International experience is increasingly about the work people do across borders, not only where they study or live. Universities have an opportunity to help students build that experience before graduation
Think about an individual studying business in Kuala Lumpur and working with peers in Berlin to prepare a market-entry case. Finding an appropriate price becomes a problem for them. The team misses the deadline due to time-zone confusion and finally submits a paper with recommendations for two contrasting customer groups.
They are not on a plane, but the case of these students closely resembles that faced by the employees of multinational companies, that is, their collaboration has become more difficult because of different viewpoints and habits they have developed.
Over time, having international experience has been linked to things like having your passport stamped, your degree from outside your home country or a stint of working in another country. Those methods are still good ways of gathering international experience, but they are not the only ones available.
It is more important for graduates to answer the question of whether they have demonstrated ability to work with colleagues and customers, issues and preferences from markets that are not their own.
Global exposure should involve actual work
An online lecture by an international expert has the power to provide new insights on a topic. However, they are unlikely to give students the skills that would enable them to negotiate a deadline with someone 8 hours ahead or to settle a dispute when neither party is aware of the professional situation of the other.
For this kind of experience, a common task as well as joint responsibility for the result and the opportunity to analyze what had gone wrong is required.
Universities already have models they can build on. The State University of New York’s Collaborative Online International Learning approach, known as COIL, brings classes in different countries together to complete projects as part of their coursework. Erasmus+ also supports facilitated virtual exchanges designed to develop intercultural dialogue and collaborative skills without requiring travel.
Not all activities related to studying and living abroad can be done through these methods. Yet, they represent an opportunity to transform an international experience into regular academic work.
Take, for example, a course in computer science involving teams of students from two countries creating a simple application for a community organisation. Within this project, students will have to discuss the requirements, allocate tasks, work on a common documentation, and check if the solution meets the requirements of a user in both countries.
In a similar way, a class on finance or supply-chain may deal with the comparison of the impact of certain regulations or limitations in transactions with regards to a made-up company. The course will thus be focused not on the idea of international affairs, rather the international aspect will spring up as an integral part of an issue addressed by the course.
What employers can actually evaluate
Graduates often mention they are globally minded or culturally adaptable, but such claims are not easy to verify without receiving references for specific situations.
Stronger examples could include the way a group of people was responding to conflicting messages of advisers working in two different markets, how tasks were distributed in different time zones, or what didn’t work in the first project approach and what was done to correct it.
As evidence, students can submit a project brief, a portfolio, a presentation of their accomplishments to a partner or a letter of reference from the supervisor. It must indicate the contribution made by the student rather than just the fact that a project was international.
This has implications in particular because AI technology has simplified the production of effective presentations and reports. A report may not indicate who was responsible for decisions, challenging assumptions, or managing the relationship.
In order to solve this problem, an institution has to analyze both the process as well as the result of the project. Short reflections, peer feedback, and oral presentations can demonstrate how participants have handled uncertainty and conflicts.
An international placement may deliver similar results to those stated above as long as it is carried out effectively and under supervision. Simply holding meetings online or getting a completion certificate is insufficient.
Access needs deliberate design
Remote collaboration can lower travel and accommodation costs. However, it does not automatically make international opportunities equitable.
A student may have intermittent internet connectivity, obligations for caring, or an unsuitable environment for a video call. Language barriers might complicate real-time discussions, while organizing meetings around the work day of one country imposes the inconvenience on everyone else.
Proper programs take the aforementioned into account. They combine online meetings and written updates, change time slots for meetings if possible and specify what is expected from participants.
Aside from establishing partnerships, academic institutions also require personnel with the capabilities to design, coordinate, and supervise international projects.
Employers could position themselves as providers of realistic challenges and assessment of the results of the projects that they sponsor without promising jobs and organizing expensive internship programmes.
There should be caution when it comes to international academic projects since participation does not imply that one can legally work in another country, and the paid jobs done across the border may lead to migration, tax, employment, and data protection issues that should be solved instead of neglected.
Build experience before seeking mobility
A logical first step for students is to find an international project suitable for the area of work they want to pursue. Someone interested in sustainability can participate in a comparative research project; someone wishing to become an expert in product management can take part in a research study that focuses on users from different markets.
After the initial experience is acquired, the next step is to keep record of the activities performed for the project and to analyze what was learned from the collected data. Did the team manage to make better decisions thanks to its members’ diverse views? What were the changes in the process caused by the failure of the first plan?
Physical mobility is likely going to be necessary for several professions in which local licenses, workplace experience or relationships rely on the physical presence of workers. It is also an opportunity to experience culture in a way that cannot be achieved by other means.
However, mobility should be seen as just one of the instruments for purposefully achieving an international career, not the only way to measure international aspirations.
A successful graduate knows how to work together with people from other cultures, produce results in cooperation with them and defend their decision. A first step in reaching an international career may be performing a meaningful task for people from abroad but remaining in a classroom.
