Co-authored by A/Prof. Valerie Gay and Dr. Wayne Brookes (School of Electrical and Data Engineering).
Studio-based learning has been a key pillar in engineering education at UTS for some years now. In the School of Electrical and Data Engineering (SEDE), studios are an integral part of the curriculum, encouraging innovative thinking and problem-solving. As students navigate complex projects, they develop adaptability, creativity, and resilience, working in teams to tackle challenges, share insights, and refine approaches to problems.
But what if we could stretch this kind of learning experience even further? What if we took it to the other side of the world? What if we partnered with not one university in France, but another in South Korea, for a truly cross-cultural experience?
Can we adapt studio-based learning for an intensive, international context?
Studio-based learning at UTS integrates certain key learning approaches, intentionally designed into each studio subject. Students enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy as they select their project and discipline focus, actively shaping their learning journey. The subjects also operate within a multi-cohort, cross-disciplinary framework, blending face-to-face interactions with mixed-mode components and encouraging collaboration among students from diverse engineering backgrounds (different engineering majors).
Building on these foundations, we posed some key research questions:
- To what extent can student learning be enhanced by bringing an international perspective to the studio format and what needs to be taken into account when designing the experience?
- What are the opportunities and challenges of conducting a studio in an intensive mode?
- What are the impacts of involving more than one country in the internationalised studio experience?
To explore these questions we used an action-research approach with four phases: plan, act, observe and reflect. With the pilot running in 2023 and a second iteration in 2024, we have so far had two cycles to learn from. The learnings from 2023 were incorporated into the design of the 2024 program as part of the action research approach, and learnings from both will inform future work.
Mix it up: cross-cohort, cross-discipline, cross-cultural
UTS collaborates with Vinci (ESILV), a French engineering school located in Paris. Since 2022, this partnership has offered transformative opportunities for students to transition to a new country, campus, and academic style, disrupting established patterns. In this case, our program involved a 1:1 student exchange, where UTS students undertook one studio in Paris, with $1,000 support from UTS. In 2023, our pilot program included 10 students.
The program was co-designed with the French academic team at Vinci, establishing a common understanding of how studios are conducted and adapting the studio model for an intensive-mode delivery (3 weeks, plus reflection after returning at UTS). We made sure it was attractive to students (Paris/ tourism-inspired!), but also fit with the French engineering education context and pedagogy. Adaptations included a focus on technical skills, delivery of a tangible ‘product’ (rather than holistic assessment), and using a panel of experts rather than peer feedback and roadshow presentations to assess students. Some cultural aspects such as French lessons and social activities were also added to the program.
Making it work – and learning to fail
In 2024, we expanded the program to include students from another university based in South Korea, to explore the opportunity of even greater cross-cultural exchange. The Korean university saw an unexpected surge of in applications, almost tripling their usual number of participants for short programs in France. The discipline profile of participants expanded as a result, with Korean students not only from engineering, but also business, IT and fashion design. The Australian students were also multi-disciplinary, but were all studying different branches of engineering. Despite these differences, the students from non-technical backgrounds were integrated, aiming at enriching the collaborative environment.
‘Can this run again instead of doing Capstone? Serious question’
Student feedback, 2024
Whilst there were challenges in this second iteration, including great diversity in the Korean student backgrounds, and differing expectations from the universities and the students involved, the student feedback has been extremely positive overall, with evaluations rating the experience 4.47/5. The international perspectives had a beneficial impact on students from all countries, although our observations suggest that the Australian students’ learning was most enhanced, likely because they were already familiar with studio-based learning.
As we look ahead to future iterations, there are some key areas for consideration and improvement, including:
- Academic team collaboration: create support structure for students well in advance; engage early; don’t have academics from other countries attend the classes (promotes student cultural immersion)
- Advisor role and student support: local advisor who is not part of the teaching team; (for extra-curricular, medical, social, etc support); home country advisor for logistics help before/ after
- Adaptability: be flexible and prepared to adapt in real time; help students (and academics) deal with conflicting priorities; ‘Students as partners’ approach works well
- Minimum academic requirements for student selection: identify early each university’s minimum requirements and expectations on the students; carefully design student selection and make sure students are aware of the topic/focus area (e.g. business students contributing to an engineering deliverable)
Encore, s’il vous plaît!
We recommend this approach to educators seeking further internationalization of their student experience. The action research method is ideal to study it as you plan, act, observe, and reflect – then iterate. We found the intensive mode program worked well, forcing students to make difficult decisions on what to prioritise, and reflecting engineering practice in industry.
Bringing in more international partners means more complexity to manage, but also more diversity – and opportunities for learning! We hope our experience may help you to include similar international experiences in your programs.