Posted on by m.parsowith

W8, Make-Up Post: Melissa Parsowith (Make-Up Assignment for 3/28 Class)

While reviewing different news articles this week, I found a very interesting piece pertaining to this class which I wanted to share with you all. The Times Higher Education blog just posted an article titled “The US risks falling behind on internationalization.” Author Phillip Wainwright explains, “Stateside efforts to widen higher education’s global reach are fragmented and conflicting. With college-aged populations now in decline in many countries with highly developed systems of higher education, including the US, and with a rapidly expanding demand for excellent education in countries with growing middle classes, the opportunity – even the necessity – for established universities to think globally is clear.” Yet, in spite of international efforts, Wainwright believes that US institutions are not moving as aggressively as they need to be to keep up with global education trends.

As many other articles acknowledge, the U.S lacks a ministry of education. Because of this, Wainwright believes that international initiatives from the United States specifically lack the force that other global programs receive from their governments at home. He asserts, “As individual institutions or state university systems face the challenges and opportunities of globalisation, few have fully embraced it – even though globalisation is happening, whether they want it or not.” He makes the very strong point repeatedly that internationalization is a real issue which is occurring right now. He thinks it is very important for all institutions to pay attention to this global trend, or risk being left behind. Although Wainwright spends a great deal of time stressing the importance of internationalization, he truly faults American institutions for not systematically thinking a little bit more about opportunities which globalization creates, or may create. He also feels that change is less prominent for Americans because it is all happening at the state and institutional levels, unlike many other countries. Although Americans pride themselves on democracy, he sees this point as a fault of our system. He closes the article by concluding that internationalization in Higher Education is truly at a crossroads right now, both here and abroad. He feels that “global-mindedness at home” (better known to our class as IaH, internationalization at home) is going to continue to play an important role in the spreading of knowledge, both within our own institutions and likewise beyond borders.

I really liked this article because I believe that it brings up the very real issue of America’s flaws pertaining to Higher Ed. Although we are definitely a global leader, this piece shows that we still have work to do on the international front, and other countries (and authors) are still critical of the way that we run our institutions.

Posted on by m.fernandez

w-8 Case Study HE Internationalization

This weeks case study allows us to see the struggles that institutions face when they choose to internationalize. In this specific case study there were three major groups; marketing, corporate and faculty. I feel I relate more to the faculty concerns as they are the ones who deal with the programs and students directly. It seemed that marketing and corporate were able to relate more in terms of what concerns they had. The difference in the amount of group specific points that faculty had compared to the none corporate proves the idea that is brought up later in the study that corporate gives the plans to the faculty but expect faculty to implement it flawlessly, in reality that is not the case. As mentioned, many faculty may not be familiar with HE internationalization. Faculty asking for more professional development is not wrong but the question is why did corporate assume that this was something they would be able to execute? Corporate and marketing argue that faculty already have international responsibility in their workload so this is not extra or different than what they agreed to do in the first place. This idea is left unanswered by the faculty, or may answered and not included in the case study, but it seems that what international work means should be clarified now that this institution wishes to move towards He internationalization without having a campus off shore.

The marketing group brought up a point that they have a hard time marketing programs that they are unfamiliar with. The marketing group should be able to work with the faculty closely so that when the marking group does need to promote these programs they do not feel that they cannot do them justice. This is something that when hiring for this position they need to entail characteristics that allow them to know that working with faculty and students in the program will be the best way for them to learn and market for it. In marketing you are not going to be familiar with everything that you are marketing but need to have skills in order to learn more about the prospective students you are targeting.

Lastly, I think corporate needs to work more with faculty and understand that these issues are not solely theirs but each groups issues together. Faculty do have much more work than what is written on their contracts and added an HE internationalization portion to their workload I believe is extra than what they originally bargained for especially if the idea came after they already signed their contracts. It is important that the faculty is not overwhelmed when a decision like this is made.

Posted on by d.grant1

W8 – Strategic Planning for Internationalization

This week we looked at the strategic planning aspect of higher education, including taking a look at Baruch’s own plan for comparison. Strategic planning is a very important aspect to higher education that began to gain importance in the 1940s after World War II. Since then strategic planning has become standard for higher education overall. Strategic planning is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment, as defined by the Balanced Scorecard Institute. Strategic planning is an intricate part of higher education at home, so it’s only right, it would be an intricate part of internationalization, if not more so.

A Strategic plan is needed to lay a path of goals and accomplishments, after some time this plan is then used to assess how well (or not) an organization has progressed. The AIEA article outlines what Strategic planning is and also outlines their 12 principles of successful strategic planning. Baruch College’s Global Strategic Plan 2014-2019 talks about Baruch’s plan and how they include internationalization (Baruch’s plans seem to be compromised of many of the principles). It is not known by students that an institution’s strategic plan is public information. Working in or being involved with higher education/student affairs, I have now looked at Baruch’s and SUNY Old Westbury (my alma mater). It is interesting to look at these plans from both sides, as a student and as a professional. (Many institutions include students in their planning process) Looking at the plan as I student, I was able to identify changes that occurred in certain fields, working within higher ed/student affairs, I was able to assess the changes and better understand why they did or didn’t work. It’s refreshing to see that Baruch is aligned with the AIEA’s principles and to see how the school plans on advancing itself. With the looming budget crisis we are facing it’s sad that a lot of these plans are getting put on the back burner until the budget gets sorted out. A large part of strategic planning is figuring out the budget and where the funds will be coming from.

New York has been called the capital of the nation before. It’s not surprising that a school like Baruch has such a good plan that could/should influence other institutions around. A little more recognition not only for Baruch but for CUNY itself for being what I would like to a gem, so many treasures, that many people (mainly students) don’t realize without a little extra research.

 

The Basics of Strategic Planning, Strategic Management and Strategy Execution. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://balancedscorecard.org/Resources/Strategic-Planning-Basics
Posted on by J.Gulston

W8- CUNY and Strategic Planning

Strategic planning in higher education became necessary after World War II, when returning soldiers decided to attend college. Colleges and universities had to deal with increase enrollment numbers and having enough resources available to accommodate the students. Strategic planning as it relates to the internationalization of higher education is important because the implementation of any polices/programs have to done in consideration of many aspects of higher education. The Baruch Global Strategic Plan 2014-2019, details Baruch’s plans to “enhance the college’s global thinking…” The other readings for this week, provide a framework of how strategic planning/implementation should be done. Baruch’s plan seems to follow the framework provided by the two other readings.

While reading Baruch Global Strategic Plan, I began to think about whether CUNY had a strategic plan that focused on internationalization. After some brief research, I wasn’t able to find anything that dealt with the entire university system in regards to internationalization. The College of Staten Island has a webpage that provides information on their plan for “Comprehensive internationalization at CSI” . I was able to locate CUNY’s Master Plan  for 2012-2016, the master plan is being used as a “Strategic Framework that will guide the future growth, development and impact of the University and its 24 constituent colleges, graduate and professional schools.” I took a look at the table of contents and didn’t find anything about global expansion or internationalization. I found this to interesting because the current chancellor of CUNY Mr. Milliken, gave a speech on that discussed the importance of universities being “global” he said “CUNY should become Global CUNY. “Every major university must be global in outlook and scope, and few universities are better positioned than CUNY. We have an enormous advantage: a student body with 40 percent born outside this country and students who speak almost 200 languages.” Noting that CUNY had a number of student and faculty winners of Fulbright awards this year, he said, “I want our graduates to be competitive with graduates from the best universities anywhere, and without an understanding of the world … they will not be.” Also during a interview with the Institute of International Education, Chancellor Milliken said that he wants to double the number of CUNY students that are currently studying aboard. With all of this in mind, I think it is interesting that internationalization or global expansion wasn’t included in the 2012-2016 Master Plan.

Getting back to Baruch Global Strategic Plan, some questions that came to my include 1) Do all of the plans that are outlined fall in line with CUNY policy as well as the CUNY administration’s plans? 2) How did Baruch select the countries that they will like to work with in the future? 3) In regards to their priority to increase study abroad, the have some really good points but none of the address a “reentry” program for students who study abroad.

I look forward to seeing if the administration at Baruch is able to implement the plans  it has laid out in the timeframe it has specified.

Posted on by c.graziano

Strategic Planning for Internationalization in Higher Education

This weeks readings discuss one of the most important aspects of a successful strategy of internationalization of a college or university campus: strategic planning. Without a proper strategic plan, it is near impossible to set goals, make decisions and implement change at an institution of higher education. Change takes time and a strategic plan is necessary for a college or university to continue to advance and the same goes for implementing a new strategy of internationalization. I believe that the AIEA article did a excellent job of defining what a strategic plan is and the twelve principles of successful strategic planning. According to AIEA “…a strategic plan is ideally developed through an inclusive, collective process through which the participants develop a mission and a set of priorities to move the college or university toward an aspirational, but attainable, future state over a period of five or more years.” This definition speaks to all strategic plans in general, but it is important to note that an internationalization strategic plan must align itself with the colleges overall strategic plan, mission and goals. I enjoyed reading about Baruch College’s Global Strategic Plan 2014-2019 and how they connect it to the universities existing strategic plan. “…this Global Strategic Plan follows in the footsteps of the College Strategic Plan by extending our commitment to access and excellence to global opportunities, perspectives and partnerships which should be operationalized as soon as possible for maximum benefit to students and faculty.” Baruch’s plan also emphasizes the importance of collaboration between departments and without support and collective efforts, internationalization will not be possible. This speaks to AIEA’s principle #2 and #5 which note the importance of soliciting wide input, and transparency in the universities efforts.  When reading over Baruch Colleges Global Strategic Plan, I began looking at their initiatives to try and identify which of AIEA’s principles they are implementing and where they could use improvement.  It is clear that this version is in it’s early stages, but Baruch has made an attempt to address several of these principles including solicit wide input, seek transparency, establish a timeline, focus on curriculum and student learning, and educate the campus about the internationalization strategy.  Baruch discusses how they will first establish a communication campaign which announces the Global Strategic Plan.  I believe this is a great first step, as it will  help educate faculty, staff and students on what is currently happening at the school and how these changes are going to be implemented.  In addition, they discuss how each individual department or school will be tasked with evaluating their current international practices and how they can improve their initiatives to better align with the new global strategy.   The conclusion mentions the plan to create an assessment strategy for all five priorities of their strategic plan, which speaks to AIEA’s principle #10, to monitor and assess.  This step is crucial, as without an assessment plan, it will be hard to tell if Baruch is achieving the goals they set out to achieve.  I think as Baruch’s plan develops further, a more significant timeline should be established, with specific dates they wish to complete the 5 different priorities identified.  I also feel they can increase their efforts to “ensure that internationalization touches all students.”  The plan has specific efforts to increase international student enrollment and increase the number or american students studying abroad; however, I think their efforts to create global academic programs must be supported by extracurricular programs at home as well, in order to engage larger numbers of domestic students in its efforts.  Incorporating the budget model is a great plus, as it helps us see where and how these efforts will be financed.