In an inspiring leap toward global collaboration and future-focused teacher education, third-year Foundation Phase students participated in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project, uniting classrooms across three universities and two continents.
The students included Asheeqa Davids, Caitlin Cornelius, Mumtaaz Abrahams, Maryam Abrahams, Rania El-Bastawisy, Sindiswa Ntisa and Tharwat Cupido. This project linked CPUT with International Relations students from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in China and Health Science students from Durban University of Technology (DUT), bringing together students from these three disciplines to tackle a single ambitious theme: Systemic Inequalities in Global Challenges.
Dr Samantha Kriger, Lecturer in the Education Faculty, said for many CPUT students “this was their first experience working in a truly international, intercultural academic environment, and the energy was electric”.
Kriger noted that within mixed-disciplinary and mixed-national groups, students explored five contemporary global cases, ranging from displaced learners in South African schools to the digital divide in rural China, the education crisis in Gaza, and inequities shaping vaccine access across the Global South. For the Foundation Phase education students, the project demanded deep reflection on schooling realities, from xenophobia and language barriers to digital inequalities, respiratory health challenges, and post-COVID learning losses. Students were encouraged to weave community-based insights into their contributions, turning their own teaching practice contexts into sites of global knowledge-sharing.
The COIL tasks pushed students into creative academic expression, requiring outputs such as:
- Poems written from the perspective of refugee learners in SA schools, digital posters representing conflict-affected schooling in Gaza.
- Interactive bulletin boards comparing digital divides.
- Comic strips and infographics illustrating inequality, gangsterism, and access to healthcare. These were not just assignments; they were acts of storytelling, empathy, and global citizenship.
The project was coordinated for CPUT by Kriger, who emphasised that COIL offered students a powerful opportunity to see teaching through a global lens.
“This project placed our students into real conversations about humanity, resilience, inequality, and social justice,” she said. “They realised that their local experiences within the South African schooling context, like gangsterism, poverty, language barriers, digital exclusion and such, mirror challenges faced across the world. Suddenly, their teaching journeys felt globally connected.”
Lecturers from all three institutions created weekly check-ins, online discussion groups, WhatsApp support channels, and structured guidelines to ensure the students felt supported during the cross-cultural collaboration. Digital tools included: Padlet, Teams, Canva and WhatsApp.
Many students noted that engaging with international peers built their intercultural competence, digital communication skills, confidence, and ability to articulate South African educational realities to others.
Student Tharwat Cupido said: “For the first time, I realised how powerful our stories are. When I explained schooling in Cape Town; the gangsterism, overcrowding, hunger, the Chinese students were shocked. Then they shared their migrant schooling challenges. We learned so much from each other.”
Another student, Caitlin Cornelius, said: “The creative task helped me express serious issues in a way that was hopeful. It reminded me that children everywhere deserve safety, learning, and dignity.”
Kriger said the COIL project strengthened the Faculty of Education’s commitment to globalised, socially responsive teacher training, aligning with CPUT’s Vision 2030 and its focus on internationalisation, collaboration, and innovation.
“It also showcased the readiness of Foundation Phase, third-year CPUT students to engage with global challenges in thoughtful, solution-focused ways. Their final group submissions combined research, creativity, and lived teaching experiences, which demonstrated the immense potential of early-career teachers from South Africa.
“Our FP students stepped into the global classroom, and they shone.”
She added that the success of this COIL initiative lays the foundation for future collaborations across continents and disciplines. By participating Foundation Phase, third-year CPUT students not only strengthened their academic and professional competencies; they also expanded their worldview.
“In an era defined by global crises, digital learning, and intercultural exchange, this experience marks a landmark step in preparing CPUT teachers to lead with insight, empathy, and innovation. The world is changing — and CPUT’s student teachers are ready.”
Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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“The award strengthened my professional profile and opened doors that have now translated into tangible career success, says Bongisiwe, who was among the 34 doctoral students who will graduate during the ongoing Summer Graduation ceremonies at CPUT this afternoon. Growing up in a deeply rural and under-resourced village, Mhlohlozi, in Willowvale. Eastern Cape, the fourth child in a family of five fetched water from rivers, did laundry at the riverbanks, and as a young girl was often responsible for collecting firewood from the forest for cooking. Despite limited resources and poor school infrastructure, she was fortunate to have dedicated and committed teachers, “who believed in us”.
