Posted on by Zeline Santana · 3 Comments

W9, Panning and Internationalization

I found the reading Global Strategy & Internationalization at Ohio University interesting because it is the first time in this class that we look more in depth to one particular U.S University. The Global Strategy & Internationalization at Ohio seems very well planned and thoughtful. This piece is of course better written and more well planned then Baruch’s global strategy/ strategic plan. The Ohio piece has more thoughtful insights for its framework, which I think, is important for the reader.

Baruch’s global strategy also lacked future direction. Ohio, however, presents future goals and data. Ohio’s global plan starts by explaining what the college has done thus far to become more involved in internationalization which in any well planned strategic plan is important for the reader and campus community. They also make a list of their three strategic partners, which are Germany, Japan and Malaysia, which shows their potential to reach a global community. The Middlesex reading on global education & planning was as lengthy as Ohio’s which to my surprise was also very well planned. In higher ed, we normally fall under the assumption that community colleges lack funding and/or lack quality but this piece shows that not all community colleges fall under that description. I also believe that because Middlesex is located in Boston there is this sense of competition in education and for Middlesex globalization of education will allow their campus to become unforgettable in their local community.

When I think if internationalization you usually think the goal of internationalization can only be achieved in wealthy and prestige universities. Ohio University endowment is approximately 3 billion. It is very important to look at all universities and colleges in this aspect because internationalization is very much influenced by the need of funding. This however is not a fact internationalization can also be achieved by planning out reach that can aide philanthropic actions similar to Middlesex mission. Middlesex, however, is a very wealthy community college with an endowment of 993 million per FTE Enrollment. (http://community-colleges.startclass.com/l/2601/Middlesex-County-College)

In conclusion, comparing Baruch’s global strategy to Middlesex and Ohio direction is very important. Carnoy’s reading emphasizes that in internationalization the level of autonomy is important when dealing with policies and the directions universities choose to take is very much dictated by governmental and state policies. This is primarily why the word “strategy” is used in internationalization.

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.

Posted on by s.ahuja1

W8-Strategic Planning and Internationalization

This week’s readings lead us from external influences on higher education internationalization to internal processed that develop and foster global education:  strategic planning.  For me, the readings this week were compelling and very interesting because we were given a view into how colleges and universities do their own policy and goal setting and how it relates to internationalization.  Strategic planning is a critical foundational component of the internal workings of any higher education institution and seeing its role in global initiatives was very revealing and useful.

The first reading, AEA Occasional Papers Strategic Planning for Internationalization in Higher Education set forth the strategic planning process at colleges in general, then offered twelve principles of successful strategic planning for campus internationalization followed by three case studies of very different types of American colleges and universities.  These case studies made for interesting comparative analysis and showcased models of successful strategic planning that has yielded strong global education programs in a variety of higher education environments and contexts.  An issue I took to heart from this paper, and had not previously given much consideration to, was the call to acquire and analyze data.  The paper highlighted that a successful strategic plan for globalization must be data driven and identify well substantiated and researched goals and deliverable in order to get buy-in and survive implementation.  In addition, the UK case study provided real questions that committees were asked to focus on to develop global strategic plans and I thought these were very useful in understanding exactly what type of analysis higher education institutions can utilize in their internationalization efforts.  The focus on asset mapping and opportunity mapping were particularly instructive.

The second reading, A case study of issues of strategy implementation in internationalization of higher education laid out the implementation challenges a British university faced in achieving its internationalization goals and underscored the fact that often times, many implementation challenges have nothing to do with external issues such as government or education policy but rather, are rooted internally in issues such as marketing and admissions policies.  In this case study, what may seem like minor issues such as the interaction between marketing and faculty turned out to be critical impediments to internationalization which I found to be unexpected and intriguing.  Similarly telling were the faculty’s response to how global initiatives may impact work load or scheduling.  These types of issues underscored the importance of collaboration and stakeholder buy-in highlighted in the first reading.

Finally, and close to home, we were able to get an in-depth view of Baruch’s Global Strategic Plan 2014-2019.  This was a highly instructive document because we were able to review and actual strategic plan, specifically geared to globalization, for an environment that we are intimately close to and invested in. For me, in particular, the Baruch plan struck a chord because it is most similar to the type of college I am administrator with respect to geography and student body.  It also spoke to the role of Legal in internationalization efforts in a very tangible and focused way which I can benefit from in my own work.

In the Baruch plan, of note was also its smooth alignment with the college’s overall strategic plan.  Such effort to overtly align internationalization with the college’s broader goals and strategy evidences that global education cannot succeed unless it works within, and acknowledges, the larger higher education framework it operates under.  The concrete ideas for implementation of the five strategic priorities were very interesting and demonstrated that the key to successful internationalization is in the details and proper planning.  I noted that India is a target country which was surprising to me given the high Indian student population at Baruch and found it interesting the plan conceded that the country has not been paid much attention.  I wonder if this is related to some of the Indian governmental obstacles to internationalization we have read about earlier in the semester.

 

Posted on by Natallia Kolbun

W8 – Strategic Planning for Internationalization in Higher Education

This week’s readings focused on strategic planning for internationalization in Higher Education. Moreover the readings went beyond a simple discussion of the process and why strategic planning is important, they provided some detailed examples of the existing global strategic plan (Baruch College), examples of successful implementation of strategic plans (The University of Kentucky, Rutgers University, and Beloit College), and a case study of the problems that can arise during international strategic plan implementation (University of Derby).

First, I want to bring up AIEA definition of strategic plan, as it seems to be the base for further discussion, “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.” What I find to be the most important in strategic planning is the collaboration and involvement of everyone in the strategic planning. In order to determine and true direction of where institution would like to be headed, it is important to get everyone on the same page (board of trustees, faculty, operations, finance and marketing people, etc.) From the examples provided by the University of Kentucky, Rutgers University, and Beloit College, all of them were involved in providing ideas, however at the end of the day the decisions were made by board and the president. In addition, implementation almost always falls onto faculty, which increases their workload and jeopardizing failure of the strategic plan, as mentioned in the University of Derby study case.

Other important aspect of strategic planning is “setting mission and set of priorities…toward an aspirational, but attainable future state”. As stated in the AIEA report Principle#6 in successful strategic planning is “to focus on the curriculum and student learning”. As also further elaborated, it is often overlooked due to other interests the leadership in the institution might have. As a result, this can lead to a failure of following institution’s mission and overall long term strategic plan. Moreover, focusing on something realistic that the institution has a implantation plan for is even more important, because setting up unrealistic goals that do not seem to fit into the institutional mission will result in automatic failure, even if it looks good on a paper.

EAIE created its own definition of international strategic planning, which I really liked, “Strategic planning is problem focused and future driven. It involves prioritizing and making explicit choices, setting realistic goals for internationalization but stretching the institution beyond its current capacity. It involves making effective use of resources. It is implemented and reviewed in a continuous cycle, and it creates a sense of ownership and ambition.  In other words it becomes an instrument of institutional and individual change.” I find it to be very important to touch upon individual and institutional change when talking about strategic internationalization planning, since many people and especially faculty are very resistant to change.

 

Natallia