College students enjoy exciting experiences around the world
AS THE world economy continues to evolve, Portsmouth College has placed global opportunities at the heart of its curriculum and culture.
Students have the chance to gain exciting experiences around the world in a new global engagement programme, designed to develop their social and employability skills.
So far in the educational initiative, destinations on the impressively broad map have included Boston, Iceland, Munich, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York.
Tom Lloyd, Vice Principal and Global Engagement Lead, said: ‘We embarked on this journey two years ago to increase our worldwide footprint by collaborating with international partners to help our students improve their social mobility.
‘Innovation is at the heart of everything Portsmouth College does and this is an extension of this practice. We continually strive to prepare our students for life after college by enhancing their professional and personal skill-sets.
‘We aim to achieve this by exposing them to a diverse range of cultural experiences and placing global citizenship at the centre of our provision.’
As part of the Global
Engagement strategy, 13 different countries were visited last year, with in-country costs often being funded by international partners.
This included a group of staff and students who travelled to Beijing for an immersive academic experience where they studied traditional Chinese lessons and activities including calligraphy, Thai boxing, chemistry and sand art.
In return for learning new skills, the Portsmouth students then delivered bespoke training sessions to demonstrate the flipped learning techniques that the college practises through its ‘curious and creative’ delivery methodology, an approach that has made a positive impact on overall success rates in recent years.
The college believes that these international experiences will prepare students to work in a global market as global citizens.
This is perhaps best demonstrated through the recent trip to Boston for a group of students studying on the Elite Football course, who as a result gained exposure to scholarship opportunities in the US, paid coaching roles and made lifelong friendships with their American host families.
The University of Portsmouth has also joined forces with Portsmouth College to promote pathways for potential international partners and is keen to work together to encourage young people in the city to travel and broaden their horizons when looking for employment.
As the college’s reputation for being inclusive and innovative continues to grow worldwide, requests from global partners to gain an insight into the British education system remain high, with international students wishing to study the broad range of courses on offer at the college.
Recently, the college received Apple Distinguished School status for its use of technology to transform learning and is widely considered one of the most innovative institutions in the country - another big draw for students visiting from across the world.
Zhou Qin, teacher of English at Hangzhou New Century Foreign Language School in China, a partner school of Portsmouth College, said: ‘It is an honour to visit Portsmouth - a beautiful city with a long history and the link with Charles Dickens that made it the perfect cultural destination for our students.’
For more, go to https://www. portsmouth-college.ac.uk/