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Internationalisation At Home

Gain international experience from the comfort of your own home through accessible online global learning opportunities.

What is Internationlisation At Home?

Internationalisation at Home (IAH) is an opportunity to expand your international experience in a sustainable way through a Global Classroom. The IAH initiative at Sussex supports multi-national and intercultural programmes across campus, available to all students. These are delivered online and accessible from anywhere.

Taking part in globally networked learning is a great opportunity to develop your skills and add an international dimension to your degree. You will have a different learning experience and gain a global perspective to real world issues. It can also help you to grow as a person and as a global citizen. The full benefits include:

  • experiencing international teaching
  • meeting and working with students from all over the world
  • understanding others and the world better
  • enhancing your professional skills set and building transferable skills
  • gaining international connections and recognition of intercultural studies
  • enhancing your CV with international experience, helping your future job prospects.

You may already be engaged with globally networked learning or Global Classroom as part of your degree or wider experience at Sussex.

How to get involved

We work closely with schools and partners to provide international experiences so our students can develop intercultural competencies and become successful global citizens. 

Opportunities to get involved at Sussex will be updated here, so check back regularly. You can also sign up to be notified of new learning opportunities when they arise. 

You can see examples and find out how to get involved below:

One World Sussex

One World Sussex is run collaboratively by the University of Sussex and the Students’ Union. It celebrates the diversity of cultures in our community.

As part of this we host One World Week every year in March. You can get involved by attending events or even bidding to put on your own events. 

For 2023, we ran the Global Citizen Café, an interactive event that explored the role of the global citizen.  

Online learning through the Intercultural Connectivity Series

This four-week online module series is open to all Sussex students and usually runs towards the end of the academic year. The series enables you to collaborate with students from overseas universities and you will work to develop your intercultural skills and knowledge, enhancing your future studies and employment opportunities.

You will typically attend one online seminar per week and watch one lecture per week for the duration of the module. The online delivery is intended to provide flexibility whilst also offering a valuable opportunity to gain new skills and experiences as part of your student experience. You do not need any knowledge of intercultural competency or technologies of culture in advance.

Benefits include:

  • gaining global perspectives on intercultural competencies
  • experience in global team collaboration
  • professional skills development
  • developing your own global ideas and perspectives
  • a certificate of completion in intercultural competency at end of course.

To find out more about the next opportunities in the Intercultural Connectivity Series and how to apply, email globalopportunities@sussex.ac.uk.

Previous modules – Imagining China

The Intercultural Connectivity Series module ‘Imagining China’ ran in June 2023 and saw a collaboration between our School of Media, Arts and Humanities and the Joint Institute of Artificial Intelligence at Zhejiang Gongshang University.

Throughout this online module, students reflected on how individuals and cultures can encounter one another and foster an intercultural competency that was lacking in the 18th century. Across the module, they learned about the principles and practice of intercultural competency. Students considered the history of British failures in intercultural competency in the 18th and early 19th century, as well as how technology can be used to address the challenges of creating meaningful intercultural engagement.

Connect with international students through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

As the world is becoming increasingly more global, being able to work well with people from different cultures is more important than ever. A COIL allows you to connect with students from different countries and be exposed to a new and different culture, without having to travel. 

One or more partner universities in different locations will co-deliver a module or part of a module online. The module will also be assessed by both institutions and usually forms part of your degree.

Examples of COIL opportunities include:

  • a partnership between the University of Sussex Business School and UNAM Facultad De Contaduría y Administración, forming part of the International Business Strategy module. Working in mixed groups, it gives students the chance to work together in overcoming challenges and making strategic decisions in response to changing market environments

  •  a partnership with the University of ESCO-IGES in Burkina Faso, where students from both institutions work together on a project that promotes language skills development and global citizenship. 

COILs are not possible on all our degrees. You may wish to ask your lecturers how you can add a Global Classroom to your course.

Guest lectures from international academics

Some of your lectures may be delivered by an academic or field expert from another international institution or organisation. 

This might provide an international dimension to your subject matter, enabling you to gain deeper knowledge and understanding through a different perspective.

In the past guest speakers have included:

  • Dr Ana Paula Mundim, a sustainability expert at Accenture Strategy, who studied a PhD in electronic engineering at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil
  • Professor Michael Dunford, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who delivered a guest lecture on the global economic and political implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Virtual exchanges with international institutions

Virtual exchanges can involve working with another university, business or non-governmental organisation (NGO) on an extra-curricular online exchange. During the exchange you might work on a particular problem or task online, set up by the organisation. 

This allows you to gain experience outside of your degree and enhance your professional skill set.

Previous examples include:

  • the Sussex Writes Global Writing Café, a creative writing event that aims to bring together a global community of emerging and experienced youth writers (including a conversaton with author Su’eddie Agema, writer of Memory and the Call of Waters and creator of Benue Book and Arts Festival in Nigeria)
  • another Sussex Writes event, joining with the Youth Café to host Lockdown Live. This series of international webinars addressed the challenges young people are faced during Covid-19 and aimed to increase awareness of the global situation in the wake of the pandemic.
  • our students partnering with students from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Victoria University of Wellington to create a video on the student perspective as part of the Global Sustainability Challenge.

Opportunities elsewhere for globally networked learning

  • Global Enterprise Experience (GEE) – online action-learning experience that develops skills in peer-leadership, cross-cultural management, social entrepreneurship, UN Sustainable Development Goals and global citizenship. It is free to enter, no travel is involved, and will take about 10 hours per week for three weeks. Enrolment for the 2024 programme opens on 10 February 2024 until 10 April 2024. Email globalopportunites@sussex.ac.uk if you would like to enrol. 
  • Sharing Perspectives Foundation – a not-for-profit foundation which offers contemporary online learning experiences. Their mission is to create equal opportunities for everyone to develop skills that students and employees need to thrive in today’s connected world.
  • Global Circles – a series of programmes and opportunities to meet online, with participants from various countries and cultures, on topics that matter locally and globally.