Hi Everyone! My name is Christie Graziano and I will be graduating from the MSEd program at Baruch in May, with one elective left to take this summer. I have worked at CUNY John Jay College for the past 3 years as Coordinator for the Office of Student Transition Programs, which handles new student orientation, weeks of welcome, parent and family programs, commencement and senior related activities, as well as a peer ambassador leadership program. I graduated with a B.A. in Communications and Marketing from Loyola University Maryland in 2009. During my junior year, I studied abroad in Amsterdam, Netherlands and this experience forever changed my life! I caught the travel bug and after working for a year in media buying, I applied for a working holiday visa in Australia and spent the year working and traveling Australia and parts of Southeast Asia. This experience as well as my experiences working as a work-study student is what prompted my interest in working in Higher Education and I hope to move into the field of international education after I have completed my master’s degree.
All three articles, in various different ways, focused on the important concept of Internationalization. Internationalization in the context of higher education is “the process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of postsecondary education.” This concept is something that I have heard discussed in many meetings on my campus, as well as in my colleges 5-year strategic plan. In addition, I notice it is a growing topic of higher education articles and has been discussed in my various classes at Baruch. Altbach’s article emphasized the importance of reflecting on our world history and examining how we have succeeded and more importantly failed at this concept in the past due to governmental influences and nationalism, which trumped any efforts of significant international higher education partnerships that would build connections and create peace internationally. A perfect example of this was during World War II, after significant efforts towards internationalization had been made post World War I, yet the nationalism efforts that created Nazi Germany were widely supported by German universities. What sparked my interest the most about this article was the question as to whether current global conflicts will influence or harm the progress we have made since the 1980s to foster these relationships and make large strides in international education? I do feel that the conflicts happening in the world will and have already influenced internationalization as a whole and continued collaboration between certain countries is made impossible due to internal and external conflicts.
Green’s article focused more on the who is leading the way in the internationalization of higher education and the United States is not among one of these leaders. This article did not surprise me at all, as I have felt we were way behind when compared with other countries since I studied abroad in 2008. Students I had studied with all spoke more than one language, studying in another country seemed to be a natural part of their postsecondary education experience, and the diversity of students from various countries at the university I attended was in stark contrast to my campus at home. What I did find interesting was that the US had the highest percentage (15%) of institutions that had no internationalization strategy when compared to all responding institutions, which had 7.5% with no strategy in place. I think one point that I notice in most of my observations about recruiting more international students for US institutions is the financial benefit because international students are not eligible for financial aid; therefore, they pay full sticker price for tuition, which increases revenue for institutions. While this is a great benefit, I do not feel this is the reason for searching to internationalize ones campus. This makes me wonder if that is one of the reasons the U.S. lags behind other nations in regards to their internationalization strategy. Oxford’s article points out that “the presence of international students is not a core part of the student body for the world’s leading universities” (p. 5). I think this is a piece that the majority of U.S. institutions are missing. However, according to this article, it contradicts Green’s article by saying that the United States is still the most popular country for international students, while Green points out that only Latin America and the Caribbean rank North America as their top regional priority. Oxford does point out however, that US and UK markets are declining as other countries become more popular for international study.
Hi Christie,
Thanks for your insightful post! I was most interested in the discussion you raise when discussing Altbach’s piece on internationalization. Here, you question whether current global conflicts will influence or harm the progress we have made since the 1980s to make strides in international education. Personally, I believe that there will be many shifts in international education, which will both positively and potentially negatively influence progress. With ongoing global tension resulting from current issues (such as ISIS and recent attacks), I believe that there is a newfound global skepticism to travel and push international boundaries, specifically to and from Europe. These fears may hinder international education overall, as well as an interest in expanding education abroad. Conversely, I have been amazed by the internationalization achieved by some Universities recently (specifically NYU) as they create new satellite campuses in up and coming international territories such as Abu Dhabi (Dubai). I think that there will always be some kind of global tension in the world we live in, but it is truly comforting to see that some universities will not let this stand in the way of promoting educational missions.
Best regards,
Melissa Parsowith
Hello
It seems that US lagging behind other countries is stirring a lot of conversation within the posts. Also, I very much agree with your insightful information, although I was not able to go study abroad myself, as a traveler, I often find that people in other countries do tend to speak more than one language. However, looking at a geographical standpoint US throughout history has been more isolated than other countries. Which could be a factor as to why internationalization has not been the main focus, unlike other countries.
To Further reiterate your post, it seems that US is focused on the internationalization due to economic benefits , which is done on many different occasions in higher education, which leads me to question how effective is higher education in the U.S in terms of attaining actual knowledge?
Hi Christie,
I’m really glad you included a definition of internationalization in your post. We’ve been talking so much about it, and even though everyone has a general idea of what internationalization is, it is still very helpful to provide a concrete definition so everyone is on the same page. Some people think of students while others think of researchers. The thorough definition you provided makes it clear that both aspects are included. Additionally, I often think of international exchange as an individual endeavor, but it is important to remember that there is a multiplier effect. For example, professors or researchers who do research, teach, or even travel abroad, can then return to their home country and reach a large audience of students. In student exchanges, the person studying abroad is not the only one experiencing the benefits of internationalization. International students learn about the culture of the host country but also provide an international presence on campus, allowing domestic students to meet a student with a different background and learn about another culture without leaving their home country.
Hi Christie! Thanks for the post! I, too, was not surprised to see that the U.S. lags behind other countries in its higher education internationalization efforts. I think a large part of this has to do with the idea of American Exceptionalism. While Germany was the birthplace for the modern research university, U.S. universities eclipsed them in the second half of the twentieth century. A lot of this had to do with a huge increase of resources to universities and a more educated population thanks to the rise of universal pre-K. But….I suspect the U.S. higher education strength — like much of American strength in the immediate post-WWII years — was also because a large portion of the world was recovering from WWII, or was just gaining independence from colonial rule. AKA the U.S. had very little competition.
Flash forward to today, where other regions of the world have developed rapidly. Despite the social, political, and economic growth of other countries, it seems that many American leaders believe that the United States is superior in just about every way. I can’t believe I am bringing Donald Trump into this, but I think his distorted idea of America’s recent past greatly impacts policy and culture. While there are likely many factors that play into why the U.S. lags behind in internationalization efforts in higher education, American Exceptionalism seems to play a large role in it.
Hi Christine,
Thank you for sharing a little about yourself, your experiences will offer a lot of insight to those who have not been to some of those countries. My sentiments are the same on making strides towards internationalizing education. The internal conflicts in some countries and conflicts among different countries have already prevented and will in the future prevent for internationalizing of education. This may leave a huge gap in culture and history if those who are able to collaborate work together and those whose conflict does not permit them too.
In regards to the United States being behind on an internationalization strategy, it seems as though more exposure to studying in other countries can put this in perspective as I felt the Green article and the Altbach article had opposing views on how the U.S was seen in international education. Realizing maybe my view is a bit naive. I look forward to finding out the best way to put U.S universities on the same track as others who promote international education.