Publications: New guide for ethical mobility

Robert Gough (Western University), Dr. Pamela Roy (Consultancy for Global Higher Education) and Farzana Karim-Haji (The Aga Khan University) have collaborated on a new guide for developing ethical student mobility programs that considers the interests, goals, priorities, and needs of the student, the program, the institution, and most importantly, the host partner.

scales of justice with world map in between

A Holistic Model for Ethical Mobility Programs further develops the concepts explored in their earlier work, Building Ethical Global Engagement with Host Communities: North-South Collaborations for Mutual Learning and Benefit, which covered topics such as core ethical dilemmas, standards of practice, critical self-reflexivity and reflexive practice, comprehensive pre-departure preparation, and how to develop ethical partnerships.

The six critical components of this model include:

  1. Ethically engaged partner relationship
  2. Ethics of governance: led from the ground
  3. Co-develop pre-departure orientation and materials
  4. Ongoing critical and ethical co-engagement and co-learning
  5. Ethical branding and communication
  6. Co-assessment, co-evaluation, and co-learning
Ethical engagement in mobility programs is a choice. Historically, mobility programs have focused on the benefits to the students from the Global North with little attention paid to ensuring mutual benefit and reciprocity with the host partners and communities. The six critical components above are connected to ethical dilemmas preparing students to engage ethically in mobility programs while adding value for the host partners and communities. The model is rooted in a partnership-based approach whereby the sending institution and the host partner(s) collaborate on co-planning, co-development, co-implementation, and co-evaluation of the mobility program.