Presenter: Prof. Keiko Ikeda (Kansai University) 

Date & time: 11 February 2026, 11am (AEDT)/ 9am (JST)

Registration link: Here

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Title: 

Forging Paths to Global Careers: the Role of COIL and Virtual Exchange in Building Tomorrow's Global Workforce

Abstract:  

This presentation examines how Virtual Exchange (VE) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) can be repositioned from peripheral internationalization activities to core pathways for global career development. As traditional mobility-dependent models face increasing limitations in scalability, equity, and sustainability, VE/COIL offers a structurally different approach: one that enables inclusive, digitally mediated, and workforce-relevant global learning at scale. The presentation argues that the key challenge is not pedagogical effectiveness alone, but institutional and industry buy-in, which requires making learning outcomes visible, credible, and legible beyond academia.

Drawing on Japan’s national social impact initiative OSIP (Osaka Social Impact Project, 2024–2030), led by Keiko Ikeda (Kansai University), the presentation introduces a multi-layered framework that integrates COIL, blended mobility, and career-oriented assessment. Central to this framework is the concept of “career currency”—industry-trusted evidence of students’ global, intercultural, and collaborative competencies. By aligning VE/COIL tasks with recognized standards such as Japan’s Shakaijin Kisoryoku and global NACE competencies, and by incorporating employer-validated rubrics, micro-ratings, and digital credentials, OSIP demonstrates how virtual learning can translate into labor-market value.

The presentation concludes by proposing VE/COIL as part of the university’s educational operating system, rather than an international office add-on. It highlights how employer-legible assessment systems, interoperable micro-credentials, and long-term university–industry collaboration can transform VE/COIL into a sustainable infrastructure for global talent development—benefiting students, institutions, and regional industries alike.

About the speaker: 

Keiko Ikeda is a Professor in the Division of International Affairs at Kansai University, Japan. She also serves as Vice-Director of the Institute for Innovative Global Education (IIGE) and plays a central leadership role in advancing the university’s internationalization strategy. Her work focuses on designing and implementing innovative global education models that integrate international collaboration, digital learning, and employability-oriented outcomes, with particular emphasis on COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), blended mobility, and micro-credential ecosystems.

Professor Ikeda received her Ph.D. in Japanese Language from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, specializing in Japanese linguistics, conversation analysis, and foreign language education. She also holds an MA in TESOL from Portland State University and an Advanced Certificate in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawai‘i. Prior to joining Kansai University, she held teaching and academic positions at institutions including the University of Toronto and Nagoya University, building a strong international academic profile across North America and Japan.

At Kansai University, Professor Ikeda has led and contributed to multiple MEXT-funded national initiatives, including inter-university COIL and global talent development projects such as the Japan Hub for Innovative Global Education (JIGE) and the Osaka Social Impact Project (OSIP). Her professional interests span higher education internationalization, intercultural learning, global employability, and the integration of digital credentials into formal curricula. Through policy engagement, international partnerships, and faculty and staff capacity-building, she actively works to reimagine higher education for an increasingly interconnected and AI-enabled global society.

Presenter: Dr. Curtis Chu (Assistant Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Setsunan University) 

Date & time: 3 December 2025, 4pm (AEDT)/ 2pm (JST)

Registration link: Here

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Abstract:  

This session will first briefly highlight the findings from a recent global survey on assessing intercultural competence, including the trends ICC assessment, how/why ICC is assessed, barriers to assessing ICC, and also a list of ICC assessment tools and methods that are being used globally. Then, the session dives deeper into the barriers and challenges of assessing ICC in VE/COIL research through an interactive discussion via Padlet. To conclude, the session shares innovative assessment methods such as using free association to gather implicit data and adopting AI assisted interpretations of the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory.

About the speaker: 

Dr. Curtis Chu is an assistant professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Setsunan University, Japan. As an interculturalist who lived in four countries, he is fascinated with differences across cultures and is fluent in Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, English, and Japanese. He accumulated extensive experience in designing, implementing, and coordinating virtual exchange projects focused on cultivating intercultural and global competencies. Curtis is also a virtual exchange design and assessment specialist on the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI) team, and he is editor for the Intercultural Connector, a publication of the World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence. Curtis and his Setsunan students have been collaborating with Monash in the COIL/OIE space since 2022. 

Presenter: Prof. Martin Ward (Institutional COIL Lead, University of Leeds) 

Date & time: 6 November 2025, 7pm (AEDT)/ 8am (GMT)

View seminar session: Here

Abstract:  

Whilst Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has long been an internationally recognised pedagogic methodology supporting Internationalisation at Home (IaH) and the development of key transferrable skills, it has been noticeably underutilised in the UK. This talk will outline the approach taken to scaling up COIL at the University of Leeds in the UK, starting from a place of ‘obscurity’ to visibility, normalisation and institutional-level support, providing an example of practice at one university and methods and a model adaptable for use in other institutional and national contexts.

About the speaker: 

Prof. Martin WARD (PhD, FHEA, PGCAP) is Professor of Chinese and Japanese Translation at the University of Leeds. After graduating from Leeds, he spent 16 years studying and working in East and Central Asia. He established the global East Asian Translation Pedagogy Advance (EATPA) network in 2020 and began implementing collaborative online international learning (COIL) in translation pedagogy in 2021. Now institutional COIL lead at Leeds he is spearheading the work to scale up COIL across the university, whilst also seeking to encourage the proliferation of COIL across UK and Ireland HE. He organised the first-of-its-kind Building COIL capability in the UK and Ireland symposium (Leeds, 24 April 2025) and founded and chairs UNICOIL- The UK and Ireland COIL Network.