Internationalising the Curriculum through Academic and Industry Collaboration

Brief description of session and activities

This paper aims to share practice and foster further networks for collaboration between industry and academia within an international context. It will involve the presentation and evaluation of a collaborative research and curriculum project on the internationalisation strategy of UK fashion brands into India with Pearl Academy New Dehli.

The paper would focus on a year long project that LCF have undertaken in collaboration with Pearl Academy New Dehli, whereby staff and students worked together on a research and curriculum development brief which was then presented to industry and disseminated at academic conferences. This event would reflect on the strategy and operation of the project, evaluating both its contribution to all the stakeholders involved and identifying issues for improvement.

This paper clearly aligns with both the thematic area of Internationalisation and students as partners with all of the above being enhanced with technology. The project involved academics, industry and students in developing curriculum and research with real value in terms of employability. The student group who were involved in the project were from a variety of eight different countries with a predominately European bias and therefore it was a challenge to balance the tensions of inclusion as noted by Caruana (2011). The author is currently in the process of examining current pedagogic practice in order to apply the findings of this study within that context.

How will students be involved in the session?

Yes two of the winning students who travelled to India in September will be part of the presentation, plus student feedback and videos will also be included in the presentation

What will participants take away from the session?

• To outline the benefits and challenges of working collaboratively on research and curriculum with International academic partners
• To share practice and evaluate the impact of engaging with industry partners for curriculum and research development with an international focus
• To facilitate discussion and networking for future collaboration between industry and academia within an international context
• To promote knowledge and research exchange opportunities across and between academic institutions in a complex area of curricula