This year marks the start of a new collaboration of University of Warwick and IISMA, a scholarship program funded by the government of Indonesia’s ministry of education to send third year students abroad for a semester in top universities around the world. The rationale behind IISMA can be understood from a quote made by our minister of education, proprietor of the program: “Academic exchange are beneficial for students’ preparedness to face the future global world, IISMA focuses on developing student’s cross-cultural awareness, tolerance, and breadth of knowledge in creating a global sustainable future”. Thus, it is no wonder why from the 10 modules provided to us in Warwick, almost half of them were from the department of IATL.

The Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL) department is quite different from other typically known academic departments. It allows students the opportunity to study and learn a large variety of subjects through an interdisciplinary lens as a means of supporting educational innovation, by encouraging student research and development at the University of Warwick. This year’s batch of IISMA consists of 10 students from 8 different universities and 10 different majors. Ranging all the way from psychology and engineering, to animal science and medical study. Us IISMA program awardees are pleased to be able to enrol in IATL modules. The modules provided by IATL have proved to be a great gateway to new topics we are not familiar with, or a new lens to see the fields we studied.

Farrel and Davin both joined the module Entrepreneurship: A Critical Perspective

“This has been the most interesting and rewarding module I ever took in my life. Ever. It was genuinely an incredible experience as it reinvigorated my passion for learning and really opened my eyes to what I had thought and perceived as entrepreneurship prior to this module. Had an amazing time.

Furthermore, each session featured a different set of lecturers, including sociologists, psychologists, and field practitioners. However, I was glad I chose this module because it proved to be a better way to learn entrepreneurship than I had anticipated. This module allowed us to take a critical look at entrepreneurship, as the name suggests, to look at this topic through a variety of lenses. I believe the essence of this module is very nicely captured by what my module convenor, Dr Vishalakshi Roy, said. “The goal of this module is not to learn how to be an entrepreneur, but to understand what it means to be one. The output of this program is not necessarily to push you into entrepreneurship, but to help you define what it means for you, and to help you come to the realisation if it is right for you”. This module has certainly helped me gain a better understanding about entrepreneurship and myself.

Audia, who took Navigating Psychopathology added, “This has been my favourite module of the semester! I'm very interested in psychology, and this module gives me a better idea of what I want to learn more about. This module not only completes my student exchange experience, but it also introduces me to many exciting new aspects of the discipline and way of thinking”