This weeks ACE reading touches on partnerships. One of the common themes is transparency and quality assurance. When establishing an off shore partnership, the host campus, faculty and students must have transparency of what is expected of them. There also needs to be clarification on how similarly the partnership will run compared to the host campus. To ensure they are equivalent the faculty hired should be of the same caliber as one that would be hired in the home country. They also mention ways on making the faculty feel important such as helping them start new programs at a successful off shore campus. They also mention allowing faculty to engage in study abroad without having to commit to being at the off shore campus for long term. Though these ideas may attract faculty, from a students perspective this may be negative because I would want the interaction with a professor teaching the course for more than the first 3 weeks. The idea is similar to an online class but not every student learns in this manner and students could be inclined to look at other institutions that have the faculty there for a longer portion of the semester. Along with transparency, language is an important factor as making sure all partners understand what is expected of them and the mission and goals that are in place. Informing students of what language courses will be taught in and what requirements they will need to enter the program are crucial when high enrollment is the goal.
Institutional strategy plays a large role in deciding weather a partnership is of value. When deciding on expanding the campus, financial factors come in to play. There has to be a plan of action to create revenue from the partnership or supporting the partnership will be costly for the home campus. Not just financially, the partnership must also be in line with the mission and goals of the home institution. When starting partnerships the establishing of programs could be difficult and institutional leaders are key roles in the process. A successful establishment of a partnership will set precedent for more to come which is why institutional leaders are needed to ensure the process is smooth and successful. Institutional leaders should be aware of the cultural context that the partnership will be entering and the faculty and home institution should be supportive of this. Accepting the cultural differences will have an effect on weather the partnership is successful.
Hi Melissa,
I agree that faculty hired should have the same capacity as one that would be hired at home. However, I wonder if faculty abroad are being paid more, less, or equivalent to faculty at home. For example, are professors in the U.S being paid more than professors in the NYU Abu Dhabi campus? In recent years money has been a factor that is seen to contribute to “academic quality” (which of course is not true when it comes to teaching). So my question is, is there a disconnect between quality, internationalization, and salary?
I did a little research and found these figures. In NYU Abu Dhabi pay rates seem similar to NYU home campus: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/NYU-New-York-University-Abu-Dhabi-Salaries-EI_IE2917.0,23_IL.24,33_IM953.htm
Now, when I think of campus abroad I tend to think that professors will be choose from that country, however, at times this is not the case which in my opinion is not the concept of internalization. I read an article in where it was said, “It shouldn’t be up to the UAE to decide which views of professors are acceptable and which views are not.” As you can see quality will always remain an ongoing battle due to the beliefs of education in other countries. “
“The United Arab Emirates blocked an NYU professor who questioned its policies. Is academic freedom at risk?” http://www.slate.com/articles/life/inside_higher_ed/2015/03/nyu_has_an_abu_dhabi_campus_but_the_government_still_blocked_professor_andrew.html