students—representing ~5% of the undergraduate student body—not originating from Hong Kong or mainland China (https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/strategicplan/cuhk2025/student.html, accessed on 10 February 2023). While at CUHK “over 40% of our students enjoy some form of global learning exposure, supported by a network of nearly 300 partners” (https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/strategicplan/cuhk2025/introduction.html, accessed on 10 February 2023); consequently ~60% of students do not experience internationalisation through exchange programmes. Notably, these statistics reflect trends before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cohort of students considered here likely to have been further restricted in terms of international travel.

2.2. Study Design

The internationalisation at home approach used in this study involved incorporating international examples of global change into the “Global Change Biology” course which, for term one of the 2021–2022 academic year, had an enrolment of 31 students. Specifically, at the beginning of each lecture, the teacher involved with this study presented a news article highlighting the impact of global change abroad (n = 28 news articles shared throughout the term; Table S1). This sharing involved creating a summary PowerPoint slide in which the geographic context of the piece was noted, the story itself summarised, and a connection made between it and the course material that was being covered. There was also a weblink to the news article on the slide so that interested students could access the whole piece after the lecture (example in Figure S1). It is worth noting that the teacher leading the course has international experience—having studied in Australia and then worked as a Post Doctoral Researcher in Australia, Sweden, and Norway—and as such it could be thought that this project also incorporated an aspect of internationalisation abroad.

2.3. Student Participation in the Survey and Ethical Considerations

Data on the perspectives of students were collected from surveys completed by the students before and after the course (n = 22 and 24 students completed the surveys before and after the course, respectively). Before undertaking the survey, the students were informed of the purpose of the survey, the survey design, and that the resulting data would be used in aggregate. No incentives for participation were offered. The students all had the contact information for the course teacher in case they wanted further information about participating in the survey. Moreover, students were informed that by taking the survey, they were giving their consent, and that even once started, students could withdraw consent by exiting the survey at any time, with no need to inform the class teacher. This was, therefore, an opt-in approach.

2.4. Survey Design

The survey was designed to capture student perceptions of their understanding and concern of climate change and its impacts, as well as the ways in which they learn about these issues in the course and life more broadly. Questions included both close-ended options Likert-scale questions and open-ended questions (full list of survey questions in Table S2). The questions assessed student confidence in their understanding of global climate change and the impacts it will have in different regions of the world, instinct to provide location-specific examples, potential future behaviours, and their perception of the technique used to achieve internationalisation at home. Where short answer questions were used, the student responses were coded into categories using a standardised scheme developed by the researchers. Specifically, where assessing if students provided location-specific examples, answers were coded “Yes” if the student indicated that climate change is going to have effects in a specific location (e.g., “Increased severity of bushfires in Australia”), or “No” if the student indicated that climate change is going to have effects in an unspecified location (e.g., “Increased severity of bushfires”). In categorizing the type of change that would influence student choice of where to live in the future, answers were coded based on the text students input which fell under the categories of: “sea level rise” (for which students specified for example “sea level rise”, or “SLR”), “extreme events” (e.g., “I don’t think it’s a good idea to live near coastal areas that are highly susceptible to extreme events like floodings”), or “overall temperature” (e.g., “Hong Kong is way too hot recently”).

3. Results

Student responses indicate that they generally felt better informed about human induced climate change at the end of the course than they had at the beginning (Figure 1). That is, in response to the question: “Personally, do you think that you are well informed or not about human induced climate change”, the proportion of students who felt they were “Very well informed” or “Well informed” increased (from 9.1% to 20.8% and from 50% to 66.7%, respectively), while those who answered “Not very well informed”, “Not at all informed”, or “Don’t know” all reduced (from 31.8% to 12.5%, from 4.5% to 0%, and from 4.5% to 0%, respectively).

Student responses show that they were better informed about the effects of human induced climate change in different regions of the world at the end of the course compared to the beginning (Figure 2). Specifically, when asked: “Personally, do you think that you are well informed or not about the effects of human induced change in different regions of the world”, at the beginning of the course the majority of students responded “Not very well informed” (54.5%), followed by “Well informed” (36.4%), and then “Not at all informed” (9.1%). By the end of the course, the majority of students felt they were “Well informed” (62.5%), followed by “Very well informed” (20.8%), and then “Not very well informed” (16.7%). Notably, at the end of the course no students now answered that they were “Not at all informed”.

When students were asked to “Take a few minutes, and write down three (or more) key examples of global change impacts you are aware of currently occurring from around the world”, at the end of the course, the students provided both more impacts overall (up from 28 at the start of the course to 46 at the end), as well as more impacts linked with specific locations. The location-specific examples increased from 11% to 17% by the conclusion of the course, with locations mentioned ranging from Australia to the Arctic and Antarctic.

In response to the question “Do you think that the effects of global change you experience will depend on where in the world you are living?”, at the end of the course, more students said the effects would be dependent on where they live (up from 75% to 83.3%), with a slight increase in maybe (from 15% to 16.7%), and reduction in no (from 10% to 0%) (Figure 3). When asked “Would global change influence your choice of where to live in the future? If yes, explain how/why”, more students at the end of the course said it would (increased from 50% to 57%;) or might (from 25% to 29%), with a reduction in the proportion of students who said they would not take global change into account at all (from 25% to 14%; Figure 4). In the text responses, most students noted that they would be influenced by the following factors: sea level rise (6 responses); extreme events such as floods, tsunamis, storms, or droughts (4 responses); or temperature change (3 responses).

In terms of student perception of the news articles shared at the beginning of the course, all of the students who responded to the relevant survey question thought that the news articles did provide them with a better appreciation of the global nature of climate change impacts (when asked to indicate their view on the statement “The inclusion of news articles has given me a better appreciation of the global nature of climate change impacts”, responses were: 100% “Yes”, and 0% “No” or “Other”; n = 16 survey responses). Moreover, in response to the question “Which best reflects how you feel about the use of news stories at the beginning of the lecture?”, the students overwhelmingly indicated they liked the sharing of news articles at the current frequency (“I like them, the current frequency is good”, 75%), with a small percentage liking them but wanting a change in frequency (“I like them, but there should be more”, 6.3%; “I like them, but there should be less”, 12.5%). There was a single “Other” response, in which it was stated that they also liked the frequency, but wanted the news articles to be supplemented with further online videos. No students responded “I dislike them there should be less”.

4. Discussion

When developing sustainable solutions to universal challenges—such as global environmental change—internationalisation of curriculum may ensure graduates have better understanding of the widespread impacts of such change, as well as enhanced motivation to address these potential consequences [6,28]. The purpose of the current study was to explore how student perspectives and potential behaviours changed, if at all, after participating in the “Global Change Biology” course when an intentionally internationalised curriculum was introduced. This internationalisation at home was achieved by sharing case studies in the form of news articles highlighting climate change in the context of other countries at the beginning of each lecture. Student responses at the end of the course indicated that they felt better informed about human-induced climate change overall, as well as about specific effects of climate change in different regions of the world. In response to short answer questions, students were also more likely to provide a specific location where change could be expected to occur; these answers indicate an enhanced capacity to relay specific information. This improved understanding may also influence behaviours students undertake; more students indicated that climate change could influence the region in which they choose to live, and fewer stated that it would not be a consideration. While it is encouraging to note that all students stated the use of the news stories did enhance their appreciation of the global nature of climate change responses, it is important to recognise the limitations of the current study—primarily that the responses could have been influenced by experiences other than exposure to the news stories and that a small group of students were considered, all of whom were provided with the news stories. Potential exists, therefore, for future research in this area to further increase our understanding and ability to enhance international learning experiences at home. Overall, these results provide an initial indication of the potential to internationalise curricula in ways that affect the confidence, knowledge, and behaviours of students. These traits of graduates may enhance their sustainable responses to accelerating global environmental change, as well as other universal challenges.

4.1. Implications of the Findings from This Curriculum Internationalisation

Environmental education has long been recognised as an opportunity to both impact individual understanding, as well as increase motivation to perform advantageous and sustainable real-life behaviours [4,5]. In the context of climate change, one of the key psychological barriers that restricts climate change mitigation and adaptation activities is limited cognition about the problem [29]. Here, student knowledge, and perceived knowledge, about climate change around the world was improved. After participating in this internationalised course, students felt that they were better informed about the effects of climate change in general, and that they were better informed about the effects of climate change in different regions. Relatedly, location specific examples offered by students increased after the course, indicating that they had a better knowledge of challenges that different locations are facing. In addition to these knowledge-based questions, students were also asked if they thought climate change would influence where they chose to live in the future; were they to answer that it would, this would indicate they were considering an adaptive behaviour. Answers revealed that by the end of the course, there was a shift toward consideration of climate factors playing a role in the choice of where to live, and more adaptive behaviours being undertaken. In the text response explaining their choice, many students noted that they would want to avoid low-lying areas in the future—an understandable concern given that much of Hong Kong’s infrastructure is based in coastal areas and likely susceptible to future sea level rise [30]. However, students also noted that they would want to avoid other common risks such as droughts, storms, and extreme weather. Observing that a move toward considering such adaptive and sustainable behaviours can be prompted by internationalisation of curriculum is encouraging; it indicates that education can reduce the vulnerability of people to the impacts of climate change and, consequently, minimise costs associated with the inevitable [31].

Shifts in the perceived knowledge of students after this course indicate that there is the potential for successful broad geographical application of methods for internationalisation, as well as to teach about climate change effects. Much of the current understanding about both internationalisation of curriculum and teaching about climate change effects comes from Western countries; however, the approaches were successfully applied in this case study implemented within Hong Kong SAR, China. It is important to note, however, that China is a diverse country, and students in other regions may not respond similarly to those in Hong Kong. For example, a previous study considering internationalisation at home identified differences in competence scores among Chinese cities; research institutes usually divide mainland Chinese cities into different tiers to represent their development level according to statistics such as gross domestic product and per capita income [7]. Students from Beijing (a first-tier city in north China) had higher global competence than students from Nanjing (a second-tier city located in southern China) and Changchun (a third-tier city located in north-east China) [7]. As the authors note, and is reiterated here, these studies are far from being able to represent the whole Chinese university student population. Future research with Chinese university students in other cities and provinces—as well as in other regions globally—is encouraged to consider the nuance that emerges among places.

4.2. Enhancing the Success of Future Internationalisation at Home Initiatives

The success of internationalisation at home initiatives can be influenced by teaching staff and their differential support of the activities [32]. Here, the university teacher involved in implementing the activity (the first author of this article), is originally from Australia, having completed undergraduate, PhD, and Post Doctoral positions there, before spending time as a Post Doctoral Researcher in Sweden and Norway. Teachers with such backgrounds may assume a natural role as ‘cultural travellers’, who will lead developments in internationally focused pedagogic and curriculum thinking [33]. However, other educators may find the role more challenging, with some seeing internationalisation at home as a source of potential dilemmas [34]. Consequently, it is argued there is a need to engage—and effectively train—teachers so they are able to internationalise the student experience at home (e.g., [35]).

Where educators do implement internationalisation at home techniques, there are several ways in which the approach used here could be advanced to overcome limitations and address additional questions. The key area still to be addressed is establishing a direct connection between the use of this internationalisation approach and student knowledge about climate change. Specifically, in future work, rather than relying solely on surveys that identify student perception of their knowledge, incorporating tests of knowledge within the survey questions is recommended. Moreover, the current study was limited by the small class size and the fact that all students were provided with the same material. While students self-reported that the news stories contributed to increased awareness of international aspects, this could also have been driven by other features of the course or other events experienced during the term. In the future, where class size permits, using a control group would be an essential next step to validate results of the current study by surveying students in two sections of the same course with one including the article summaries and one omitting them. Finally, it is suggested that a broad range of approaches are considered. Here, a relatively simple incorporation of contemporary media was used; however, there are a range of digital collaborative tools that are emerging, particularly following the mass online move prompted by COVID-19 (discussed further in [13,20,36,37]). The use and evaluation of a wider array of tools is worth consideration in further curriculum development.

5. Conclusions

In recognition that worldwide problems require the intervention of graduates equipped with an awareness of the modern world and the will to initiate change, there is an increasing move toward internationalisation of curriculum [6]. This vision of an internationalised curriculum is closely aligned with movements promoting education for sustainable development [28]. In these movements, a focus is placed on global problems—and their local manifestations—and the responsibility graduates have in, for example, addressing climate change [6,38]. The results of this study serve as an initial indication that internationalisation at home can be used as a tool to achieve such education. Specifically, we show that internationalised education can enhance the self-reported knowledge students have about the global influence of climate change. Overall, we suggest that this experience provides insight as to how we can achieve an internationalised experience for all students, regardless of whether they are abroad or remain at home.