From international PGR students to international GTAs: Academic rationales for international GTA recruitment in UK higher education institutions

Abstract

The increasing supply of international postgraduate research (PGR) students has become an emerging market for international PhD programmes within the realm of international higher education. The United Kingdom has witnessed a sharp upsurge in the number of international PGR students enrolling in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) in the past decade. Additionally, a considerable number of international PGR students assume the role of graduate teaching assistants to support teaching activities in UK HEIs. Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are essential to the delivery of instruction in universities, particularly in research-intensive institutions (Nyquist, 1991; Gray, Buerkel-Rothfuss, & Bort, 1993; Olaniran, 1999), working as tutors, laboratory instructors, supervisors, or even lecturers (Chiu & Corrigan, 2019). A rising number of international PGR students thus contribute to the undergraduate student learning process by lecturing and helping with teaching in the UK (International Unit, 2016). International PGR students undertaking GTA roles are an important resource for UK higher education to assist with the instruction of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the academic benefits international GTAs bring to the UK's HEIs and summarises the academic rationales for UK HEIs' recruitment of international PGR students to work as GTAs.

Through a systematic and thematic analysis of previous articles and documents, this paper delineates four fundamental academic benefits and recruitment rationales for the employment of international PGR students as GTAs in UK HEIs. These academic benefits include improving reputation and ranking; enhancing internationalisation at home (campus internationalisation and decolonising the classroom); promoting curriculum and pedagogic innovation; and improving students’ intercultural competence and international collaboration. The aforementioned findings facilitate a thorough and all-encompassing comprehension of the academic value implicated in the recruitment of international PGR students as GTAs in UK HEIs.