The Hague University of Applied Sciences has high ambitions in the field of internationalisation. Two out of four priorities in the institutional policy touch this theme: global citizenship and internationalisation. In order to ensure that the curriculum of the new degree programme HBO ICT meets these priorities, it is interesting to know which international competencies the ICT sector requires. The main research questions in this report is: Which international competencies does the ICT sector demand of ICT graduates and how can these be embedded in the curriculum of the new HBO ICT degree programme? That the question is relevant, is shown by the fact that 25% of the respondents, ICT graduates, indicated that they actually work abroad for longer and shorter periods. In this research an online survey was held among alumni (n = 315) of the precursors of the HBO ICT degree programme in order to find out which international competencies are important. By conducting interviews on the same target group, this information was deepened. In an online survey among graduation supervisors (n = 202) it is examined to what extent the graduates master the required skills by the end of their training. This combined information provides the input to develop the new curriculum of the HBO ICT degree programme and its specialisations. The results show that English and especially English listening and reading skills are considered to be very important. Our alumni master these skills highly satisfactorily. It was specifically mentioned, however, that alumni must overcome a certain reluctance to speak. Intercultural and personal and social competencies are found very important. To master these competencies, students should learn by experiencing. This can be done by working together in international teams, but also in national teams as long as they are supervised explicitly on intercultural, personal and social competencies. As far as the international academic and professional competencies concerned, especially internationally accepted professional knowledge is considered important. On these categories the HBO ICT graduates score satisfactorily (a score of 6 or 6,5 out of 10). Depending on the ambitions of the programme, some improvements could be made here. In general, the ICT sector is quite satisfied with the extent to which our students possess international competencies they consider to be relevant. However, there are suggestions for improvement and some of them have already been included in the toolkit internationalisation as part of the development of the curriculum of HBO ICT.
Peer reviewed paper op SEFI Engineering Education congress 2009 In engineering programs an important part of the learning process takes place in practical assignments like capstone projects, internships and co-op assignments in industry. The assignments are very divers. Students have different roles, work in different environments and the learning outcomes are not uniform. So how can the individual learning outcomes or growth competencies of the assignments be determined? To cope with this question the authors developed and implemented a method to monitor and assess the individual learning outcomes of the assignments. The method can be used to match a student to his next assignment in such a way that he can build his individual learning track. The method defines three aspects of an assignment: the role of the engineer (i.e. project leader, designer, researcher), the domain(s) of the assignment (i.e. user interface, software engineering) and a general results matrix that describes results and the level required to produce them. To manage the process learning outcomes are defined as products so project management methods can be used to plan, monitor and assess learning outcomes. Key aspects of the method are: 1. A general results matrix for engineering assignments 2. Learning outcomes that are defined as results in the matrix and these results can be assessed. 3. The results have levels so the learning outcomes can grow during the programme. 4. The method can be used to match, monitor and assess students on one assignment. 5. The method can be used to match, monitor and assess students for the entire programme. 6. The tools that are developed are based on an industry standard for project management.
To be able to ‘survive’ in a more and more globalising world, students of universities and universities of applied sciences must attain international competencies, in this study defined as respectively general personal, social competencies, intercultural competencies, a command of foreign languages and international academic and professional competencies. International competencies can be attained in different ways by students: internally (via foreign teachers and/or students) and/or externally (via internships and/or exchanges). The external attainment of competencies is far more successful when students are well prepared and when they receive proper supervision, both during and after their stay abroad. If this is not the case, students often tend to develop at a personal, social and (inter)cultural level, but significantly less at an academic and professional level (Stronkhorst, 2005). These students are also often unable to recognize and express which knowledge and skills they attained during their stay abroad (Orahood et al., 2004; CERI, 2008; Deardorff, 2009). With the preceding information as a starting point, the Social Work degree programme of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Zwolle started the minor ‘Social Work in Africa & Asia’ in the beginning of 2014. Students who participate firstly pass through a a six-week preparatory theoretical programma, followed by a three-month internship in Uganda or Vietnam. The minor concludes with a two-week postmortem programme. The practical component of the minor involves Eye4Africa, a Dutch internship supervision agency for internships in Uganda, Kenya and Vietnam. Eye4Africa arranges the internships, prepares the students for their stay abroad, both in the Netherlands and abroad, and then offers them support, coaching and intervision meetings. At the initiative of and in collaboration with Eye4Africa The Hague University of Applied Sciences carried out a qualitative study amongst eight female students of the Social Work degree programme of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences who followed the minor ‘Social Work in Africa & Asia’ during the academic year 2014-2015. The following was key to the research conducted: the question of the extent to which preparation for the Social Work in Africa & Asia minor at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and the supervision that the Eye4Africa internship agency offers fourth-year Social Work students during their internships in Uganda in the autumn of 2014 had a positive impact on the attainment and further development of international competencies. The results have shown that the students found it very easy to recognise and express the knowledge and skills they gained during their internships. Secondly, the students mentioned clear professional, intercultural and personal, social growth. No growth or development in relation to academic competencies was observed in this study. However, this is not unusual, as the students were doing internships. Academic competencies are particularly attained when studying abroad, while professional competencies are particularly attained during internships (Hoven & Walenkamp, 2013; 2015). The main conclusion of this study is that the preparation and the supervision by Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and Eye4Africa within the framework of the minor ‘Social Work in Africa & Asia’ has aided students with regard to growth and the (further) development of international competencies. Some important short comments are that a relatively small, very one-sided sample has been interviewed and that there was no control group.
