International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions
News and Views 
This News and Views page is my Blog.
I use it to:
This page shows the ten most recent blog articles. A complete list of all articles since the blog started in May 2014 can be found on the Blog Archive page.
Posted on 11 Apr 2024 at 10:13 by Vicky Lewis
I’ve had cause to reflect this year on what led me to embark on a career in international higher education 30 years ago.
In part, that’s because – much to my surprise – it really has been 30 years, which is enough on its own to make you stop and think! Where did the time go? It’s also because, since the start of the year, I’ve been asked to contribute to two publications which have made me ponder on how it all started.
The first was my ‘5 minutes with’ interview with Sophie Hogan for The PIE News. One of Sophie’s questions was ‘How did you find yourself working in international education?’.
My ‘in a nutshell’ response was:
After a degree in modern languages, two years as a freelance travel writer and another two working for a charitable foundation in Hamburg, Germany, I found myself looking for a job in rural Wales and ended up as International Officer at what was then University of Wales Lampeter. It was a new role and covered everything from managing Erasmus exchanges and devising marketing communications to organising the international student orientation programme.
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 14:31 by Vicky Lewis
Confession time: it’s been over four months since my last blog. This happens every now and then when ‘work-work’ (consultancy) takes over. I hate it when I lose momentum like this as, the longer I go without writing one, the harder it is to re-start.
So, I’m easing myself back in by repurposing a conference presentation on transnational education (TNE) from earlier this month.
TNE certainly seems to be a hot topic. The majority of my recent consultancy work with universities has been TNE-related: whether helping to identify strategic priorities for institutional TNE development; formulating country-specific growth strategies; or advising on repositioning existing TNE provision.
Meanwhile:
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Today’s blog draws on some thoughts about repositioning UK TNE for success, which I shared at the Westminster Higher Education Forum conference on Next steps for UK transnational education on 7th March 2024.
Posted on 13 Nov 2023 at 15:40 by Vicky Lewis
Back in August 2023, Durham University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen O’Brien, wrote a piece for the Higher Education Policy Institute, which argued that the current need for cultural diplomacy means there has never been a more important time for language study.
This inspired me to put out a call on LinkedIn to any languages graduates and speakers of multiple languages in my network. I asked them the following question:
‘What skills has language learning given you that you apply in your job?’
This blog takes as a starting point the many insightful responses I received.
It then delves into some broader issues relating to learning and using other languages, which I had great fun discussing with Professor Chris Hill and Professor Judith Lamie on their Think Education podcast in October.
This is all quite topical in light of the publication of the latest International Higher Education Commission report, ‘Is the UK developing global mindsets?’.
Posted on 7 Nov 2023 at 08:00 by Vicky Lewis
You know how you attend an amazing conference, come away buzzing with ideas, then day-to-day commitments take over and push all that learning to the back of your mind? We figured we’d try to maintain momentum following the recent EAIE annual conference in Rotterdam.
So we got together to chat about the themes that really resonated with us. This blog includes some of our reflections in an effort to share our learning with those who were unable to attend the conference – and to reignite enthusiasm among those who were there.
Posted on 4 Jul 2023 at 15:02 by Vicky Lewis
In the first two blogs in this series, I explored why it’s important to engage your community when creating an international strategy and proposed some tips and guidelines on doing this effectively.
Now I’m going to share two case studies, drawn from strategy projects I’ve worked on with universities, to illustrate different approaches to engagement. Each institution’s context and ambitions are different, so there is no ‘one right way’ of doing this, but I hope this blog generates some useful ideas.
It’s worth noting that the international strategy development process can be relatively short and sharp (e.g. 2-3 months from start to finish) or considerably longer (e.g. the best part of a full academic year). (If interrupted by a pandemic, change of leadership or other significant event, it can take longer still.)
In a number of cases, I’ve been involved in the full development process (both long and short). In other instances, I’ve been invited to help at specific points in the process: for example, initial research and horizon scanning at the start of the process; stimulating discussions part-way through the process; or providing a ‘critical friend’ review of a draft strategy towards the end of the process.
In this blog, I’m going to focus on cases where I’ve been involved from start to finish.
Posted on 28 Jun 2023 at 09:36 by Vicky Lewis
My previous blog explored why engagement is such an important part of the international strategy development process.
The three main reasons I outlined for engaging with stakeholders correspond broadly with three key (but overlapping) stages in the process of strategy creation:
(discussing why international engagement is important for the university community and getting challenging issues out on the table).
(unlocking input and insights from key stakeholders).
(getting relevant people to take ownership of specific elements of the strategy).
This blog highlights the role of institutional context, some pitfalls to avoid and some guiding principles I’ve found useful.
Posted on 18 May 2023 at 12:25 by Vicky Lewis
Over recent years, I’ve worked with a number of UK universities to facilitate and support the development of their strategies for internationalisation or global engagement. Client institutions have varied in profile. I’ve worked with HEIs large and small; long-established and relatively youthful; comprehensive and specialist; research-intensive and teaching-focused; highly internationalised and just starting out on their internationalisation journey.
Organisational priorities, cultures, resources and operating styles have differed greatly. This has an impact on the most effective way to consult with key stakeholders and engage with the wider community in the course of strategy creation.
Dr Nicki Horseman recently wrote an excellent blog for Halpin, entitled Why engaging your community should be the first step in creating a strategy. In this, she highlights the benefits of effective engagement and urges those involved in directing strategy creation to reflect on the process (not just the measures of success) in order to learn lessons for future iterations. She notes that, for each institution, the strategy development process is ‘part of living and demonstrating its culture and values’.
This struck a chord with me. Today’s blog reflects on why the consultation and initial engagement phase is so important. A future blog in this series will consider the different approaches that can be taken.
Posted on 4 May 2023 at 14:52 by Vicky Lewis
Well, it seems like no time at all since I wrote a blog marking the fifth anniversary of becoming an independent consultant. Suddenly, it’s my tenth anniversary. How did that happen?
I feel the need to mark the ten-year point in some way and have been wondering what to say. Should I pass on top tips, lessons learned, or consider what advice I’d give myself if I was starting out today?
In the end, it struck me on an early morning walk that what I really want to say is a huge thank you!
Posted on 26 Apr 2023 at 16:58 by Vicky Lewis
In a quirk of timing, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, used a major speech (reported on here by the BBC) to call for the UK to have a more constructive but robust relationship with China in the same week that the EAIE featured on its blog an article (by Dr Janet Ilieva and me) on the relationship between the UK and China.
(Our article is one of many interesting articles in the EAIE’s Spring 2023 Forum magazine, whose theme is ‘Risk and Response’.)
Although coming at this from quite different angles, we both propose that taking an isolationist stance towards China would be a huge mistake.
According to the BBC, Cleverly argued that ‘the UK must engage with Beijing to tackle “humanity’s biggest problems”’ and that isolating China ‘would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world’.
Posted on 25 Apr 2023 at 14:52 by Vicky Lewis
I’ve been aware for some time that my Vicky Lewis Consulting website was in need of a content update and reorganisation.
It had developed somewhat organically over the (nearly) ten years that I’ve been an independent consultant.
I have finally got around to giving it a much-needed content refresh.
