The Academic Preparation of Transnational Students: An Analysis of Curriculum and Teaching Methods from Four International Systems

General note to editors—we do NOT use the word international students. The reasons are explained in the body of the article but international—as defined in higher education–is actually more limited than the focus of this article. The term is being removed throughout. There has been a considerable increase in the number of international students over the past decades. Although much of the research on international students focuses on academic skills and the broader student experience beyond the classroom, less is known about how subject-matter preparation and the experience of student-centered teaching methods increasingly promoted in North American universities differ among students whose prior education was gained outside of North America. To build a better sense of the subject-matter preparation and teaching methods experienced in their prior education by students with prior education outside of North America, this article poses the following questions: What curriculum did students follow in their general education? What teaching methods were common? This paper presents the results of a scoping literature review, which aims to “map” key themes in a field of research to clarify complex topics and orient future inquiries. This review looked at the subject-matter preparation and teaching methods in four regions that send many students to universities in the English-speaking world: China, India, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. The history of educational reforms in the 20th century informs the findings. Reforms brought much consistency in science and mathematics curricula across regions. However, there is less consistency in the coverage of other subjects, such as the humanities and social sciences. In terms of teaching methods, traditional instructor-centered teaching methods remain prevalent despite reforms calling for student-centered methods. Instructors benefit from awareness of the prior knowledge of their students so they can adjust their teaching plans to students’ knowledge base, something that varies by subject area. Instructors also benefit from recognizing that students may require time to adjust to participatory approaches to teaching.