Featured


Courses

SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

Courses Landing page

Study at SETU Waterford

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

Study at SETU Waterford landing Page

Students

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

Students Landing Page

Schools

SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

Schools Landing Page

International

The Office for International Relations co-ordinates the admission, administration and support for international students throughout the course of their studies at SETU Waterford.

International Landing Page

Research

SETU Waterfordis recognised as the leading research performer in the institute of technology sector with research activities that are internationally benchmarked, strategic, and economically relevant. Find out about the amazing multi disciplinary research under way

Research Landing Page

About

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

About Landing Page

News

Uncover the research discoveries, student and staff achievements, human stories, community spirit, global links and external engagement news at SETU Waterford

News Landing Page

Events

From virtual events to conferences, talks, public lectures and happenings in on-campus venues SETU Waterford is a hub of activity. Stay up to date with our calendar of upcoming events.

Events Landing Page
arrow-down

Full Schedule

09:30 Registration (Tea/Coffee)

10:00 Welcome

Dr Don O’Neill, Senior Lecturer, South East Technological University (Waterford)

10:05 Opening address

Dr Patricia Mulcahy, Vice President for Development, South East Technological University

10:15 Keynote address:

Inclusive internationalisation: lessons learned at The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Eveke de Louw, ‘Internationalisation at Home’ researcher and academic developer The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

11:10 Tea/Coffee

‘Changing Worlds’

Photographic Exhibition depicting the lived experiences of the Saudi Arabian student cohort

at SETU 2012 - 2018

Dr Helena Walsh Kiely, Lecturer, South East Technological University (Waterford)

11:30 Session 1

Chair: Dr Suzanne Denieffe, Head of School of Humanities, South East Technological University (Waterford)

11:30 Internationalisation in teaching and learning: TEaCH CoLab

Dr Jenny O’Connor, Lecturer, South East Technological University (Waterford)

11:50 Getting started on COIL in a TU

Eddie Scully, International Manager, Munster Technological University (Tralee)

12:10 Intra-regional academic mobility: What works, for whom and why

Dr Clare Walsh, Head of Staff Development at the RPL in Higher Education Project, Technological Higher Education Association (Dublin)

12:30 Internationalisation in the classroom at the Atlantic Technological University: Franco-Irish tele collaboration for applied business

Dr Sarah Berthaud, Lecturer in French, Atlantic Technological University (Galway)

12:50 Questions and Answers

Lunch 13:00 – 14:00

14:00 Session 2

Chair: Dr Susan Flynn, Head of Department of Arts, South East Technological University (Waterford)

14:00 Inclusive pedagogies, migrant rights and access to Higher Education

Sandra Nolan, South East Technological University Presidents’ PhD Scholar (Waterford)

14:20 Real Examples of ICC Practices in the International Classroom

Denise McAllister-Wylie, South East Technological University Presidents’ PhD Scholar (Waterford)

14:40 Internationalisation for student development

Dr Sharon Harris-Byrne, Senior Lecturer, South East Technological University (Carlow)

15:00 Internationalisation at Home – COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond, Case Study – Symbiosis International (Deemed University), SIU, India

Nidhi Piplani Kapur, Irish Research Council, Government of Ireland PhD scholar, South East Technological University, (Waterford)

15:20 Questions and answers and closing address

Dr Veronica Kelly, Senior Lecturer, South East Technological University, (Wexford)

Keynote address

Inclusive internationalisation: lessons learned at The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Eveke De Louw, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

Creating equal opportunities for international and intercultural learning for all our students through an internationalised home curriculum is what internationalisation at home (IaH) is aims to achieve.

More and more international educators as well as higher education institutions realise that we have to change our perspective and move from gaining international experience through mobility to designing an internationalised curriculum and from output-based to outcomeoriented internationalisation for all students. Internationalisation at Home is a comprehensive and inclusive internationalisation approach; its systemic implementation is complex as it requires the involvement of many stakeholders, including staff at all levels of the institution, from the leadership, administrators and international officers; from lecturers, educational developers and IT departments.

So how can we make sense of this complex ecosystem, and what does IaH look like in practice? In this keynote address we draw on lessons learned at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and question if IaH is truly inclusive of all.

Eveke de Louw

Eveke de Louw is an experienced internationalisation practitioner and an expert in curriculum internationalisation, with more than 20 years of experience. In her professional career at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, Eveke has performed in key coordinating roles at departmental and institutional level, ranging from International Student Co-coordinator, Coordinator of Internationalisation, and Senior International Officer.

She is currently a researcher on Internationalisation at Home and an academic developer, supporting lecturers and degree programmes in internationalising teaching and learning. Eveke is also a steering group member of the ‘Internationalisation at Home expert community’ of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and the 2019 winner of the EAIE Award for Outstanding Contribution.

Eveke has given numerous presentations at international conferences, such as the EAIE, AIEA, and CAIE and has published on the topics of internationalisation at home and curriculum design.

Session 1

Internationalisation in teaching and learning: TEaCH CoLab

Dr Jenny O’Connor, South East Technological University (Waterford)

TEaCH CoLab members: Paula Carroll (SETU), Jody Early (University of Washington, Bothell), Niamh Murphy (SETU), Jenny O’Connor (SETU), Mairead Barry (SETU), Meghan EaganTorkko (UWB), Robert O’Connor (SETU), Noel Richardson (SETU), Andrea Stone (UWB)

Tackling complex 21st century global health challenges requires cross-disciplinary collaborations that extend beyond physical classrooms and across continents. The Transdisciplinary Education and Community Health Collaboratory (TEaCH CoLab) is a global teaching co-op established by health promotion and humanities faculty at two universities (South East Technological University (Waterford and Carlow), and the University of Washington, Bothell). The primary goals of TEaCH CoLab are to enrich global learning and problem-solving among the next generation of community and public health practitioners, to improve public health teaching with a focus on digital pedagogy, and to increase empathy and community-connectedness.

This presentation outlines lessons learned from the first three years of collaboration to provide insights on how such capacity-building projects are established and sustained over time and across diverse geographical, cultural and temporal landscapes. Collaboration happens primarily online through academic and community partnerships, collaborative online learning, and pedagogy discussion and development. Students get to engage with course content and experiential learning that is part of a shared curriculum that emphasizes social justice, health equity, cultural humility and anti-racism, and advocacy. Our ‘lessons for the field’ are collective, practice-based reflections based on the experiences of members of the TEaCH CoLab group, and their involvement in development and facilitation.

Dr Jenny O’Connor

Jenny O'Connor has a PhD in Film Studies and is a lecturer in the School of Humanities at SETU. She is member of the Analysing Social Change research group, as well as TEACH CoLab, a global teaching project that examines pertinent health-related issues through a cross-cultural lens. Since 2017, she has hosted the English and Arts podcast series The Nerve, and produces an average of five episodes per semester.

Getting started on COIL in a TU

Eddie Scully, Munster Technological University (Tralee)

"An insight into a national Forum SATLE funded project in the Munster Technological University to explore how best to promote the adoption of COIL/Virtual Exchange across the University. The presentation focuses on the benefits of COIL for the MTU, key learnings drawn from the project including a better understanding of barriers to adoption, the timelines involved and how the MTU plans to promote COIL into the future. "

Eddie Scully

Eddie Scully is the international manager at the Munster Technological University, having worked in international education for the last 15 years. He has engaged with partner universities and colleges across the globe to develop inter institutional linkages, study pathway development, & student & staff mobility. He also has responsibility for internationalisation@home, partner international marketing, and international student recruitment.

Intra-regional academic mobility: What works, for whom and why?

Dr Clare Walsh, Technological Higher Education Association (Dublin)

This presentation explores the contexts and mechanisms at work in the construction of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) higher education area and academic mobility. Academic mobility includes mobility of students, academics, educational programmes and higher education institutions. With over 2 million students enrolled in tertiary education in the GCC states, the total number of tertiary students from a GCC state studying in another GCC state is less than one per cent (UIS, 2022).

Drawing on realism (Sayer, 2000) and critical cultural political economy of education (Robertson & Dale, 2015), this presentation attempts to theorise the contexts and mechanisms in the construction of a GCC higher education area and how these frame the intra-regional mobility of students across the GCC member states.

The research shows how—within the GCC higher education space—different material and symbolic interests and ideologies interact. These interactions may be contributing factors associated with the low level of student mobility among the GCC states.

Dr Clare Walsh

Dr Clare Walsh (EdD) is Head of Staff Development at the RPL in Higher Education Project, a HCI Pillar 3 initiative. She worked for over a decade in the Middle East and has published in areas of Arab higher education. Recent publications include a chapter contribution to the 2022 “International Student Mobility To and From the Midde East: Theorising Public, Institutional, and Self Constructions of Cross Border Students”.

Internationalisation in the classroom at the Atlantic Technological University: Franco-Irish telecollaboration for applied business

Dr Sarah Berthaud - Atlantic Technological University (Galway)

Research on telecollaboration for language and culture learning and teaching (L&T) has been ongoing and documented for over 3 decades (e.g. Dooly & O’Dowd, 2018). Little had been done in French at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) until recently. The present study reports on an applied business telecollaboration that included six scaffolded tasks and was implemented between January and April 2022.

First, the presentation describes the specificity of the ATU context – a former Institute of Technology – when it comes to language and culture L&T for applied Business French and internationalisation. Second, it presents the current study being reviewed: a telecollaboration between students of Business French at the ATU and students of Business English at IUT Toulouse III, at the end of which quantitative and qualitative data was retrieved from both French and Irish students and how the results were used to inform the subsequent round of telecollaboration in 2022-2023. Third, the results are discussed in light of language and culture L&T, student engagement, and internationalisation.

Dooly, M., & O’Dowd, R. (2018). ‘Telecollaboration in the foreign language classroom: A review of its origins and its application to language teaching practice’. M. Dooly and R. O’Dowd (Eds.), In This Together: Teachers’ Experiences with Transnational, Telecollaborative Language Learning Projects, 11-34.

Dr Sarah Berthaud

Dr Sarah Berthaud is a Lecturer in French at Atlantic Technological University (Galway) and is also a professional French <> English translator/interpreter. She is the President of the Association des Études françaises et francophones d'Irlande (ADEFFI) et a member of the Executive Committee of the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association (ITIA). With her multidisciplinary background, Sarah has conducted and continues to conduct research in the following domains: applied language teaching and learning, bilingualism, second language acquisition, translation/interpreting, as well as language policy.

Session 2

Inclusive pedagogies, migrant rights and access to Higher Education

Sandra Nolan - South East Technological University (Waterford)

This presentation will examine the research findings and methodological underpinnings of a project on migrant rights and access to higher education. It will provide significant insight into the educational exclusion or inclusion experienced by learners at the SETU, Carlow.

The research is centred on ways to be a ‘White ally’ (Joseph 2020) via inclusive pedagogies. Like Ranciere’s Schoolmaster (2007) whereby a schoolmaster must acknowledge their ignorance, if I am to become a White ally in a meaningful way, I must enter a partnership and a co-created research process. This involves a critique of my own positionality as a White researcher to counteract the ‘stock story’ of the default position, moving beyond what Joseph (2020) terms ‘racial complacency’ - I must listen to and prioritise the experiences beyond my own. Inclusive education begins and ends with personal experience therefore the lives of learners are paramount in the design of this research.

A 2016 study by Harris et al. identified the main inequality faced by migrant minorities in higher education as ‘one of outcomes rather than of opportunities’. Higher numbers of migrant students are successfully entering the Irish higher education system, but this increase is not reflected at the point of completion and attainment (HEA, 2015). My project is rooted in the notion that access to education requires more than an entry point; full access entails retention and completion to be properly realised. Access to higher education is a hugely significant factor in achieving economic and social well-being for private citizens across all strata of society. As a key focal point for this project, ‘access’ is considered as ‘equality of condition’ rather than opportunity, to be a useful tool for achieving equality in education (Lynch, 1999). This project therefore considers access as inclusion. Taking inspiration from Freire’s (1970) ‘problem-posing’ model of education, fundamentally based on inclusion, dialogue is the principal means by which the raw data for this project was be collected.

Sandra Nolan

Sandra is a PhD Candidate (SETU, Waterford) working to explore the impact of EDI initiatives in the context of Ireland's changing ethnocultural profile. As a Research Fellow she previously completed a study focused on EDI in Higher Education for her Masters by Research. Her work now involves the Irish labour market and how qualitative research can positively impact an understanding of EDI in the workplace.

Real Examples of ICC Practices in the International Classroom

Denise McAllister-Wylie, South East Technological University (Waterford)

and

Irena Vodopija-Krstanović, University of Rijeka, Croatia

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) plays a critical role in the international classroom. However, it is widely assumed that effective ICC will be achieved effortlessly through contact with students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Higher education teachers, who are generally of the understanding that their role is to teach only content, are often unaware of ICC or of how to apply it in pedagogical practice. Given the importance of ICC in the international classroom, and the paucity of research in the field, this study aimed to fill the gap by examining the international classroom and identifying real examples of ICC practice.

The data for this qualitative study was collected through classroom observation of thirty internationalized classes taught by thirty teachers across five European universities. Examples of ICC practices were identified applying a framework that used an observational schedule in two areas, course design and teaching methods, comprising twenty categories such as course accessibility, providing engaging activities, appropriate guidance, inclusive tasks and international examples. This methodology was further supported by Dimitrov and Haque’s (2016) Intercultural Teaching Competence framework and a thematic analysis was applied.

This study presents some aspects of teaching practice, which could help foster ICC in any international classroom. It supports effective learning for students by raising teachers’ awareness of opportunities to attend to the ICC requirements of the international classroom and providing guidance on careful curriculum design and course delivery.

Denise McAllister-Wylie, South East Technological University (Waterford)

Recipient of an SETU President’s Scholarship, Denise McAllister-Wylie is a PhD student researching inclusive internationalisation in the Irish HEI context. Prior to this, she was an English lecturer at Maastricht University, running intercultural communication CPD, workshops, and lectures, was a member of the Maastricht University International Classroom Taskforce and worked on the IntlUni and TAEC EU-funded internationalisation projects.

Internationalisation for Student Development

Dr Sharon Harris-Byrne, South East Technological University (Carlow)

and

Danielle Lecointre-Erickson, Université d’Angers, France

Current Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) projects that we are engaged in fosters inclusivity and diversity through engagement with international learners across borders. Two such projects include the collaborative assessment between international business students in SETU Carlow and SAMK University, Finland and a collaborative project between SETU Carlow and IUT Angers in France.

Here, our business students engage with learners from another university to collaboratively submit one summative assessment. The projects are submitted via Moodle in English. The students (2 from Carlow and 2 from either Angers or Finland) must first make connections. The introductions are important. They should have at least 2 meetings to get to know each other before they start on their project. The project is to submit a report and a podcast however underpinning the overall project are the connections the learners make. We evaluate not only their academic submission but the meetings they conduct and guide them as they navigate through the language, cultural and practical challenges of an international project.

These projects are practical representations that highlight the challenges and benefits international assessments can have for the learner. Through intercultural exchanges students develop an understanding and awareness to communicate and interact with people outside of their culture. They develop skills, knowledge and attitude that will equip them to contribute effectively in their educational experience as well as in the workplace (Campinha-Bacote, 2002; Cole & Zhou, 2014; Long, 2016; Harris-Byrne & Wikman, 2020).

Dr Sharon Harris-Byrne

(Senior Lecturer) is currently programme director for the International Business Programme at SETU Carlow. She is currently working on collaborative projects with both Angers in France and SAMK University in Finland. Her research interests and publications are in the field of international education, higher education, international students, cultural diversity and collaborations in higher education.

Internationalisation at Home – COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Case Study – Symbiosis International (Deemed University), SIU, India

Nidhi Piplani Kapur, Ph.D. Scholar - Internationalisation of Higher Education, South East Technological University (Waterford)

Head - Symbiosis Centre for European Studies, Symbiosis International (International (Deemed University), SIU, India

The COVID-19 pandemic induced resilience in teaching and learning across the world. The international higher education sector pivoted from its lynchpin physical mobility to alternative offerings that created opportunities for students and academics across borders to work collaboratively.

My presentation will spotlight the work of a unique Indian Institution that was set up 50 years ago exclusively for international students from Asia and Africa- SIU. Amidst the global pandemic and the epic New Education Policy in India, SIU pioneered many initiatives to make the internationalisation of higher education inclusive and sustainable, especially during the pandemic.

The E-Academies on Internationalisation and Work from Home Internships were the first of its kind initiatives in India that were introduced early at the beginning of the pandemic to connect students across the world virtually. These provided a platform for students to work collaboratively to develop their personal and professional competencies as well as work on national building projects with Symbiosis. The E-Academies were also offered for academic and non-academic staff to enable them to make their curriculums cutting edge. These programmes have now found a place in the institutional internationalisation at home strategy.

Nidhi Piplani Kapur

Nidhi Piplani Kapur is pursuing a PhD in Internationalisation at Home in Irish HEIs at the South East Technological University, Ireland (Waterford). She recently received the Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship for her PhD project. Nidhi has worked in the international higher education sector for over 12 years. She has served in the General Council at the European Association for International Education (EAIE). Nidhi is also the Head of Symbiosis Centre for European Studies (SCES), Symbiosis International University (SIU) in India. She will reflect on her experience at Symbiosis in making IaH sustainable in her institution.

Full Abstract and Bios Pdf

SETU main Campus Tourism Leisure Building