Valentine Ibeka is a lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington, School of Development Studies. His research is situated at the intersection of migration studies, the internationalisation of higher education, and development studies. Valentine’s undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes led him across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Drawing on his experience as an internationally mobile student, his doctoral project sought to compare the experiences of educational migrants in Denmark and New Zealand.

Session description

• Common communication challenges for new cross-border learners  
• Identifying dragnet strategies and tools for effective communication
• Improving whole-of-provider engagement with cross-border learners

This session will highlight the well-established challenges practitioners face in their efforts to communicate with cross-border learners. In particular, it will focus on the use of language, learners’ knowledge/perceptions of services, and the importance of gauging learner uptake. Cross-border learner uptake of orientations, student services information and course requirements are under-researched areas, and there are a limited number of theory-to-practice models to guide practitioners. Measures for improving whole-of-provider communication with cross border learners be introduced, explored, and discussed.