The future of Internationalization will provide a continuous push to provide global citizens for the world through collaboration of Institutions around the world. Higher Ed will continue to reach countries that once had no presence of Higher Education by ways of internet with online courses and other technologies. Technology is the driving force for accessibility, allowing students to learn through virtual mobility and other new platforms. Social media through the use of phones will increase as many in third world countries have phones but no computer.

The future will also be diverse with a wider range of options to earn a degree or achieve skills. As the monopoly on Higher Ed dwindles, new providers will enter the arena of Higher Ed providing students with an education passport of skills to be added to the their transcripts of life learning achievements. Students will be able to create an a la cart version of education ranging from everything including traditional classroom learning, to study abroad, to virtual classes at remote place that one may never have the chance to visit.

As Higher Ed expands, quality of an education will be in question. Consolidation of resources may be inevitable to assure traditional Higher Ed does not lose its place in society. Cost of education will be a driving factor for the future direction of Higher Ed. If the market expands, and the monopoly dwindles, how do we protect the institution of Higher Ed through quality measures that make new providers accountable for the education they produce?

And what about the global competitors that do not promote academic freedom the way we do in America. Is this a good thing or bad? For a student to have the perspective of how education is achieved in other parts of the world, would be an education in itself. Deardorff et al reminds us that “Active engagement with the rest of the world has become fundamental to a high quality education…” (p. 461.) The definition of what a global education is yet to be determined but the importance of an education and the Institution of an education remains the same. Bassett states “Higher Ed reaches into the lives of every person on earth – through research, technology, teacher training and others” (p.5). But only the global elite get to contribute and benefit directly. Access to a global education will be the single most important challenge for Higher Ed.

An interesting aspect to internationalization that is controlled by the U.S. government is H1-B Visa’s. The import of international students to many U.S. universities at the undergraduate level, the graduate level and the post graduate level brings much positive financial income to a school. Students across the globe come to school in America for one primary reason. To secure a job. This is the reason why most students anywhere go to school, but for international students studying in America, the promise of a job in America is a big drive factor for them. For international students to be able to stay in America to work beyond their years of CPT – Curricular Practical Training – which they are only allowed to participate in if they are enrolled in school and then OPT – Optional Practical Training, which they are allowed to do for one year after their studies are complete, the next step is to be sponsored by a company in the hopes of obtaining a H-1B visa that will allow them to work for longer in the U.S.

The process of obtaining an H-1B visa for U.S. companies is getting more difficult. This year employers filed approximately 236,000 petitions for H-1B’s for the 2017 fiscal year. This is 3000 more than FY2016. Only about one-third of the petitions get selected through a lottery process. Some feel this outdated process hurts the U.S. workforce by missing out on highly talented individuals.

Companies themselves are giving up on applying for the visas because of the low chance of being selected, being turned down in the past so many times and the cost that comes with the application. Companies that have 50 or more staff in the U.S,  with 50% or more employees on H-1B visa’s, are required to pay an additional $4,000 on top of the standard application fee.

If change is to come to this program, it will not be until after the next presidential election. In the meantime, this process is hurting internationalization in the United States. If international students are not able to find companies to sponsor them, they will go elsewhere.

Maure, Roy April 13, 2016. 2017 H-1B Cap Filing Set New Record: One third of Petitions chosen for visas. https://www.shrm.org

In the Internationalization of Higher Education: Growing expectations, fundamental values paper, the top aggregate result for prioritizing internationalization activities was ‘outgoing mobility opportunities”.  North America is cited as one of the areas, along with Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean as having student mobility as the most important internationalization activity. But the results show us that in America less than 5% of students actually participate in short term mobility programs. If you factor in non-traditional students who represent about half of the student population in Higher Ed today, most who never participate at all in short term mobility programs, the number drops to less than 3%. Why is the number so low if the push is so strong?

I recently saw on the Baruch website that Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, and Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan were on campus to discuss the importance of study abroad programs at an event hosted by the U.S. Department of State for “Study Abroad: An Investment in Your Future”. The event was geared toward increasing study abroad and the diversity within study abroad programs to reach those students who want to study abroad but do not have the resources to do so. The Director of Study Abroad at Baruch College, Richard Mitten was quoted with saying “In the 21st century world of deeply intertwined global relationships, students need to be able to move easily both within and between cultures”. .

So the want and need is there, but it is still not happening. One of the major reasons indicated in the paper was lack of funding and yet increased funding was mentioned as a positive for most areas. In the 2012 edition of Mapping Internationalization on US Campuses, it is noted that institutional scholarships for studying abroad has increased, and although funding for faculty to go abroad has decreased, funding for faculty to take students abroad has increased. This is a case of win-win for the student and the faculty as well as increasing student mobility.

The need for funding is important and schools need to continuously come up with ideas for funding. In the Mapping Internationalization on US Campuses, it is stressed that strategic programs that focus on how student learning is achieved through study abroad is what will achieve the funding that is needed.

When one thinks of Governance, one could think of a Ruler or the government of a body. For Higher Ed, governance is defined as “all the structures, processes and activities that are involved in the planning and direction of the institution and people working in tertiary education”. Planning and direction by who? When one thinks of Higher Ed in the United States, we may think of autonomy and academic freedom and the freedom of speech, the ability to express without being repressed. But for other areas of the world, Higher Ed appears to be more of a government institution with central control by the government. As Higher Ed increased in numbers around the globe and became more diverse, state funds became less and the need for autonomy within an institution became a really good idea. Institutions were delighted with autonomy and faculty was thrilled with the idea of having control over what they teach and how they teach. But has autonomy actually led to increase quality of an institution or has autonomy just led to the concentration of power to the top people in the university. Even within the institution itself, someone had to be in control and lead. Presidents became powerful so the need for checks and balances had to be instilled. For this reason, the so called state control model is being substituted by state supervising model rather than the autonomous model.

Another effect of autonomy within an institution is the reality of more responsibility for all. Just like anything else in life, if you want to have control over something, you have to grin and bear the growing pains and just do it and work at it to reap the benefits. For countries with fewer funds, they are not able to take on this huge responsibility and for those countries, the state remains in control. Who is better off? It depends!

As something grows and expands, there is a need for more discipline in order for it to become successful. As Higher Ed continues to grow into a global business, the need for discipline is great whether it be from the state or from the institution itself. Within the global spectrum, with internationalization, there is so much to be considered and there is so much influence from governments, that the we begin to become confused on who is the “I“ in autonomy?

This week’s reading on global strategies showed us how difficult it is to introduce change into a cultural that is not use to change. When forced with a state wide demographic situation, change needs to be initiated from the top down and all around. In the Ohio reading, Ohio University: Global Strategy & Internationalization at Ohio, Ohio University shows us that the demographics of age in Ohio is affecting the workforce, with not enough young people in the state to do certain jobs. Ohio is in need of keeping young talented workers in their state because the population in Ohio is currently one of the slowest growing states in term of growth in population. The state is depending on immigration to sustain the quality of life for its people.

Being an innovator, Ohio University is embracing immigrants to share their knowledge and cultural within their schools so that students, professors and the administration at Ohio University can become globally aware and succeed at producing talented and global leaders. Ohio University has tapped into this market to help its program of internationalization and globalization.

Ohio University has defined globalization as “All activities that the University operationalizes to achieve its vision, some of which are targeted international activities” (p.12).

Ohio defined internationalization as “targeted activities that strengthen the menu of academic programs, experiences and supporting priorities for Ohio to be global” (p.12).

From a state situation that needed an answer, to a University that needed to be globalized, came a solution that not only benefited the state but has benefited the university as well, which in turn will benefit the students and the economy. This seems to be a win win for all.