Good Morning, my name is Jonelle Gulston. This is my 5th semester in the HEA program and I plan on finishing up at the end of this year. Currently I am an academic advisor for the ASAP program at KBCC, I have been with the program for 5 years. I majored in History as an undergrad at Brooklyn College and then continued there for my Masters; I majored in Political Science with a focus on International Relations. I completed that program in 2010. I am currently interested in moving on from KBCC to broaden my work experience but staying involved with student/academic affairs on some level. I look forward to working and meeting everyone this semester.
During my last semester as an undergrad, I was able to study abroad, I attended the University of Westminster in London. I still talk about how much impact studying abroad had on me. The University of Oxford’s report on “International Trends in Higher Education, 2015” touches on the current trends in higher education associated with studying abroad. Something that struck me as interesting in the reading was that the governments of Germany and Russia are actively involved with pursing way to increase international experiences for students but in the United States a private, not-for-profit organization is spearheading our country’s push to double the number of students studying abroad. The IIE is working with the government for help with their initiative but it isn’t a major priority for our government it seems.
This can be seen as a connection with the Madeleine Green article, based on the results of the survey conducted it is clear that higher education institutions in America are not the best in the world in terms of policies related to internationalization. According to the survey, universities in America do not mention internationalization in their mission statements or strategic plans. As we know strategic plans for a college, show what areas the institutions plans to focus on in the upcoming years. If higher education institutions do not start to include new ways to incorporate internationalization policies then they will continue to fall behind other parts of the world. I would have liked to for the article to explain the importance of internationalization for higher education institutions. An explanation would have connected everything a little better. According to the survey conducted by the IAU European countries have solid strategies sand policies in place in regards to internationalization and I wonder if that is due to the how involved the countries are with each other i.e. the European Union.
The article by Philip Altbach and Hans De Wit, touches on how the countries in Europe have been connected through higher education. The authors point out that academic cooperation between countries will always been need especially with the increase in political and military tension. Having higher education institutions be a vehicle of continued contact between countries that may not be align politically is clearly important, but it shouldn’t be used as a way to push political agendas.
Hi Jonelle,
You make 2 connections regarding policy and Greens article which revealed that the U.S places low importance to internationalization. Francisco Marmolejo also makes a similar connection in his post “Internationalization of Higher Education: the Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected” stating that IAU’s analysis by region should be a matter of concern for policymakers. I think we all need more guidance on what it actually takes to start the internationalization process in an institution and if these institutions have the means to enforce it. I think in recent days strategic plans have become more of a chore that needs to be completed and printed on paper but not well executed. This can be due to state budget cuts, low funding, etc.
References:
Marmolejo, F. (2010, October 22). Internationalization of Higher Education: The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://chronicle.com/blogs/worldwise/internationalization-of-higher-education-the-good-the-bad-and-the-unexpected/27512
Hi Jonelle,
Thanks for your post! I found something quite interesting that I wanted to mention from the article “International Trends in Higher Education” from the University of Oxford in response to your comment. They state that the United States remains the most popular country for international students, followed by the U.K, Germany, France and Australia. While I agree with you that incorporating internationalization in the institutional missions of U.S schools is absolutely necessary, I also wanted to introduce the idea that the U.S is the #1 destination currently for studying abroad. I think that this fact speaks volumes about education in the United States, and further acknowledges the success and stability our home country is able to offer students from across the world. Although we do need to make more of an effort to promote international education, I also think it is very positive that so many students are interested in studying in the U.S, as a testament to all we have to offer.
Best regards,
Melissa Parsowith
Hi Jonelle and Melissa,
It is interesting how each of us took different things out of these readings. Some of us support the articles believing that US is, indeed, falling behind in internationalization. Others, on the other hand, argue that point of view, stating that the US continues to be #1 in anyone’s choice to study abroad.
I agree with Melissa, that despite the study and a small difference between US institutions and others around the world in their target internationalization goals, I think we have to also look at the current stats. I’m also not sure how they determine the weight of the internationalization in each institution’s strategy. How to they determine what is considered internationalization? Is recruitment of international students is part of it, or the school has provide certain programs, language classes, and certain number of study abroad opportunities? To my knowledge (and I’m sorry I don’t have a statistics), majority of US institutions are looking for international students for a simple reason that they pay higher tuition. But would that be part of institution’s efforts toward internationalization? I think there are many unanswered questions on how this study came to the conclusions it did.
Hello Jonelle
Your post is quite inquisitive. What stood out to me the most is how Wars have opened up other countries to become better at interacting with one another. Which is quite interesting yet with recent events that were mentioned in the readings and what has been happening recently around the world with different terrorist attacks. I feel that the promotion of internationalization happened more so after the wars and not necessarily during the time of the conflict. However, there has not been enough substantial information provided in regards to other countries not allowing or limiting study abroad opportunities. Hence, it may provide would be interesting to see how these events unfold as we continue to the year.
I agree it does seem as if our government has said without saying that international experiences for students are not that important because they hired a private, non-profit, the IIE to push the initiative. The government has not taken an active approach like Germany or Russia and I think that Green hit it right on the head; it is because internationalization is low priority for the U.S. Robert C. Andringa, in “The Internationalization of Higher Education: Can the American Experience Advance Peace and Learning in the World?” argues that our government should value the importance of the knowledge that is developed through international education. There was a time when an educated college graduate could have very little understanding of inter-regional and societal differences – that time is no longer.
Andringa, R. (2001, November 16). The Internationalization of Higher Education: Can the American Experience Advance Peace and Learning in the World? Retrieved February 02, 206, from https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:s_RvTkFiSnsJ:https://www.cccu.org/filefolder/The_Internationalization_of_Higher_Education.doc+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
– Bailey
It is interesting that the lack of US governmental policy around internationalization is troubling to some of us. I think it is a good thing for a non-profit to lead this initiative without government intervention. A “one size fits all” stance that government policies could take would not allow for the vast diversity of US higher education institutions in terms of their educational missions, locations and student populations. It should be up to individual institutions to assess the role and relevance of internalization in their curriculums and educational environments. Uniform government policies should focus on federal funding and anti-discrimination policies. Venturing beyond that could impede notions of academic freedom and unique educational missions and strategic goals.
Hi Everyone,
I think this debate over whether internationalization policies should be implemented by the government or at the institutional level is really interesting. I just wanted to clarify that the effort to double the number of U.S. students studying abroad (Generation Study Abroad) is actually an IIE initiative, not a U.S Government initiative. Although, I believe that the US government supports it, as the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is listed on the Generation Study Abroad website as a Country Partner (IIE).
Hopefully we will study the U.S. government’s involvement in internationalization more in depth throughout the semester. I’m sure there are many programs and initiatives that I don’t know about, but one that came to mind was the Obama administration’s 100,000 Strong Initiatives. One is 100,000 in the Americas, which highlights the importance of increasing exchange opportunities within the Western Hemisphere in hopes of strengthening relations in the region. However, when I looked into this program more, I found that the government was looking to other private, non-profit organizations to assist with the implementation (U.S. Department of State).
Resources:
IIE. (2016) Generation study abroad: Country partners. Retrieved from: http://www.iie.org/Programs/Generation-Study-Abroad/Commitment-Partners/Country-Partners.
U.S. Department of State. 100,000 strong in the Americas. Retrieved from: http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rt/100k/