Gael Milligan, Deputy Partnership Manager
For many of our incoming students, moving abroad to live and study in a new country can be daunting. Moreover, many international students experience both cultural and digital shock when they arrive at UWE.
DAPUWE, a collaboration between UWE’s Asia Pacific Partnership Team and the School of Business, was introduced in summer 2023 as an initiative to better prepare international students with the Digital, Academic, and Professional development skills needed for life, study, and work.
The intensive 5-day course was delivered to both undergraduate and postgraduate students across the Asia Pacific region in August, via a series of live Zoom webinars. We tried to be as flexible as possible, as we recognised that many students would be busy in August arranging their study visas and credibility interviews and organising travel and accommodation in UK. Therefore, we offered students the chance to either attend the full course or select webinar(s) of interest.
DAPUWE supported students in developing research skills, as well as to improve digital skills to use AI effectively in the planning stage of assignment-writing. The programme also included sessions on creating effective PowerPoint presentations, formatting, and presenting assignments in Word, recording, and analysing data and creating graphs and charts in Excel. Drawing on the Big Five personality theory, students were encouraged to identify their strengths, talents, and traits to take charge of their own professional development. Students welcomed the input of UWE programme and module leaders and library staff, as this allowed students to gain a real insight of HE expectations and how teaching, learning and assessment are conducted at UWE.
We are extremely proud of DAPUWE because it showcases how collaboration internationally adds real value to the student experience and positively impacts on the pre-departure stage of the international student journey.
Student feedback:
Thank you so much for all the wonderful sessions for the past five days. Knowing all of this information in advance will help us to complete all the university tasks with ease. Would love to see you on campus!
Thank you so much for the inspirational and motivating start for our master’s journey. The past 5 days has been a great learning experience.
I really appreciate your dedication and passion towards helping new students. It takes a lot of patience and effort to conduct courses like this, to cater to the needs of diverse students. It was very helpful. Thank you once again for your sincere support.