Posted on by j.kalaidis

W8: Internationalizing faculty in the age of adjunctification

While reading Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter’s “A case study of issues of strategy implementation in internationalization of higher education”, I was particularly interested in learning about how three distinct university groups — Corporate, Marketing, and Faculty — all work together (or, in some cases, butt heads) regarding internationalization efforts.

Given that all three groups of stakeholders oftentimes have different agendas, it is important that leaders from all groups try to come together to find common ground. According to the article, there is plenty of overlap between each group, and finding ways for each group to see internationalization benefiting its own specific cohort needs to be one of the top priorities of administrative leaders. As the article states, “HE internationalization is primarily an internal matter of integration, rather than a process driven only by external environment” (Jiang & Carpenter, 2011, pp. 4), so the most successful internationalization efforts are those that fully engage each group.

The group I was most interested in learning about were the faculty. While this article specifically looked at universities in the UK, I imagine there is a lot of overlap with the United States regarding the challenges universities face in integrating faculty into their internationalization efforts. The article lists many reasons why faculty may be apprehensive about internationalization efforts, which include a perceived increased work load, uncertainty about working and research integrity in different cultures, and the concern that taking time off to go abroad might derail their academic career at home, to name a few.

While this article didn’t explicitly mention this, I assume the group “faculty” refers to faculty members who are tenured or tenured-track, not faculty who are hired as adjunct instructors. Unfortunately, I don’t know very much about faculty hiring practices in countries outside the U.S., so the remainder of this blog post will particularly examine how this relates to U.S. HEIs. Given the increasing number of adjunct instructors teaching at U.S. colleges and universities — currently, nearly 75 percent of faculty are hired as adjuncts — I am curious how much (or little) they can be integrated into internationalization efforts. My gut instinct, unfortunately, tells me that adjunct instructors currently have little to no role in internationalization efforts.

Unlike their tenure or tenure-track peers, adjunct instructors are eligible for very limited (if any) professional development funding, which could help them pursue research opportunities abroad (although shout out to CUNY for providing PSC/CUNY Adjunct Professional Development Grants, which is “one of the first such programs in the country”). Additionally, teaching contracts are generally given on a semester-to-semester basis, which would immediately disqualify many adjunct instructors from pursuing internationalization initiatives, since they generally take more foresight and planning. Lastly, the low pay and lack of benefits would likely discourage adjuncts from pursuing potentially risky internationalization efforts since they would have nothing to fall back on if the internationalization initiative fell through.

As adjunct faculty continue to make up a larger proportion of faculty overall, U.S. higher education institutions must place a greater importance of integrating this group into internationalization efforts. Since many adjuncts are recent graduates from PhD programs and are relatively young compared to tenured professors (according to the European University Institute’s study on U.S. HEIs, “very few people become Full Professors before the age of 40; the average age of Full Professors is 55 and the average age when tenure is granted is at 39”), they might be especially willing to take a temporary position abroad to spearhead a new academic initiative (not to mention this experience would probably make them a more competitive candidate for tenure-track positions back in the United States). Additionally, the tough academic job market means that many new PhDs have been forced to pursue a broader range of non-academic experiences, which means they might have specific skills that traditional faculty lack regarding implementation of internationalization efforts. 

So while it’s important that all faculty be engaged in internationalization efforts, U.S. higher education institutions should also increase their engagement of adjunct instructors in internationalization.

-Jen

 

Posted on by RChoudaha · 1 Comment

W7-Funding reforms gaining momentum around the world

This week’s hot button issue of funding concerns for CUNY brings to the front increasing pressure from policy-makers about the efficiency and effectiveness. This directly resonates with the OECD’s The State of Higher Education report . It notes “From an institutional perspective, HEIs are under pressure to become more effective and efficient across all of their missions – teaching, research and innovation and local economic development. Yet, many face financial challenges that threaten their long-term sustainability.”

Here is a chart from OECD website indicating public spending on tertiary education as a percentage of total education spending. Here “Public spending includes both direct expenditure on educational institutions and educational subsidies to households administered by educational institutions. Private expenditure is recorded net of public subsidies that educational institutions may receive.”

1 private spending

The chart illustrates that the United States spends significantly less in through public resources as compared to countries like Germany, United Kingdom and Canada. At this lower level of public investment, the increasing cost pressures are resulting in students picking up more burden of cost of college education through increased tuition.

Here is an important footnote from OECD chart: “Spending on tertiary education is defined as the total expenditure on the highest level of education, covering private expenditure on schools, universities, and other private institutions delivering or supporting educational services. The measure is a percentage of total education spending. At the tertiary level educational institutions in OECD countries are mainly publicly funded, although there are substantial and growing levels of private funding.“

OECD’s Education Policy Outlook 2015 also identified six “policy levers” grouped in three categories:

  1. Students: Raising Outcomes (How to raise outcomes for all in terms of equity and quality and preparing students for the future-refers to outputs of the education system)
    1. Equity and quality
    2. Preparing students for the future
  2. Institutions: Enhancing quality (How to raise the quality of instruction through school improvement and evaluation and assessment-refers to quality of the inputs).
    1. School improvement
    2. Evaluation and assessment
  3. Governing effectively (How to align governance and funding of education systems to be effective.)
    1. Governance
    2. Funding

 

OECD website provides an interactive tool Reforms Finder from OECD based on different countries.  Here is a snapsot of reforms from three different countries which focus on Funding “Policy Lever”.

resources

Funding reforms are only one of the six policy levers. Successful policy planning and implementation requires alignment of careful mix of various levers to achieve optimum output.

 

Posted on by d.grant1 · 5 Comments

W7 – Change is the Only Constant

Change is the only constant in life, so it should be no surprise that the state of higher education as evolved as will continue to evolve. This week’s readings, Making Reforms Happen 2015 and The State of Higher Education 2014, touched on this subject. The reading covers changing reforms, policies and perceived changes that must happen in order for higher education to evolve and be inclusive of the all the changes that are occurring in the world.

The report does an excellent job of covering the importance of policy assessment. It states that effective policies have proper implementation and there was follow up by the proper channels. Follow up allows those that implemented it to see that the policies are in fact working or if in the case it is not, what steps to follow to rectify this. Some of the biggest examples are the implementation of online course study, and the movements higher education institutions have taken to welcome non-traditional college students to their rosters. Over the last couple of decades, higher education has made rapid changes and the report has suggested changes in the following areas:  cost, funding, research value, and assessment.

This week we took an in-depth look at our own higher educational structure as opposed to an international overall scope. Right in the beginning of the report (p.4) we have a layout on how to develop frameworks that will evaluate assessments in school systems. These frameworks focus on primary and secondary education, then goes on to say how they affect higher education. Which is great, there is a large disconnect between secondary education and higher education, on the surface this doesn’t necessarily seem like the case, but when you look at many students or question them they will say they didn’t have any or much support when it comes to higher education preparation. These assessments can help to fix these issues.

Here in America, education may seem like a big deal. Majority of (if not all) candidates running for something, be it councilmen, senator or president, even down to housewives competition to be the head of the PTA, all promise to make changes to or improve the current state of education, but oftentimes there isn’t much change, or it’s not a positive one. During the 60’s there was segregation in America, presidents of the time worked to either keep or get rid of segregation depending on what they felt was best for the country and how the people reacted, the ever famous “No Child Left Behind” act that was created by former President Bush, that affected many inner-city schools negatively, many are still trying to overcome the adverse effects, and all the changes that are occurring currently under President Obama’s administration. These policies and reforms have improved and strengthened the state of education, but as also damaged the state. Policies and reforms that lead to the changes to the parent plus loans that caused HBCUs to lose over $300 million dollars in grant and loan money. But with the ever-changing state of education and our resourcefulness here in America, these reforms and policy changes that might have hindered us, has only made us stronger in a sense and we have/are finding ways to come out ahead of the disasters, but many are doing school faster than others.

Carter, J. L. (2013). PLUS Loan Crisis a Blessing in Disguise for National HBCU Agenda. Retrieved March 21, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jarrett-l-carter/plus-loan-crisis-a-blessi_b_3782738.html

Posted on by t.bailey · 3 Comments

W7: Cooperating and aligning services for fluid and strategic reform

The OECD Reports; Making Reforms Happen (2015) and The State of Higher Education (2014) were both interesting reads and although they did not revolve around international education per se, they made a case for the alignment, partnership and shifting of services to accommodate students everywhere. Making Reforms Happen (2015) gave an overview of educational policies applied in several countries around the world. What interested me was this readings focus on secondary education, vocational education and there implementations on higher education and the workforce. While reading, I affirmatively nodded the entire time because from my career services lens and background, they were speaking my language. As the reading discussed, employers, policy makers and education institutions can strengthen the employability of individuals by cooperating and aligning services in an intentional way. As countries around the world face continuous unemployment among young and older workers, employers are reporting that they cannot find adequately skilled talent. In a report I read by The Global Agenda Council on Employment, it says that “in the short term, a key driver of skills mismatch is the limited job opportunities available in many (especially advanced) economies, which are pushing many individuals to accept mismatched and lower-quality jobs. With weak demand, employers may become more particular when recruiting, as they can afford to wait for the perfect candidate or hire over-skilled workers “(P. 22). So in other words, through education individuals develop skills and are capable, however due to the lack of demand in hiring, employers can hold off for the greatest candidates. In doing so, these capable individuals eventually take on jobs that are a mismatch to their skills, further exasperating their shrinkage of on-the-job skills. If you don’t use it, you lose it! Individuals that find themselves in organizations that are a mismatch of their skills, are usually underutilized and the effects on their futures can be deeply affected if this depreciation of unused skills continues.
The State of Higher Education (2014) focuses on the remarkably similar issues faced by higher education institutions everywhere. For us who work in higher education the fundamental challenges addressed are all too familiar. The concern for quality, the struggle to balance modern practices with traditional academic values and college mission, and the push for academic excellence in the wake of shrinkages in resources via governmental and public aid. What I found interesting is that in both articles, unlike the majority of our readings, they did not reference international education. It was nice to abandon our general focus for a week. I also noticed that the OCED has created frameworks to analyze evaluation and assessment in school systems (P. 4). Like the Making Reforms Happen report, they focus first on agendas in primary and secondary education and then categorically apply them as relevant to higher education. I think that this thinking is the strategy to follow when looking to create quality assurance frameworks for higher education. Primary and secondary education should align (seamlessly) with higher education. Each should prepare students for the other, if that is in fact what we want for all students. While it might not seem like it (and this is the major problem with under-served U.S. schools) the classes student take and the activities they are involved in high school play a role in shaping them both a member of society and as a college applicant. Whether they plan to attend a community college or less-selective college, they need to successfully achieve basic requirements to progress to a level of education that can help them to achieve their career goals. This however, is only scratching the surface.

Davos-Klosters, Global Agenda Council on Employment, Matching Skills and Labour Market Needs Building Social Partnerships for Better Skills and Better Jobs, January 2014. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_Employment_MatchingSkillsLabourMarket_Report_2014.pdf

Posted on by J.Gulston · 6 Comments

W7- Taking a step out of Internationalization

For this week’s reading we took a step out of internationalization and higher education and examined educational challenges as well as reforms. The OECD’s piece on the State of Higher Education was a summary of what I expect was a lengthy piece on the challenges and reforms in higher education in OECD countries. The executive summary dealt with a brief overview of developing a framework to monitor and enhance quality in higher education, examining higher education through a business model framework and research funding. I would have like to read the entire report, in particular the section dealing with strengthening’s business models in HEIs. For those of us who took Financing of Higher Education with Professor Apfel, we discussed often that higher education institutions run a fine line between being considered a business and a charity. While strengthening the business side of HEIs are important it is also good to note that any changes to the business model should keep in mind the mission and goals of colleges and universities. An article in the New England Journal of Higher Education discusses the need and importance of exploring new business models. The New England College Board of Higher Education website also provides information on the topic. It is clear that HEIs have to explore new options to deal with the continuous changing landscape of higher education.

The second reading, also authored by the OECD looks at reforms related to education in OECD countries. Reforming education is an ongoing process. I am not sure if there has been a time in any country where the stakeholders related to educational policy have been pleased with education for a long-period of time. In the United States as with other countries there have been policy cycles related to education. These cycles depend on who is in charge and what they see as the problem. In the 1960s, President Kennedy and Johnson focused on greater equity in schools, this also was the time of desegregation in public schools. By the 1980s, President Reagan believed that the educational standards in America were leading to a “rising tide of mediocrity”. By the 2000s, President Bush had established “No Child Left Behind” as the educational policy for the country and currently President Obama, created “Race to the Top” and backed the Common Core initiatives. The United States has a history of trying to reform education using the policy levers that are mentioned in the OECD piece. However,  when administrations change the policy are not continued or they change as well.

The challenges and reforms discussed in both reading can be connected to the internationalization of higher education. As HEIs are looking to become more internationalized, they will face challenges related to the cost effectiveness, improving the quality of programs as well as issues with equity. Any challenges that are related to the internationalization of higher education have to be addressed the same way we  address traditional issues in higher education, by always keeping in mind the mission and goals of HEIs.

-Jonelle Gulston