Making FRIENDS Around The World By Opening International Prospects
The first step to building Svay Rieng University’s global presence – and its graduates’ capacity to work abroad – is through the establishment of international programmes and trainings in intercultural communication for faculty and students aliek.
Building off the university’s emphasis on developing communication skills while nurturing traditional Cambodian culture, SRU is participating in the Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to Nurture Cultural Diversity and to Support Internationalisation at Home – or FRIENDS – as one of 12 representative universities in Southeast Asia.
With support from Erasmus, SRU will build its capacity international studies, relations and culture, in order to instil global perspective in students, and elevate both students’ and lecturers’ access to study, research or work abroad. By the end of this programme, SRU will establish a “FRIENDS Teahouse” on campus that will serve as an international studies office and resource centre, and create a Community Development Plan to encourage further internationalisation at home. The university is participating in a suite of workshops and trainings to help develop these initiatives.
From the beginning, SRU students will be highly involved in developing international programmes, and stand to gain incredible global opportunities. Students with an eye for global perspectives can participate in a massive open online course (MOOC) on Intercultural Design and Digital Storytelling. SRU will host the third meeting of participating universities in October, where faculty and students will share their experiences with internationalization at home. Finally, up to three students from SRU will have the opportunity to travel to Bulgaria and participate in an eight-week Student Boot Camp on internationalisation at home, bringing home the lessons they learn to SRU’s budding global studies resource centre.
SRU’s participation in the FRIENDS programme will prepare the university to host International Career and Studies Fairs in the future, and expand intercultural programming and communications. But the goal more broadly is to instil a sense of international curiosity in students and faculty, and prepare them to participate in an increasingly globalised society.
