By Ephreeda Banda
Recognising her exceptional leadership, dedication, and achievements in advancing internationalisation at Rhodes University, Professor Sioux McKenna, the Director of the Centre for Postgraduate Studies (CPGS), has been awarded Rhodes University’s 2022 Internationalisation Award.
This award recognises the achievements of individual staff and collective groups working towards broader internationalization within Rhodes University’s departments, schools, and institutes. Professor McKenna received the award for various activities, including her work in the Centre for Post-graduate Studies (CPGS) and running a PhD program in the Centre for Higher Education Research Teaching and Learning (CHERTL), the Social Justice and Quality in Higher Health international project she led, and the Phakamisa DHET-funded collaborative project in which she wrote the project proposal.
She has also facilitated several Erasmus+ PhD students and staff exchanges to visit Vrije Universiteit over the last few years. She has enabled exchange visits to Kenya and the Netherlands for several research administrators and designed and implemented the Reading across Borders project during the pandemic, which brought together 60 PhD higher education scholars from eight countries to discuss readings related to social justice in their countries.
“I often wonder whether my understanding and whatever I am researching at that time, like how universities work in society or how they are funded, simply reflect my narrow world experience. International collaborations often challenge my understanding of the phenomenon I am studying in a way that reading all the literature in the world may fail to do,” said McKenna.
She emphasized the importance of thinking about the politics of globalisation in the context of internationalisation, as the internationalisation of higher education can strengthen colonial hierarchies. She said these dynamics are often embedded in the funding mechanisms, affecting how people interact.
She said she might be eight years from retirement, but receiving this award is like a lever to continue opening doors for her. “At this time, I wonder how many colleagues, emerging academics, administrators, postdoctoral fellows, and postgraduate candidates I can support to enjoy international opportunities, acquire funding, and come to understand the value of their work in the global conversation. I wonder how many lessons I can learn along the way,” said Professor McKenna.
By developing interdisciplinary courses and incorporating international case studies, she has broadened students’ understanding of global issues and prepared them to navigate the complexities of our interconnected world.
(This is an edited version of an article first published by Rhodes University’s Division of Communication and Advancement).
