Contact Us.
Contact.
LET'S TALK.
We’d love to hear from you and will usually reply within 24 hours.
Why Does the Program Work?
IT’S WHAT STUDENTS WANT.
Culturally-Informed Solutions to Challenges.
Students already have access to support services, personal and professional advice. But students who live in a new culture are often unable to fully contextualise the help and advice they receive due to cultural differences.
Yet that’s what they want – someone to explain local cultural expectations and to receive culturally-informed tips they can use to overcome cultural barriers to success – in all areas of academic, social, safety or employability.
And that’s exactly what we specialise in at Project Global Citizen.
We are Australia’s first personal and professional development student program that focusses exclusively on culture as the missing link to surviving and thriving in a new culture.
IT’S WHAT STUDENTS NEED.
Evidence-Based Risk Management and Duty of Care.
Our program focuses on the cultural competency gaps we know are problematic for international students, evidenced by the extensive data we collected in the 2018 Project Global Citizen Survey, Australia’s most comprehensive global survey to date for identifying cultural competency gaps of students in relation to academic learning, social integration, securing internships, employment and safety.
When it comes to adapting to life in a new country, students can’t simply be expected to “know what they don’t know” without specialist intercultural advice.
Therefore, Project Global Citizen provides practical cultural frameworks to help “make sense” of what they don’t know . This could be understanding the mindset of local students or understanding the “unwritten” expectations of colleagues, lecturers and employers of different cultural backgrounds.
PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS.
Cultural Competency as a Professional Skill.
Students appreciate that we are professional intercultural practitioners from a corporate background who provide practical outcomes to students’ personal and professional challenges.
Interestingly, the challenges faced by students are often identical to those of our corporate clients who are trying to adjust to working life in their new host country.
- Coming from a commercial background, we don’t just brush over culture as a nice-to-know set of soft skills. We go straight to the culturally-influenced challenges faced by students that potentially have a detrimental impact on their professional and personal life.
- In every step of this process, we emphasise professionalism, commercial reality and practicality. This means that our Project Global Citizen Scholars don’t get lost in academic theory or generalised cultural advice. Instead, they spend the bulk of their time co-designing and practicing real-life strategies that will set them up for success in their academic, personal and professional life no matter where in the world they choose to live.
Our Partners.
Providing opportunities for students to undertake Project Global Citizen would not be possible without the generous support of our government and industry partners. Our partners fund the scholarships offered to students who apply for our 8-week cultural competency program.
The initial development of Project Global Citizen was also achieved through a collaborative effort with substantial financial support and input from government and industry.
GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY SUPPORT.
- Queensland Government
- Study Geelong
- Study Melbourne
- Study Queensland
- Study Sunshine Coast
- Victorian Government
INDUSTRY PARTNERS.
- ISANA International Education Association
- Melbourne Polytechnic
- Study Melbourne
- Study Queensland
- Study Sunshine Coast
- VicWISE (The Victorian Working Group on International Student Employability)
PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS »
- Central Queensland University
- Charles Sturt University
- Deakin University
- Education Access of Australia
- Federation University Australia
- Greystone College
- ILSC Greystone College
- Kaplan Business School
- La Trobe University
- Lonsdale Institute
- Melbourne Polytechnic
- Monash University
- RMIT University
- Swinburne University of Technology
- TAFE Queensland International
- TMG College Australia
- Torrens University
- University of Melbourne
- University of Queensland
- University of Sunshine Coast
- Victoria University
BECOMING A PARTNER ORGANISATION.
If you’re interested in joining our growing list of partners to offer Project Global Scholarships in your region or institutions, we’d love to chat.
CONTACT US »Why Partner With Us?
Co-design and co-delivery. We have successfully delivered Project Global Citizen through various partnerships and consortia. In each instance, we have taken a co-design and co-delivery approach according to the strategic objectives of the respective partners.
This demonstrates that our core 8-week Project Global Citizen program can be tailored according to your needs.
We believe the success of the program lies with client engagement and as such, we will work closely with you throughout the design and implementation process.
WHY GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS PROJECT GLOBAL CITIZEN.
Risk Management: Protecting Our International Education Industry »
International education is Australia’s third-largest export industry. There is a strategic imperative to ensure we fiercely protect Australia’s status as a world-class education destination of choice.
A strategic risk that Project Global Citizen addresses is that the student experience (academic, social, safety, employability) doesn’t always meet the expectations of international students.
- If student satisfaction starts to wane, this could have a detrimental effect on our economy.
- Although there are many initiatives to achieve this challenge, Project Global Citizen is the only program that specifically addresses the cultural gaps that are often barriers for students in achieving academic success, social integration, personal safety and employability.
Global Competitiveness of our Australian Workforce »
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International Readiness of Australian Industry »
With Australian industry increasingly being exposed to global forces, there’s a growing recognition of the need to employ people from different cultural backgrounds and leverage their international experience and insights.
However, a strategic challenge for international students seeking employment in Australia is their ability to “get a foot in the door” and to be seen as a cultural asset to an organisation rather than a liability (often referred to by employers as a “poor cultural fit”).
This is where Project Global Citizen has a prominent role in helping Australian industry with its international-readiness. We develop cultural competencies of international students so that they’re a good cultural fit for any organisation, whether that’s in Australia or anywhere else in the world.
WHY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS SUPPORT PROJECT GLOBAL CITIZEN.
International Competitiveness »
Project Global Citizen provides a competitive advantage for institutions and their students.
Whether these are international students in Australia or Australian students seeking employment internationally, we help them develop a suite of transferable skills valuable to organisations, especially multinational companies, government employers and companies with international clients.
- This provides graduates with a competitive advantage over other candidates who may have the right technical skills but not necessarily the cultural competencies expected of employers.
Accordingly, this also provides our education partners with a competitive advantage when it comes to showcasing how they develop students into globally employable graduates of choice.
Risk Management and Duty of Care »
Although there’s already a plethora of student support services available, quite often these are not accessed by international students for cultural reasons. Furthermore, international students are often unable to fully contextualise the advice and support being offered due to cultural differences. This poses a strategic risk to institutions in their duty of care.
Project Global Citizen helps prevent international students from “falling between the cracks”. Our partners who offer Project Global Citizen Scholarships find that the uptake of student support services by international students is higher given the cultural context provided through our program that helps students realise the need to take personal responsibility in areas such as self-directed learning, mental health, personal safety and professional self-development.
Student Retention and Financial Sustainability »
Up to 75% of an educational institution’s revenue can come from international students. Therefore, student retention can be a strategic and economic challenge if the student experience doesn’t meet expectations.
Project Global Citizen provides the cultural foundations for international students to thrive and survive. From an institution’s perspective, this reduces student attrition. Furthermore, international students are more likely to become life-long ambassadors not only for education in Australia but also for their alma mater. This is critical for ensuring economic sustainability.
Bridging the Gap Between International and Domestic Students »
With both international and domestic students interacting throughout the program, Project Global Citizen specifically addresses familiar cross-cultural challenges such as teamwork, building trust, integration etc.
We provide practical strategies for overcoming reservations and frustrations of domestic students working with international students and vice versa.
This is important not just for their student life (e.g. working in and leading cross-cultural study teams), but it is equally important for their professional life, regardless of whether they choose to work in Australia or overseas.
What's Involved in a Partnership?
OFFERING SCHOLARSHIPS TO YOUR STUDENTS.
As a partner of Project Global Citizen, you offer scholarships to students so they can participate in our 8-week cultural competency program.
With global employability as the “hook” to attract students, we deliver the program on your behalf, co-branded with your organisation.
The face-to-face component (our initial Project Global Citizen half-day workshop) is hosted on your premises or at a location of your choice. The remainder of the program is delivered online and via webinars. Upon completion of the program, a graduation ceremony can be hosted on your premises or at a location of your choice.
The blended learning core 8-week program comprises:
- A half-day (4-hour) face-to-face workshop
- Cultural self-assessment, coursework and resources via the Project Global Citizen online platform
- 4 x webinars
- Online and practical assessments
The program is scalable for cost-effective delivery to hundreds or even thousands of students across multiple locations, given that Project Global Citizen is a blended learning program.
To roll out the program in your location, there is a per-student fee that you may choose to either fully pay on behalf of your students or partially pay with co-payments made by students or alternative funding sources that you secure.
SUCCESS METRICS.
How do we measure success of the program?
We undertake pre and post-assessments of participants to track their progress. In order to graduate, participants are required to progress to a “low” or “somewhat low” cultural competency risk category across all key areas (academic risk, social risk, employability risk, safety risk).
Furthermore, we also provide you with a post-program evaluation report containing a range of metrics that measure students’ engagement with the key program learnings.
AUGMENTING YOUR EXISTING SUPPORT PROGRAMS.
Will the program replicate or compete with the existing suite of employability initiatives already available to students?
No, each Project Global Citizen program is designed to augment, NOT replace or compete with your other existing initiatives available to students. We focus exclusively on the cultural competency gaps we know can be problematic for international students, evidenced by the extensive data we collected in the 2018 global survey.
Benefits.
SUMMARY OF BENEFITS FOR OUR PARTNERS.
- International Competitiveness. Global employability and cultural competence as a competitive advantage for your institution and for your students.
- Global Employability. Addressing cultural competency gaps of international and domestic students in relation to employability.
- Student Satisfaction. This cultural competency accelerator program fills a gap in relation to students’ needs and wants.
- Risk Management and Duty of Care. Prevents students from falling between the gaps.
- Student Retention and Economic Sustainability. Reduce student attrition by providing them with the cultural foundations to thrive and survive. Furthermore, international students are more likely to become life-long ambassadors if they’ve enjoyed their student experience. This is critical for ensuring economic sustainability of education institutions.
- Cultural Integration. Bridging the gap between international and domestic students.
- Augmenting Existing Student Support. Augmenting your existing employability and student support programs.
BECOMING A PARTNER ORGANISATION.
If you’re interested in joining our growing list of partners to offer Project Global Scholarships in your region or institutions, we’d love to chat.
