Internationalisation and cooperation:

lesson learned from the joint Master course in Information Studies by distance

Anna Maria Tammaro

University of Parma

Abstract

The paper is a reflexion on the experience of the International Master in Information Studies by distance, a joint course delivered by the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UK) and the University of Parma (Italy) and now at its 4th intake. The following questions will be answered, focusing on the specific case study:

a) Why start a joint international course? Benefits expected and real outcomes of the internationalisation of the joint Master;
b) Is there good models or good practice for joint courses? The quality assurance experience of the joint Master has been based on QAA code of practice, trying to integrate Italian and English processes and system for quality control;
c) What are the main barriers or obstacles to overcome in a joint course? Specific cultural, legislative and financial obstacles will be defined togeher with the solutions applied.

In conclusion, lesson learned from the joint Master in Information Studies gives evidence that an international course is not limited to an international content but should include quality and recognition of qualifications issues and it addresses cross-cultural skills for all actors involved.

Keywords: Joint courses; Internationalisation; Quality Assurance; Recognition

Introduction

In the framework of Bologna process, substantial efforts are underway to increase the transparency of programmes and study achievements in Europe, and to facilitate equality in recognition for mobile students and graduates. However, we feel that in order to move ahead in internationalisation, we need a more collective approach to the application of commonly agreed quality indicators and quality assurance processes. This could be achieved drawing together from the best experiences of academic cooperation in this field. Joint courses in Europe could represent the way in which Higher Education institutions respond to a rapidly changing environmentin the international context, with a structured, yet flexible, learning framework.

The paper is a reflexion on the results of the International Master in Information Studies, jointly developed and offered by Northumbria University (UK) and University of Parma (Italy) since 2000, and now at its fourth intake. We try to reply to the following questions, focusing on the specific case study:

a) Why start a joint international course? What benefits were expected and what the real outcomes of the joint Master in Information Studies?

b) Is there a good model or good practice for joint courses’ quality? The quality assurance experience of the joint Master in Information Studies has been based on QAA code of practice, trying to integrate Italian and English processes and system for quality control;

c) What were the main barriers or obstacles to be overcome in the joint Master in Information studies? Specific cultural, legislative and financial obstacles will be defined togeher with the solutions applied.

The purpose and achievements of the joint Master are described in the first part. The quality process of the joint Master is outlined in the second part. Weaknessess and obstacles found are evidenced in the third part.

1. Purpose and achievements of the Joint Master in Information Studies

International work opportunities in Library and Information Studies (LIS) are increasing as the labour market expands to embrace the borders of the European Union. What are the competencies and skills needed by an European student in LIS? An initial collaborative work between English and Italian partners tried of understanding information professional education needs and in particular addressing the challenges of continuous learning in an international framework. The information professionals today are confronted with increasingly complex and conflicting missions: they must interpret the impact of change on the institutions that record and preserve the human knowledge, in ways that maintain links with their traditional mission, and, at the same time, integrate new tools, technologies, and concepts that appear to threaten the values that are inherent in the historic mission of professional librarianship and information science. Job-specific technical skills in the Library and Information Studies are no longer sufficient, as employers scramble to fill an increasing number of interdependent jobs. The dual challenges of competing in an international world market and of the rapid technological advancements have necessitated a redesign of the role of information professionals into an innovative environment known as the digital environment. This implies also the convergence and harmonisation of different careers as archivists, librarians, documentalists and information scientists. The changing international and digital context for information professionals is affecting LIS schools, in the sense that increased efforts are needed to help students to make sense of the global Information Society and to assume an active role in supporting people to use information effectively. The project of the joint Master was then developed in the follow up to the Bologna declaration, building on the expertise of two well-established LIS Schools joining in equal partnership to offer a new course validated by both Universities, and thus recognized by both countries.

The joint Master has been built basing on a previous experience of the Master in Information Studies offered by Northumbria University. The learning outcomes of this Master course included the intellectual capabilities and the mental models of the reflective practitioner (Schon 1993). The reflective practitioner professional profile requires a behaviour and orientation toward work that go beyond step-by-step task performance. It expects workers at Master level to solve problems, create ways to improve the methods they use, adapt to their different context and engage effectively with their co-workers. To adapt Northumbria Master to the Italian context, it was expanded to include an European cultural environment. This was achieved focusing on methodology of social research and principles and criteria of the discipline. For the assessment of the assignments, the students were free of choosing the content of each task, so that they could apply the different modules outcomes in their work environment.

A number of common objectives were sought for, as follows, together with the achievements:

- attract students. Both Northumbria and Parma Library schools have had a continous decrease in number of students enrolled. Parma Libray school with this joint Master has been innovating the curriculum for a better match between education supply and demand in Italy. Both partners LIS schools were also trying to improve employability and to stimulate mobility of students in an international labour market;

- staff development. Staff of the partners institutions has included administrative staff, teachers and librarians. They all have had benefits from learning others policy and regulations (but there were also misunderstandings and contrasts between different administrative regulations of the two Universities). The teachers of the two Universities have also collaborated in research and achieved complementarity in learning, having different subjects background. A particular improvement has to be evidenced from the part of Italian teachers. A number of professional perspectives were enhanced in Parma University as: new intercultural relationship, new learning methods, new ways of thinking;

- en hance international reputation of LIS schools involved in the partnership. This objective aimed to better competitiveness of the two Universities, expecially important for Northumbria University administrators and Italian Minister of Education and Research (MIUR), who has financed the first intake of the joint Master. The joint Master was reacting to the recommendations of the “Bologna process” and working towards attaining the “Bologna process” objectives. Partners Universities have considered it as an indicator of expanding horizon and also enhancing intercultural understanding of foreign students.

Some factors of success of the joint Master can be identified in: innovation in curriculum, quality improvement of learning and teaching, enhancement in productivity, staff development, harmonisation of intercultural relations.

Innovation in curriculum offering is the main benefit to be evidenced. The joint Master has started a new programme, and not re-packaged an old one (the previous experience of Northumbria University). In order to try and offer maximum flexibility, the course is modular delivered by distance learning and involves part time study for two calendar years. Internationalizing the LIS curriculum means integrating the concept of international culture into an educational setting to give students a more comprehensive understanding of the potential implicit in the Information Society. The core of the curriculum content has been focused in the social and behavioural impact on the profession of Information Technology (IT). The pedagogy was also very innovative, with little scope for theoretical study and applications of social research methodology. The joint Master demonstrates that a research-based education can hopefully produce candidates who are able to participate actively in the processes of change towards Information Society. The International Master in Information Studies, in particular, has been a good mix of theory and practice, and has taught the “research method” for the first time in LIS schools in Italy.

The consortium of Universities was able to offer a course in areas where there were no short, or separate, programme at this level in Europe. This improved productivity was a benefit for both partners institutions, bringing more students and resources to Universities. For the issue of sustainability, it should be said that the Master at its start has had some financement from Italian Government but the student’s fees have sustained it in the following intakes.

Staff development and improved learning is the other most important area, where results of internationalisation of the joint Master can be measured, compared with its initial objectives and expectations. The joint International Master in Information Studies purpose of teaching something new, as the application of research methods to LIS in Italy, has been combined with an innovative delivery of the course by distance. The course pedagogy can be considered an important factor of success. In particular, success factors were the involvement of students in active learning methods with international Study Schools periods, and students participation in the development of course content, through the application of the research methods.

In the case of the joint course of Parma and Northumbria Universities (Dixon, Tammaro 2003), it can be demonstrated the importance for internationalisation success of the harmonisation of the intercultural relationship. This means to build a mechanism to resolve conflicts and gaining consensus with regular meetings, spend efforts for defining common strategy and involvement in course commitment together with clarity of expectations.

To achieve these results a number of activities have been done, represented in the Table 1 (below). All these activities have been considered part of the quality process of the joint Master, as described in the following paragraph.

Table 1. The Basic Components of the joint Master management
2. Quality process of the joint Master in Information Studies

Quality has to be considered a communication language, particularly important in the management of international joint courses. For the two LIS schools’ network, each University has maintained its own quality assurance system. Each University accommodated, more or less painfully, each other’s system where necessary, combining together the partners different systems, without any standardization. This involved each University assuring itself that the other was of the necessary standard and had the necessary infrastructure and academic support to offer the course. The quality process realised in this way has been the foundation of the collaboration between the two Universities. It can be said that the initial idea of starting the joint Master came from the two Course Leaders of Parma and Northumbria Universities. But they have had to obtain the institutional support, involving both Universities administrators and facilitating the development of mutual trust, cooperation in quality assurance, and transparency of the joint course processes. A Committee for Quality Improvement and Academic Standards of Northumbria University has visited Parma, for a first evalutation of the support given by Parma University to the joint course, at the beginning of the partnership. Later, after two years of collaboration, the QAA has visited Parma University for an evaluation of the collaborative link. The joint Master has also received the accreditation by CILIP, the UK Chartered Institute of Information and Library Professionals.

Since the beginning of the collaboration, Northumbria University has followed the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) code for the arrangements of the quality control for collaborative links.The joint Master went through the Northumbria validation procedures for joint courses, thus it was submitted to the UK regulatory framework. Documentation was prepared jointly and the course team, with representatives from both Library Schools attending the validation event in the UK. The validation panel, made up of external and internal academic members of staff, and again including representatives from both universities at senior management level, assessed the course, and then this was validated by Academic Board of Northumbria. On the whole, this worked well.

In Italy, the reform of Higher Education was at its beginning in 1999 and no experience on quality of international courses could have been evidenced. An initial approval of the joint Master was done by the University of Parma and submitted to the Italian Government. After two years of collaboration, a self-evaluation report was asked by Italian Government to Parma University, asking about course delivery process and quantitative indicators on students and financement.

Northumbria University for its experience was leading the organisation and management of the joint Master. The quality process has been explicit, comprehensive and documented in detail in three documents: the Technical Agreement, the Operations Manual and the Student Handbook.

The Technical Agreement was signed by the Rectors of the two Universities. The Technical Agreement has included some regulations for the managemetn of the course, as:

- the scope and limits of the arrangement;

- the governance of the joint Master;

- the financial arrangements;

- the quality assurance procedures, including those related to continuing joint course development and monitoring;

- the rules concerning information, publicity, public relations, and promotion of the Master;

- and also explicit procedures for the resolution of differences between the signatories and arrangements for the termination of the collaboration.

The arrangements of the Operations Manual, as an addendum to the Technical Agreement, were particularly important for the administration of the accessibility and appropriateness of learning facilities, such as library, computing and laboratory provision, and other relevant student support services Access to resources for supported self-study has been vital for the joint Master by distance. Both Universities have continually developing library services which support distance learners, but as the course is open to students from any country (students came from seven countries), ensuring access to meaningful national texts was an issue. Print-based, interactive, high quality teaching and learning materials are used to deliver the taught elements of the course. The Operations Manual included the quality control systems and sharing data derived from these by the partner universities (as assessment of students tasks) and the staff development programme. Such activities have included visits and regular meetings of the staff and also the application of full external examining procedures of Italian teachers, in accordance with the stated requirements of the UK awarding institution.