Coventry University Scarborough Campus

Image: Project slide

Academic Year: 2020-21

Project Leader: Hannah Degge

Partner University(s)/Organisation(s): Seventh Day Adventist Nursing and Midwifery Training College (Ghana)

Project Overview:

This project was conducted as part of a special feature for Contemporary Welfare and Social Policy module and it was split into two sessions: pre-session and the main session. It was carried out over a period of two weeks.

In the pre-session, the students were required to work as a group to research and provide an overview of their welfare systems. The main session activity started off with an ice breaker, where students from both countries introduced themselves and talked about some interesting facts about Ghana and the UK respectively. This was followed by the discussions about similarities and differences between the welfare systems where they had the opportunity to ask questions beyond the scope of the topic.

It was very interesting for the students to learn how historical and cultural factors impacted the welfare systems. They also discussed Britain’s colonisation impact on the current welfare provision structure and reflected on the demographic differences in higher education.

This project created the opportunity for the students to understand how intercultural competencies and awareness play a crucial role in the global health practice. It also enabled them to gain an insight into how welfare system and social policies impacts upon the health of a nation.

Online Tools Used: Email, Open Moodle, Skype

Things to remember:

  1. An ice breaker is an important part of a COIL project and should take place before both groups of students are ‘thrown’ into a COIL activity.
  2. Developing your students’ intercultural competencies and awareness is an important learning outcome of a COIL project.