Handbook

The unit provides students with an opportunity to: consider a range of important global issues; how an understanding of these relates to their discipline and lives; develop their ability to frame their oral and written responses to these issues to take account of the context; and the ability to apply theory from their disciplines in meaningful ways. Students will rely on the latest information from government, corporations, heath services, and NGOs. This unit provides students with a global perspective. It explores the impacts of contemporary globalisation practices on people, the environment and cultures in the context of international capitalism and growing integration and interdependency between nations, national economies, and related social issues. We live in a ‘global village’, we have an international division of labour, and the global consumer economy leaves few untouched. Global economic practices have positive and negative effects on cultures, poverty, health and the environment. How do we know what happens globally? How do we communicate our responses to what is happening in personal and professional roles? What is our responsibility in this process? The unit draws on theories of globalisation and neoliberalism and theories students bring from their disciplines to discuss issues including human trafficking, forced migration, the economic effects of transnational corporations. It also examines Gross National Happiness, government policy of Bhutan, and now a U.N. millennium goal to foreground the importance of aspiration.

The unit provides students with an opportunity to: consider a range of important global issues; how an understanding of these relates to their discipline and lives; develop their ability to frame their oral and written responses to these issues to take account of the context; and the ability to apply theory from their disciplines in meaningful ways. Students will rely on the latest information from government, corporations, heath services, and NGOs. This unit provides students with a global perspective. It explores the impacts of contemporary globalisation practices on people, the environment and cultures in the context of international capitalism and growing integration and interdependency between nations, national economies, and related social issues. We live in a ‘global village’, we have an international division of labour, and the global consumer economy leaves few untouched. Global economic practices have positive and negative effects on cultures, poverty, health and the environment. How do we know what happens globally? How do we communicate our responses to what is happening personally and professionally? What is our responsibility in this communication process? What is the role of communication in supporting a way forward in relation to these global issues? The unit draws on theories of globalisation and neoliberalism and theories students bring from their disciplines to discuss issues including gender inequality, consumerism and global supply chains, modern slavery and human trafficking, the climate crisis, food security, forced migration, refugees and asylum seekers, activism and the environment and the environmental and social effects of transnational corporations. We conclude the unit by considering the role of communication in our aspirations for a global future.