Lee, S. (2017, November). The promise of diasporic academics: Potential partnerships between the local and global. Paper presented at the New Zealand Association for Research in Education Conference (NZARE) Annual Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand. Abstract This presentation considers the promise of diasporic academics from the viewpoint of one who identifies herself as a diasporic academic. Drawing from Wendy Larner’s (2015) paper, the presentation is a biographical reflection on the benefits and implications of diasporic academics, in particular, international doctoral students, in higher education. Firstly, I will discuss the definition and examples of a diasporic academic, as well as highlight how diasporic academics are positioned as transnational knowledge brokers in advancing universities' internationalisation strategies and policies. I then focus on a particular group of diasporic academics, international doctoral students. I argue that while they are pivotal in advancing internationalisation plans, the ways in which universities engage (or disengage) with them serve to undermine those internationalisation goals. Then I provide a brief outline of my personal background to set the context of my reflections. I will speak from my experiences as a former leader in my university’s Postgraduate Students’ Association, share about international student engagement in my own faculty, and highlight the tensions arising from university-wide restructuring and significant staff movements. I then offer suggestions how relationships with international doctoral students as diasporic academics can be nurtured in mutually beneficial ways. I conclude that leadership in higher education needs to be cognizant of the potential and challenges of engaging with emerging diasporic academics. After all, diasporic academics are potential partners in growing international networks in an age of academic mobility. Reference Larner, W. (2015). Globalising knowledge networks: Universities, diaspora strategies, and academic intermediaries. Geoforum, 59, 197–205. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.10.006 Keywords: Diasporic academic, internationalisation, partnership

1. The Promise of Diasporic Academics
Potential partnerships between
the local and global
Sherrie Lee
University of Waikato
NZARE Conference 21 Nov 2017

2. 1
Definitions
Context
Literature
Experience
Implications

3. § Multiple national affiliations and relationships
§ Internationally mobile academics (‘global academic elite’)
§ Academics recruited from overseas
§ International research students who stay on in the
host country
§ Transnational knowledge brokers or academic
intermediaries
Who are diasporic academics?
2
Globalising knowledge networks: Universities, diaspora strategies, and academic
intermediaries (Larner, 2015)
Definitions

4. § Facilitate exchange between countries through
professional and personal connections
§ Experiential understandings, linguistic skills and
ability to read cultural nuance
§ Advance internationalisation at institutional and
political levels
§ Global competitiveness, increased research outputs
Globalising knowledge networks: Universities, diaspora strategies, and academic
intermediaries (Larner, 2015)
3
Why are diasporic academics important?
Definitions

5. § Otago University – 70% overseas-born or
NZers with overseas PhD qualifications
§ Victoria University – 50% overseas-born
§ Early Career Academics report(Sutherland et al., 2013)
§ 56% overseas-born
§ 71% in NZ for less than10 yrs
4
Diasporic academics in NZ
Context

6. § Universities NZ – 16% of international
students are studying PhD
§ International graduates report (Park, 2017)
§ Almost 20% of PhD grads are working in NZ
five years after graduation
§ Work in sectors related to management and
commerce, engineering, and IT
5
International PhD Graduates in NZ
Context

7. § Framed by a deficit discourse (see also Singh & Doherty,
2008; Zeegers & Barron, 2008)
§ Western cultural and epistemological hegemony
(e.g. learning from developed country to fix problems of home nation)
§ Few social and intellectual ties with domestic
doctoral students
§ Cohort groups essential for developing networks
but floundered in times of restructuring
6
Engaging with international PhDs
Intercultural PhD supervision: Exploring the hidden curriculum in a social science faculty doctoral
programme (Kidman, Manathunga, & Cornforth, 2017)
Literature

8. 7
ExperienceBiography
(Ellis, 2007;Wilkins, 1993)
Experience

9. 8
§ More international than domestic PhD
students on campus
§ Polite Distance Natural Affinity
§ Informal groups dependant on leadership
§ Variable practices across departments
§ Community of practice?
Dis/engagement
Experience

10. 9
Us v.Them
Experience
§ International groups provide ‘support’
§ Support = community
§ Support = segregation
§ Preaching to the converted
§ International students
§ Staff interested in international students
§ Other staff? Other students?

11. 10
Ignorance
Experience
§ No interest if there is no direct or obvious
benefit
§ Vague ideas and impressions of culture
and identity
§ International students know more about
NZ than NZ knows about international
students

12. 11
Bridging the Gaps
Implications
§ Vision of an international community for all
§ Intentional and well-organised activities
§ Valuing cross-cultural relationships

13. 12
Mannakitanga
Implications
“…mutual care and respect
for people, honouring one
another or power sharing…”
(Kukutai & Rata, 2017, p. 41)
Chapter 2: From Mainstream to Manaaki: Indigenising our
approach to immigration (Tahu Kukutai and Arama Rata)

14. 13
TheDiasporicAcademic.wordpress.com
SHERRIE LEE Twitter @orangecanton

15. Ellis, C. (2007).Telling secrets, revealing Lives: Relational ethics in research with intimate others.
Qualitative Inquiry, 13(1), 3–29. http://doi.org/10.1177/1077800406294947
Kidman, J., Manathunga, C., & Cornforth, S. (2017). Intercultural PhD supervision: Exploring the hidden
curriculum in a social science faculty doctoral programme. Higher Education Research & Development,
36(6), 1208–1221. http://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1303457
Kukutai,T., & Rata,A. (2017). From mainstream to Manaaki: Indigenising our approach to immigration. In
D. Hall (ed.), Fair borders? Migration policy in the twenty-first century (pp. 26–45).Wellington, New
Zealand: Bridget Williams Books.
Larner,W. (2015). Globalising knowledge networks: Universities, diaspora strategies, and academic
intermediaries. Geoforum, 59, 197–205. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.10.006
Park, Z. (2017). Moving places: Destinations and earnings of international graduates.Wellington, New Zealand.
Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/80898/moving-places-destinations-
and-earnings-of-international-graduates
Singh, P., & Doherty, C. (2008). Mobile students in liquid modernity: Negotiating the politics of
transcultural identities. In N. Dolby & F. Rizvi (Eds.), Youth moves: Identities and education in global
perspective (pp. 115–130). NewYork, NY: Routledge.
Sutherland, K.,Wilson, M., & Williams, P. (2013). Success in academia?The experiences of early career
academics in New Zealand universities.Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved from
https://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/download/ng/file/group-5314/report-success-in-academia-sutherland.pdf
Wilkins, R. (1993).Taking it personally:A note on emotion and autobiography. Sociology, 27(1), 93–100.
http://doi.org/10.1177/003803859302700109
14
References and Notes

16. Park, Z. (2017). Moving places: Destinations and earnings of international graduates.Wellington, New
Zealand: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/
publications/80898/moving-places-destinations-and-earnings-of-international-graduates
Zeegers, M., & Barron, D. (2008). Discourses of deficit in higher degree research supervisory
pedagogies for international students. Pedagogies:An International Journal, 3(2), 69–84.
http://doi.org/10.1080/15544800801929393
Notes
[Slide 3] Statistics related to Otago University taken from Times Higher Education
http://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-otago
[Slide 3] Statistics related toVictoria University taken fromVictoria University
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/about/victorias-story/statistics
[Slide 4] Universities NZ: http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/sector-research/advancing-international-
education
15
References and Notes