The School’s Internationalisation at Home (IaH) team received the University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award in the Collaborative Teams category for 2023 in recognition of their achievements in integrating IaH activities in nursing education, which goes beyond conventional clinical practices to develop students’ cultural awareness and global competence.
IaH activities have been integrated into the BSc (Hons) in Nursing programme to nurture the cultural awareness and global competence of our students. To achieve these goals, the IaH team has been working closely with overseas institutions, including Malmo University in Sweden, La Trobe University in Australia, and the University of Galway in Ireland, to design and implement a series of online student-led group activities that nurture students’ ability to manage health issues with global vision and competence. At the postgraduate level, seminars on demonstrating cultural sensitivity when designing studies have been organised to enhance students’ understanding of cultural awareness so they can critically appraise research and the research process in the health and social sciences.
Following the success of IaH in the undergraduate programme, the School proceeded to integrate IaH activities into a service learning subject, a summer exchange programme, and collaborative projects to enhance students’ global learning experience. Over 1,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students globally have benefited. IaH also serves as a platform for cultural exchange activities.
The findings of the team’s study on IaH in nursing education have been published in nine journals and presented at seven international and local conferences. The team hopes to expand the impact of IaH across disciplines and is planning to integrate virtual reality technology to provide students with an immersive learning experience.
The IaH team was led by Prof. E. Angela CHAN (Interim Head and Professor). The team members included Dr Arkers WONG (Assistant Professor), Mr Timothy LAI (Associate Professor of Practice), Dr Betty CHUNG (Assistant Professor of Practice), and Dr Doris LEUNG (Adjunct Assistant Professor).
