Growing Global STEM Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

Tomorrow's graduates must make innovative use of global knowledge, universal work-readiness skills, and advanced multicultural understandings to solve future domestic and global problems. However, universities face compelling challenges in providing these skills. Discipline entrenched curricula often takes precedence over global, multicultural learning activities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This chapter reports on the introduction of global competency and cultural awareness into a postgraduate course at an Australian university. The study demonstrates the advantages of using the existing multicultural learner cohort to integrate global competencies and understandings into the curricula. This research showed that teaching activities such as group learning, global problem-based issues and peer assessment, created successful learning interactions amongst domestic and international students. The outcomes highlight the role of academic staff in planning for global competency in STEM classrooms and changing the global mindset of all students.