Survey of faculty instructional professional development for teaching international graduate students: The case of the Università degli Studi di Padova.

The current era of globalisation, international programs, and international student mobility has resulted in a changing demographic in classrooms across Italian universities. While we know that international students come to universities with various cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds, this diversity in the student population poses benefits and challenges for instruction as faculty seek to provide effective teaching in their classrooms. As well, university instructors participate within a variety of communities of practice that may (or may not) help them to prepare to teach diverse populations of students. The current study, a component of a larger research project funded by the U.S. - Italian Fulbright Commission, investigated the professional development topics and formats in which university instructors at the Università degli Studi di Padova engage to teach such diverse student populations. This research assists in identifying models, content, and contextual factors of informal and formal faculty development currently in Italy. The findings offer culturally nuanced insights for instructor professional development during a period of internationalisation efforts and increased international student mobility.