In order to foster understanding, share experiences and resources, and to develop meaningful and sustainable collaborative partnerships an educational developers and manager program was developed between partner institutions in Canada and Japan. This initiative was part of the Educational Management and Leadership program in Japan which cultivated leaders or change agents that can drive educational improvement and reform at individual universities. It provided participants with the opportunity to build or improve expertise, skills and capabilities for designing, enabling and managing educational improvements at institutional level as well as promoting good teaching at the individual level. Groups of Japanese academic leaders participated in a week-long intensive program at a Canadian university which included a series of workshops focused on aspect of educational development and leadership, individual consultations and meeting with relevant Canadian stakeholders designed to support the participants in developing their own project or initiative. The purpose of this session is to describe the program that was developed in partnership with a Canadian Centre for Teaching and Learning and a Japanese University Center for the Advancement of Higher Education and to consider the rationales and benefits for internationalization (Knight, 2008, Chap.11) in educational development for the host Canadian institution and the selected Japanese participants and their institutions. This session will highlight the opportunities that exist for institutions in Japan and Canada to collaborate. Participant will learn about this program, but also discuss the similarities, differences, challenges and opportunities for collaboration that can be developed with other international institutions of Higher Education.
Knight, J. (2008) Higher Education in Turmoil, The Changing World of Internationalization, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers
