About us
Alison & Caroline are experienced academics with a shared passion in supporting international students during their transition from their home country into coming to live and study in the UK.
Caroline developed the Intercultural Transition Programme at the University of Lincoln, providing intercultural training and networking platforms for international students to build a trusted 3rd space to communicate. Alison designed the Academic Skills element which together with the Intercultural Training provided a holistic platform to prepare for the new culture and learning experience ahead.
The Intercultural Transition Programme was initially launched in Lincoln International Business School. The continual development and success of the programme extended the programme university wide.
Alison and Caroline decided to develop Global Scholar online to give all international students the opportunity to build intercultural and academic skills knowledge before they arrive in the UK.
Global Scholar is an online training programme including Intercultural Training and Academic Skills, to help you succeed at studying and living in the UK.
The programme is 100% online which enables you to engage with the content in your own time and at your own pace.
Many of the presentations are accompanied by an Activity Workbook which enables you to build on your understanding of each of the topics presented.
Find out more!
Who is Global Scholar for?
Students planning to live & study in the UK
Newly arriving students living & studying in the UK
Students studying in their home country taught by English speaking tutors only
What does Global Scholar include?
Learning Programme:
Academic Skills Hub
Culture Hub
Each of the two Learning Hubs contain a series of mini presentations accompanied by a downloadable workbook of activities & resources. The workbook allows you to practically apply the knowledge you learned in each of the mini presentations.
Knowledge Test - A short quiz of each Learning Hub
Global Scholar Elementary Certificate – Received upon successful completion of the test.
How will you learn?
Watch in sequential order the series of Mini Presentations from the Academic Skills & Culture Hubs.
After watching each mini presentation, engage in the activities & resources in the accompanying workbook before continuing onto the next mini presentation.
You may wish to switch between the Academic Skills & Culture Hubs for a more varied learning experience.
Once you have completed all the mini presentations & workbooks you will complete the Knowledge Test – pass rate is 80%.
Introduction to the Intercultural Training modules
Watch the video below to find out more information about the Intercultural Training modules and how you will learn.
Introduction to Academic Skills course
Example Curriculum
- Intercultural Training - introduction (5:46)
- Acculturation & Intercultural Awareness (21:08)
- Applied Cultural Theories (14:44)
- Culture Process & Stereotypes (17:12)
- Developing Cross-Cultural Awareness (12:30)
- Hofstede Insights (26:37)
- Hand Gestures Around the World (8:05)
- International Case Studies (10:16)
- Global Mindset & SWOT (17:37)
- Final quiz - knowledge test
- Introduction (2:39)
- Academic Etiquette (12:06)
- Academic Integrity (17:41)
- Academic Writing (21:59)
- Building Vocabulary (5:39)
- Critical Thinking (10:20)
- Developing your argument (14:50)
- Effective Reading (16:37)
- Listening & Notetaking in Lectures (11:17)
- Presentation Skills (18:13)
- Working in groups (11:00)
- Final quiz
- Final words (0:27)
Research Suggests ...
‘ … Students may well believe that the mere fact of studying abroad in a culturally mixed group means that they have already acquired intercultural competence (IC). Yet this is a myth (Deardorff, 2015) … Consequently, considerable support and training are needed in order to develop generic IC’ - Cited in - Intercultural competence for students in international joint master programmes Maria Yarosha, M.,Lukicb, D & Santibáñez-Gruber R.
Meet your instructors
Caroline Lowish
Caroline Lowish MA Ed, MBA, DMS, CIM, fCMgr, FHEA
Educational Interculturalist & Business Lecturer
Teaching business in UK & Chinese universities as a Senior Lecturer for many years, Caroline quickly identified the challenges students faced when first arriving in a new country to live & study.
Recognising the need to mitigate these challenges & to optimise the students living & study experience, Caroline worked closely with a group of international students at the University of Lincoln who had experienced these challenges themselves. The result of this was the development of the Intercultural Transition Programme.
The learning programme combined Intercultural Training designed & co-ordinated by Caroline & Academic Skills, designed & co-ordinated by Alison. The success of the programme inspired Caroline & Alison to develop Global Scholar so all international students could benefit from this valuable transition support.
Contact details:
Caroline Lowish (Global Culture Lens): [email protected]
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-lowish-ma-ed-mba-dms-cim-fhea-fcmgr-sietar-219460141/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-culture-lens/?viewAsMember=true
Meet your instructors
Dr Alison Raby
Dr Alison Raby PhD, PGCE, QTLS, MEd, SFHEA
Business Communication & Academic Skills Lecturer
Alison has taught in UK Higher Education for over 10 years, helping international students with language and academic skills. Prior to this she ran an English language school in Poland.
On returning to the UK, she became a qualified teacher and began working at the University of Lincoln in 2015, when she met Caroline and began collaborating on an Intercultural Training Programme to help international students get the most out their educational experience.
The learning programme combined Intercultural Training designed & co-ordinated by Caroline & Academic Skills, designed & co-ordinated by Alison. The success of the programme inspired Caroline & Alison to develop Global Scholar so all international students could benefit from this valuable transition support.
Contact details:
Alison Raby (AR Writes): [email protected] www.arwrites.net
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-alison-raby-sfhea-b4593138/