'Voices in the Air': Evaluations of the learning experiences of international postgraduates and their supervisors

Increased marketing of postgraduate programmes by 'Western' universities demands academic communication among scholars from divergent cultural backgrounds, though each may bring distinctive learning traditions and values. At the University of Adelaide an Integrated Bridging Programme (IBP) offers international postgraduates the opportunity to develop languages and skills for successful acculturation. Evaluations of this programme reveal that both postgraduates and their supervising staff often assume unquestioningly that only the newly-recruited foreign postgraduates need to change their academic goals and practices, especially in relation to critical thinking and to studying in a different postgraduate research culture. This paper argues that in this commercial educational context, the challenge to learn is on both sides. Valid 'transcultural' education requires that the values of Western academic tradition be critiqued through the perceptions and experiences of international scholars. The role of bridging programmes like the IBP can be central to this process.