I found this weeks readings to present fresh new topics on internalization in Higher Education. In the article “Strategic Planning for Internationalization in Higher Education” we are provided with a great overview of how strategic planning originated to where it stands today as a standard feature of college and university administrations. Something that I found very relevant to this weeks readings was my employers own Strategic Plan (found here: http://www.pace.edu/strategic-plan) As some of you may know, Pace University is a private institution located in downtown Manhattan. Although it has a reputable business program, many people are not aware of Pace’s presence in the NYC area unlike more prestigious schools such as NYU or Columbia. In order to help Pace move forward in a positive direction, the University outplayed a 5 year plan (2015-2020) which motivates a “Master Plan” revision for the NYC Campus. In addition to changing some of our programs, a huge goal of the new strategic plan is to revitalize the exterior campus so that it is no longer a “hidden gem” of the city. Although Pace does have international efforts, they are not specifically stated in the Strategic Plan, but are rather dealt with on a department level.  I found it very interesting that Pace is located in a great metropolis and that our current mission and vision for the future does not explicitly state an attention to international affairs.

I loved that we were able to take a look at another very relevant strategic plan from Baruch too! In their 2014-2019 Global Strategic Plan, they outline many interesting points. To begin, Baruch boasts their already firm foundation in the international world, with students hailing from over 160 different countries. It was interesting to me that Pace did not acknowledge the diversity of our students, or make this point as visible as Baruch does. Baruch states that they are committed to growing a global effort through their strategic priorities such as enhancing new opportunities, acknlowding their own strengths and enhancing new efforts, increasing international recruitment and increasing study abroad among others.

When looking at both strategic plans, I found myself questioning why Baruch has a greater presence of an international effort while Pace does not  One of these answers could be that Pace is private while Baruch is public  Furthermore, Pace’s international efforts are done on a department level  For instance, we are setting up a 2-2 exchange program in the Accounting Department with a University in China. While these efforts do receive internal and external announcements, they are not prominent enough to be included into our overall University strategic plan. I look forward to learning a bit more about other Univeristies plans to compare and contrast institutional goals and motivations.