Welcome to Global Classrooms
Our vision
Global Classrooms is a space for all university educators to cultivate transformative exchanges and environments via international collaborations.
Global Classrooms supports educators from across the university to develop collaborations via four global modalities; culture, research, education and business exchanges. These strands distinguish the way in which we connect students, academics and professionals internationally; developing inventive approaches to teaching and learning and delivering experiences for international mobility.
We do this through the delivery of grant funding and connecting educators with our in-house networks of specialised services to support and encourage the designing, ideating and testing of a collaborative idea.
Our vision, in an era of global challenges, is to develop;
Intercultural Synergy for collaborative and cross-cultural exchanges of Global Classrooms and communities of practice.
Transdisciplinary Innovation for the blending of disciplines, generations, and geographies to foster new ideas and educational models.
Global Connectivity for partnerships and networks formed between educators, students, and businesses across borders.
The work of Global Classrooms is underpinned by its guiding principles of Transformative Education; inclusive education, racial, social justice and sustainability and is inextricably linked to our Strategy 2030.
Cartas Vivias
Project team: and
Project: The Cartas Vivas project, launched in 2023-2024, is a collaboration between the University of Exeter and Madrid’s Universidad Complutense. ?Led by Prof. Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles and Dr. Isabel Santafé, the project connects Exeter’s ‘Women and Feminism in 20th Century Spain’ module with Madrid’s ‘Literatura y medios de comunicación’.??
Through a shared exploration of key female authors, students engage in an international exchange of ideas, with the Cartas Vivas project—a digital feminist memory archive—acting as a key learning resource.??In June 2024, both institutions co-created virtual archive tours, enriching students’ research experiences with an intercultural focus.
This project exemplifies sustainable global citizenship, with future collaborations planned with Madrid’s Autumn University and Visual Studies Department.?
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Social Cartographies
Project Team: , Dr. Deborah McFarlane and r
Project: The social cartographies project builds on long-standing research collaborations between the University of Exeter and the Faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna. Led by Dr. Gillian Juleff, Dr. Deborah McFarlane and Ayson Mercer, this Global Classrooms pilot aimed to expand this work into a digital space, connecting 32 students and 7 staff from Exeter and Sri Lanka.?
Five online sessions encouraged students to co-create and conduct a creative social cartography, exploring themes such as religion and ritual, monuments and memorials. The project produced dynamic ‘place engagements’ through written pieces, videos, and soundscapes, with the results being developed into a video overview.?
The project’s success led to the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding between the institutions, and plans for future collaboration are underway.
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Global Classrooms for Health Profession Education?
Project Team: and
Project: Global Classrooms for Health Profession Education (HPE) Network, a collaboration across universities at MAHE India, IAU Saudi Arabia, NUMed Malaysia, and Sheffield teaching hospital (NHS) UK.
Led by Prof. Vrinda Nayak and Dr. Winnie Nyinoh from the University of Exeter, this initiative, looked to enhance intercultural competence within healthcare education; via six international meetings over six months, and brought together staff and students for cross-border learning exchanges.?
Key outcomes include the development of an HPE network logo, the launch of a project website, and the creation of guidelines for good practices in global health education. The initiative was showcased at the International Congress of Health Workforce Education and Research in Barcelona in June 2024.?
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Sensorial Classrooms
Project team: and
Project: Sensorial classrooms a collaborative project between the University of Exeter, UNC Chapel Hill, and Duke Medical School. Led by Dr. Michael J Flexer and Gemma Lucas from Exeter, alongside colleagues from UNC and Duke.
This initiative piloted a module exploring health humanities, focusing on embodiment, (dis)ability, self-knowledge, and mental and social alienation.?
The team co-created the module during a workshop in May 2024 at UNC and Duke, developing course content and testing innovative online immersive platforms. The module includes sensory-rich resources to enhance virtual learning environments.?
A postgraduate pilot is currently running, featuring a virtual campus with interactive spaces representing all partner institutions. A second pilot for undergraduates and medical students is set for early 2025.?
Looking ahead, the team aims to expand the module, engage more international partners, and explore advanced teaching methods like virtual reality. This model is expected to drive interdisciplinary learning and foster global collaboration.?
CAOS/EJ - CAmpus On Stage/Environmental Justice
Project Team: , , , , , Mario Aldo Cedrini, and Angelo Miramonti
Project: The CAOS/EJ project aims to enhance environmental justice (EJ) education through international collaboration between the University of Exeter and the University of Turin. By using educational theatre and podcasts to dramatize environmental conflicts, the project fosters active learning, inclusivity, and critical thinking. It provides educators and students with participatory tools that make complex socio-ecological issues more accessible, while also promoting restorative justice and environmental awareness. The project will produce open-access resources and materials for use in university curricula.
Developing a Global Classroom Module for Clinical Psychological Assessment Using Virtual Avatars
Project team: and Professor Jing Qian
This project aims to develop an avatar-based MSc module in clinical psychology assessment through a collaboration between the University of Exeter and Tsinghua University. It will bring together students, lecturers, and people with lived experience of mental health conditions to identify key learning needs and improve an existing jointly taught module. Teaching materials will be updated and co-developed with Tsinghua’s studio to create immersive avatar-based content. The prototype will be evaluated using surveys and focus groups with students and staff, with feedback used for refinement. The final outcome is an engaging, accessible global classroom module for modern MSc-level clinical psychology education.
SDGs in South Africa: A Geography Knowledge Exchange
Project team: , and Professor Simon Hull
Understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is embedded across Geography programmes at the University of Exeter through conceptual teaching and case studies that help students engage with global challenges. This project builds on existing partnerships with the Universities of Cape Town and Pretoria to develop a collaborative learning programme that deepens engagement with sub-Saharan African perspectives. It aims to expand case studies and co-created learning opportunities with students in South Africa, enriching teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The interdisciplinary team focuses on SDGs 1, 7, and 13, exploring issues such as renewable energy, climate action, and poverty. Their work combines qualitative interviews and GIS mapping to examine the impacts of renewable energy development and land use change in southern Africa.
Student-led videos to increase awareness of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN- SDG) for students in Clinical and Biomedical Sciences students
Project team: and
At the University of Exeter there has been a drive to integrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) into undergraduate degree programmes. However, in Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, we have found that few students recognised the acronym ‘SDG’, or the links of their modules to sustainability. In this project we attempted to address this challenge by exploring the potential of students as co-creators. Pairs of students have created short videos to highlight the links between their modules and UN-SDGs. These videos will be available for other students to view over the next year.
