International Student Exchange in Australian Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

International student exchange is pursued by Australian schools of social work as a strategy to engage with the internationalisation agenda set by government, universities, and the profession. However, little concrete information about the nature and scope of these activities exists. The study reported here aimed to address this gap. Twenty-seven of the 30 Australian universities that offer social work programs participated in an online survey about international student exchange activities. The results indicate that a majority of schools (n = 23) do engage in such activities, with international field placements the most frequent form of exchange. Exchanges are most likely to be facilitated and managed by social work staff. The findings, and their implications for the development of good practice in international student exchange, are discussed. This research provides a “point-in-time” snapshot of international exchange in Australian social work education and a benchmark for future analyses of this expanding practice in the profession.

澳大利亚社会工作学院为参与政府、大学及行业设定的国际化议案，一向致力于国际学生的交流。不过，关于这类活动的性质和范围很少具体信息。本文意在填补这一空白。澳大利亚的30所大学中27所有社会工作专业的大学参加了一项关于国际交流活动的在线调查。调查结果显示，大多数学校（23所）参与了这类活动， 国际田野实习为最常见的交流形式。交流一般由社会工作教师推进并管理。文章讨论了这些发现及其对改善国际交流实践的意义。本文对澳大利亚社会工作教育领域的国际交流活动进行了时间点的简要勾勒，同时也为将来分析这类活动提供了参照。

KEYWORDS:

• Social Work Education
• Internationalisation
• International Student Exchange
• Outward Mobility
• Study Abroad

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Nonie Harris http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9664-2769

Debra Miles http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5904-2286

Ines Zuchowski http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1270-203X

Peter Jones http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8098-4641

Abraham Francis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4054-8332

Narayan Gopalkrishnan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1933-8661

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge the receipt of an Innovation and Development grant from the Office for Learning and Teaching that provided financial support for this project.