Access to global learning gets boost from student engagement and government funding
Student Binh Nguyen, right, with his friend Sammy Abdou, walking on the beach of Vitória, the capital city of Espírito Santo state in Brazil, where he was on a research internship in early 2020.
Ryerson University is creating a new program to address the challenges that students from equity-deserving groups face in participating in global learning, funded in part by a $500,000 Global Skills Opportunity (external link) grant for work or study abroad experiences.
The new two-year pilot program that Ryerson International, Faculty of Arts and other academic partners are developing will provide $474,000 worth of scholarships to students. Launching in the fall of 2022, the program will provide 45 scholarships each academic year to Indigenous students, students with disabilities, low-income students, Black students and racialized students.
Students will be invited to apply to the program in fall 2022. In their application, they will choose one of three courses offered in an intensive format in spring 2023. Two will include an international travel component and the third will include an opportunity for virtual collaboration with peers outside of Canada.
A significant feature is extensive support for students from the program’s start to finish, including a peer support network, pre-departure and planning sessions, introductory workshops to global issues and leadership and professional development opportunities.
The program is designed to address challenges or obstacles to participating in global learning faced by students in equity-deserving groups, identified by research and consultation with students conducted by the Global Learning team (part of Ryerson International) in the past year.
A recently released report based on this work, titled (PDF file) Equity, Access and Inclusion in Global Learning: Student-Centred Insights Towards Ensuring Increased Participation and Quality Experiences, outlines the barriers students from equity-deserving groups face in global learning opportunities, such as exchange or faculty-led trips, and what actions could create more inclusive international programs.
The Global Learning team worked with the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion to assess data from the Student Diversity Self-ID report and the demographics of students who participated in global learning programs in 2018-2019. The report showed that the demographic composition of study abroad participants is similar to the student body composition, though there were variances depending on the faculty and academic programs.
Listening to students
During a symposium held in March 2021, students assessed the barriers and challenges of participating in global learning. They also discussed potential solutions that would address some of the issues and concerns they raised.
Most of the students identified as being part of a racialized group, low-income or both. Of the participants, 40 per cent had previously travelled outside of Canada for a university-related learning activity, while the other 60 per cent were interested in global learning opportunities.
Students expressed worry that they would feel excluded or unsafe in another country, because of their identity or disability. They also said limited funds were a major barrier. Those who had already participated in a global learning opportunity confirmed they had indeed experienced many of the concerns anticipated by students who hadn’t yet travelled.
“Students highlighted that they require more than your basic travel safety planning,” said Samantha Larocque, student mobility officer at Ryerson International. “They wanted to know what steps they could take, as someone who was racialized or who was visibly religious, to protect themselves.”
Regarding the financial barrier, students said that even when scholarships were available, they only covered part of the cost, such as the flight and tuition. As the report highlighted, “students who have to be more careful with their spending while abroad end up, potentially, feeling isolated or having a ‘less than’ experience compared to their more resourced counterparts.”
More broadly, students identified the fact that they are navigating a limited range of choices, making decisions between a safer location or a riskier one, between student loan repayments or a trip abroad, between discrimination at home and discrimination abroad. Their experiences in global learning are part of broader systemic issues, issues that students face in general throughout their post-secondary journey.
Recommendations to increase inclusivity
Students recommended peer support, mentoring and pre-departure programming targeted to students’ identity concerns to ensure they are better prepared and supported to face the unique challenges they may experience as an individual abroad.
In addition, the group highlighted the benefits of involving students in the creation of programs and resources. Students identified the need to develop global learning opportunities that are tailored specifically for equity groups, especially Black and Indigenous students. In addition to developing further pre-departure resources for equity-deserving groups, they suggested short-term programs based on students’ interests and needs.
“It is important to note that for students and other community members from equity groups, much of this information is likely not new or surprising,” says Emma Wright, manager of Global Learning and Engagement at Ryerson International. “It is thus urgent and essential that these concerns and potential solutions offered by students are centred in conversations about global learning.”
This connects to another concern students raised, ensuring diverse global learning staff are available to advise and support students, staff who intrinsically understand what students from equity-deserving groups experience.
In addition to encouraging students from equity-deserving groups to engage in global learning, Wright said that the Global Learning team is committed to improving the quality of the programming available to students overall, including tailored support before, during and after their trip.
Global Skills Opportunity
The new program is funded in part by a $500,000 Global Skills Opportunity (external link) (GSO) grant. GSO is a national outbound mobility program and an integral component of the Government of Canada’s International Education Strategy (external link) . It is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, and jointly administered by Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan).
The Government of Canada also contributed funds for the Global Learning team to put on the Student Symposium to better understand issues of equity and access, to do research and development of the report based on the student symposium, and to develop resources to better support students from equity groups.
Stay tuned for more information about the new program, including ways that students and community members can contribute to the final phases of development during the winter 2022 term. Visit the Global Learning website.