A Bradford School of Management stalwart who helps students optimise their learning potential has article published in respected journal
A University of Bradford Faculty of Management and Law staff member who helps students maximise their academic learning has had her first journal article published.
Amy Allhouse (Sheng-Hui Hsu), who works with Dr Martin Sedgley at the , had her article published in the International Student Experience Journal this week.
The essay, titled ‘Bridging academic differences between China and the UK’, was a joint effort with her husband, Michael Allhouse, who is the Student Engagement Manager at the University of Bradford Union of Students.
It discusses a faculty-based induction programme for a group of direct entry Chinese students studying undergraduate final year programmes at the University of Bradford (UoB), Faculty of Management and Law (FoML), and evaluates the effectiveness of the intervention from the students’ perspective.
Known as the ‘Bridge Programme’, it is designed to aid transition and to develop the students’ understanding of UK academic requirements. It has been running for the last four years.
Student feedback was sought through a number of different means: a questionnaire, focus group, students’ further engagement and their academic achievement. In particular, students recognized the benefits of using exemplars to contextualize analytical writing as part of the induction experience.
Amy said: “Our Bridge Programme focuses on easing the transition of the learning mind-set. We focus on developing new learning skills in the Chinese students and making them aware of the challenges in differences in the learning culture, such as writing skills and the need to be more proactive in lectures, seminars, group work and having a wider reading base, because in China learning is much more defined and restrictive.”
The Bridge Programme is not specifically about developing language proficiency because all the students who are enrolled will already have the required IELTS 6 grade.
Amy said: “I’m really pleased we’ve been published in this journal because the readers of it are people who work in learning support and language support.
“What is interesting about the journal is that it also includes students’ perspectives, while it is also peer-reviewed.”
She added: “The Effective Learning Service helps all our students, not just Chinese. The Bridge Programme is just one example of what we do. We are aiming to roll it out to all international students this summer.”
The International Student Experience Journal is a peer-reviewed online publication for those involved in researching, teaching and providing services to international students in Higher Education in the UK and other English speaking countries. The Journal links the everyday concerns of university staff including academics, researchers, EAP practitioners and the students themselves with insights gained from related academic disciplines such as applied linguistics, education, psychology, and sociology.
Amy, who is originally from Taiwan, completed an MBA at Bradford School of Management 10 years ago and started working at the University nearly seven years ago.