Professional in the international playing field

Summary
This page is written in the context of the Fontys ICT Ambition Plan #2023 OPEN UP and describes the vision of Global Acting. Successively, the context, ambitions, planned activities, intended results and supplies and resources are discussed.

Underlying Global Acting is the ambition theme Internationalisation. As part of the previous ambition plan, Fontys ICT internationalisation previously elaborated. The Fontys Vision on Internationalisation is in line with this.

“Education gives us a profound understanding that we are tied together as citizens of the global community, and that our challenges are interconnected”.

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General (UNESCO, 2015, p.14).

The Netherlands has a reputation for being an open and internationally oriented society. We see this as an important core value of our identity. The internationally oriented Brainport region in which Eindhoven is located underlines this. Fontys ICT is located in this High Tech Area, with the High Tech campus as the centre of technological developments and research. Fontys ICT is surrounded by large internationally operating companies such as Philips, ASML, DAF and their suppliers. That makes this 'Leading in Technology' region pre-eminently in need of employees with international and intercultural competences. Internationally oriented higher education is an integral part of this. Former Fontys chairman Nienke Meijer mentions the Triple Helix in this context: smart networks of companies, governments and education and knowledge institutions in which people can grow.

ICT is pre-eminently an international knowledge domain. In the Brainport region alone, we work with talents from all over the world on the challenges posed by this 'Smartest region'. It is highly likely that a Fontys ICT professional will be active in a multicultural working environment during his or her career, either abroad or in the Netherlands. Global Acting is a way of shaping our educational mission of providing high-quality education and research.

Global Citizenship is thus an appeal that inevitably presents itself, because the ICT student - the professional of tomorrow - simply relates to the rest of the world, even if he is locally oriented. Experiencing diversity and determining effective behaviour in an intercultural environment are part of Global Citizenship. Diversity is a given, a fact. The main question is how best to deal with it. Inclusion is a guiding principle here, which involves accepting (cultural) differences and looking for connection and co-creation.

Global acting in education has many facets. It is more than mobility, a diverse origin of students in a cohort taught in an international classroom, or changing the language of instruction. It also means, for example, integrating cross-border issues, intercultural skills (transversal skills) and diverse cultural perspectives into the curriculum. Quality research requires collaboration with international colleagues. With Global Acting, we want to contribute to the formation of the Fontys ICT student into a professional who knows how to relate to 'the other' and can participate in the world.

Global acting contributes to the following core functions of education and research:

• Socialisation. Students come into contact with other cultures and are encouraged to reflect on their own. For example, through an internship or a minor or an international classroom at home.
• Personalisation. Students develop into autonomous, self-reliant individuals with a critical eye. Experiencing different perspectives of different countries and cultures contributes to this.
• Qualification. Due to globalisation and a multicultural society, Fontys ICT graduates are increasingly confronted with international and intercultural challenges, including on the Dutch labour market. With transversal competencies¹⁾ they are better prepared to work on global issues in an international context. Cross-border challenges can only be solved with international cooperation.
• Research. Applied research often takes place in a regional context. Progress benefits from the open exchange of ideas, research data, results and researchers. In this strongly global society, international cooperation is a must.

Fontys ICT has been operating in an international context for some time, with its English Stream and with increasing activities in the field of international educational exchange and projects. We therefore see Global Acting as a logical next step to internationalisation: from global thinking to Global Acting. In doing so, Fontys ICT aims to further expand the playing field in which its students and lecturers operate. A broad spectrum comes to mind: from internationalisation as an integral part of the curriculum to Fontys ICT as an important player in the field of international higher education and applied research.

Global Acting does not stand alone in the ambition of Fontys ICT Open up#2023, but ties in closely with the other themes such as Knowledge Transfer, Research, Social impact, Partners in Innovation (PiI), Talent-based Education. It forms - naturally - part of our Identity; indeed, Global Acting is now part of our DNA. What sets us apart from other Dutch ICT universities of applied sciences in this context is a substantial number of foreign students enrolled in a full time bachelor programme at Fontys Information and Communication Technology and the diverse nationalities of the teaching staff.

With the ambitions of Global Acting within Fontys ICT, we are shaping a policy that:

• contributes to the high education and research quality of Fontys ICT;
• strengthens Fontys ICT's international positioning as a knowledge institution, also with a view to global challenges;
• contributes to needs in the Dutch labour market/work field.
• offers colleagues and students intercultural development by means of the Intercultural Devlopment Inventory IDI.

It goes without saying that we will do this in close alignment with the other ambition themes of open up #2023.

The starting point of our Global Acting strategy is: inclusive internationalisation. This means: accepting cultural differences as a given; everyone is connected and accepted. We start from intercultural differences and similarities.

This principle of inclusion seems obvious, but it is at odds with the principles of 'exclusion' and 'segregation' and is a different principle from the principles of 'integration' and 'assimilation'.

Figure 1 depicts these principles.

Figure 1
Diversity fragmentation inclusion .
Source: Kramer, 2014, pp. 42-43. Copyright Jitske Kramer; design, concept and illustration: Suggestion & Illusion.
Note: this image is NOT subject to the CC-BY licence under which this page was published.

In Global Acting's strategy, the four spearheads and related activities are all aimed at contributing to the above-mentioned four core functions of higher education: socialisation, person formation, qualifications and research.

The four spearheads of Global Acting are:

1. Education / Curriculum
   a. Integrating Global Acting into the Fontys ICT curriculum;
   b. Developing and offering a wide variety of international education opportunities for Fontys ICT;
   c. Generating involvement in Global Acting across the full breadth of Fontys ICT, both among Dutch and foreign students, lecturers and staff;
   d. Creating inclusive communities, both professionally and socially.
   
   
2. Research
   a. Facilitating internationalisation of applied research in the research groups through smart networks;
   b. Stimulating international applied research of students in internships and graduation;
   c. Connecting to opportunities in the Brainport region;
   d. Exploiting opportunities of Partners in Education (PiE), PiI, also abroad; Triple Helix (foreign) universities, governments and companies.
   
   
3. Intercultural Competences
   a. Defining and implementing intercultural competences in Fontys ICT curriculum;
   b. Enhancing student employability through 'transversal skills';
   c. Professionalising lecturers and staff of intercultural competences;
   d. Developing an integrated language policy that facilitates the quality of education and research.
   
   
4. Profiling and positioning Fontys ICT
   a. Loading and communicating our Fontys ICT hallmark “Excellent”;
   b. Strengthening Fontys ICT's international strategic partnerships, both for education, development and research activities;
   c. Participating in (European) subsidy trajectories, alone or together with international strategic partners;
   d. Expanding quality, international partners for exchange and research, both universities and international work field.
   

The following activities are linked to the four spearheads. These are - naturally - subject to change and progressive insight. We will adjust them each year as necessary. For more information, see the website of the Ambition Plan #2023-OpenUp.

Education: integration of global acting education products:

• Minor Global Acting in IT ;
• Semester 4 Global Acting and Open Learning;
• International curriculum projects, Blended Intensive Programs (BiP);
• Edubadge Global Acting - microcredentials (novelty at Fontys);
• Workshops Intercultural Awareness various places curriculum.

Research: facilitating international cooperation in research groups:

• European (Erasmus+) grant for Staff mobility and training Fontys ICT with Belgium Campus Pretoria (SA);
• Exploration of professors on international research projects Fontys ICT- Belgium Campus Pretoria and Penn State University Pennsylvania;
• Publication Internationalisation at home, a recipe for success in Internationaal Hoger Onderwijs Magazine Forum;
• Research (first initiative) on cultural differences in international curriculum projects.

Professional Development: international and intercultural skills lecturers and staff:

• Four groups of Fontys ICT colleagues, staff & teachers followed the Intercultural Competence Course (ICC) offered (see literature at the bottom of this page: Meyer, E, 2015 and Nunez, C. et.al, 2021);
• Four Fontys ICT colleagues are official Facilitator IDI;
• CoP Global Acting, 4 weekly; focus on cultural aspects and investigations.

Profiling and positioning: Expertise in the field of internationalisation and Fontys ICT as an international innovation partner:

• Within Fontys: expertise on BiP, minor, ICC;
• Within Fontys: Strategic working groups Internationalsering;
• International strategic collaborations; research groups (first step);
• International currilculum projects with focus on Impact on Society (SDGs).

For more information, see:

• The Ambition Plan #2023-OpenUp website;
• Core Team Global Acting [powerpoint presentation].

Fontys ICT has cooperative relationships with a large number of partner colleges and universities. These are brought together in an overview on the partnerlist Fontys ICT.

• Study Abroad Guide Fontys ICT
• Study Abroad Guide Fontys ICT: Minor Abroad
• Fontys Studyabroad
• Contact Fontys ICT Study Abroad by appointment at fhictstudyabroad@fontys.nl for an orientation meeting.

• Care, E. & Luo, R. (2016). Assessment of transversal competencies: policy and practice in the Asia-Pacific region. Retrieved 02-10-2023 from https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/assessment-transversal-competencies-policy-and-practice-asia-pacific-region.
• Kramer, J. (2014) Wow! What a difference. Zaltbommel: Thema.
• Maddux, W., Galinsky, A., & Tadmor, C. (2010). Be a Better Manager: Live Abroad. Harvard Business Review, 88(9), 24. Retrieved 02-10-2023 from https://hbr.org/2010/09/be-a-better-manager-live-abroad
• Meyer, Erin (2015). The Culture Map, decoding how people think, lead, and get things done across cultures. New York: Public Affairs.
• Nunez, Carlos et al (2017). Intercultural sensitivity, from denial to intercultural competence, Van Gorcum. Retrieved 06-10-2023 from Fontys Library.
• UNESCO (2015). Global citizenship education: topics and learning objectives. Retrieved 02-10-2023 from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232993.