There is a pressing obligation on the part of the sector to do something about enhancing domestic-international engagement within the classroom. Many universities, schools and colleges have explored strategies to deal with this issue, with mixed success. While there has been much attention to developing programs within student services that address issues of English language, plagiarism and developing critical thinking skills, there has been surprisingly little work on exploring approaches to within teaching and learning that might foster international-domestic student engagement. Generally it has been assumed that academic staff and the diverse student cohort can work through the challenges with little informed support to guide their practice. There is no evidence that this is the case. In their study of the impact of international students on university life at three Victorian Universities, Marginson and Eijkman (2007) concluded:

… the internationalisation of the curriculum content, and the potential pedagogical, curricular and other implications of greater diversity of national origins, native languages, cultural backgrounds and educational preparations in the student body, appear to be underdeveloped. Perhaps there were simply not the resources to create more inventive approaches to pedagogies and curriculum in now more multi-cultural classrooms (Executive Summary, p. 6).

In 2009, The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded a project to develop practical teaching and learning approaches designed to improve cohort cohesion, student engagement and retention across and within a diverse student population in undergraduate and postgraduate coursework. The project was conducted jointly by Centre for the Studies of Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of Melbourne, RMIT University and Victoria University.

Some initial results and framework of the project will be presented at the Symposium. The need to look at , planning, mapping, monitoring and reviewing both classroom and institutional practices regarding student interaction within the learning and teaching environment will be discussed.

The Symposium will also include Speakers from other Universities who are leaders in the area. As part of the Symposium, we would like to invite you to share your best practice amongst leading researchers and practitioners in the area to discuss ways to enhance domestic-international student engagement in the classroom. There will be opportunities for discussion at the Symposium.