Meeting the challenges of cultural diversity in the academic setting.
Global trends in internationalisation have influenced the mix of students traditionally occupying classrooms and clinical laboratories in nursing. Nursing faculties are faced with an increased mix of students that represent a diversity of cultures; this presents challenges for students and nurse academics in the resulting transcultural encounters. This paper documents the findings of a systematic literature review exploring the implications of cultural diversity in academia across a number of countries and disciplines. Many research studies have focused on university experiences of indigenous students, local students from non-English speaking backgrounds and international students, and have proposed methods and skills that could assist educators. This review has examined both research and descriptive papers to present a broad range of ideas. Discussion includes the implications for teaching and learning strategies for enhancing educational experiences of students and their educators in the academic settings.
Omeri
Akram
A
Senior Lecturer, Department of Family & Community Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Malcolm
Patricia
P
Ahern
Maureen
M
Wellington
Beverley
B