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Editorial ColumnsInternationalizing Today's UniversitiesThis opinion piece appeared in The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Centre Daily Times. President Spanier is one of the founders of the Worldwide Universities Network.
Graham B. Spanier
Take a walk across any United States college campus and you can't help but notice an abundance of iPods. This sleek, apparently quintessential American invention has become standard equipment for college students. It is also the embodiment of internationalism in today's universities because the story of the iPod spans the globe: the engineering was done by a skilled workforce in Hyderabad, India; the design and marketing was beautifully executed by Apple in the U.S.; and all of the components are made in China.December 19, 2007 Is this just another example of outsourcing or rather a collaboration that fully uses the strength of each partner? In higher education, the question of the importance of globalization has never been more relevant, and the move to internationalize higher education has advanced with a sense of urgency. To prepare students to compete, contribute and peacefully co-exist with diverse populations, universities must provide a more fully international education. And that will require some new approaches. Universities traditionally have had a two-fold approach to internationalism: foreign student recruitment and study-abroad programs. These efforts have yielded some success. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, in 2004 there were 2.5 million international students worldwide, an increase of 56 percent over 1999. Over half of those students are found in East Asia, North America, and Western Europe. In the United States, international student enrollment growth peaked during 2000-2002, and then declined significantly after the terrorist attacks in September of 2001. The numbers have rebounded since then. The 2007 Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University listed 54 U.S. institutions among the top 100, with the United Kingdom ranking second with 11. Within the next 10 years, this ranking will undoubtedly shift to include more universities from other countries. Already, countries such as Singapore, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and India are working to transform their knowledge economy and to develop national strategies to position their higher education institutions in a competitive world. The race is on. Universities are well-positioned to shape human capacity and to provide leadership in security and economic competitiveness across the borders. The call to internationalize the university has gained traction in recent years. Organizations like the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) provide transcontinental opportunities and bring together leaders in education to focus attention on international education. WUN has also been a valuable resource for connecting international faculty and students on collaborative research projects such as the WUN Green Chemistry partnership of U.S., U.K. and continental European members in research on the production of sustainable chemicals using renewable feedstocks. A stumbling block has been the reluctance of governments to fund research across national boundaries, although the National Science Foundation in the U.S. has become more open to such research collaboration, as has the European Union. As universities move toward the future, the integration of global perspectives into the curriculum is essential for providing a meaningful international understanding for students. One survey course is not sufficient for any major. A truly global university will ensure that coursework is infused with a worldview at many levels. For example, humanities, social sciences, arts, and business courses reflect variations across countries, cultures, and time periods. Faculty members should be urged to embed this philosophy into their syllabi. More than a decade ago at Penn State, we undertook a comprehensive general education review and revamped educational requirements to reflect this vision. Also, the commitment to internationalize the curriculum has been incorporated as a key tenet of each of our fundamental goals of teaching, research and service. Fluency in a foreign language is another key component of an international education. Students who spend time abroad studying only in their native language or socializing only with students from their home institution miss a significant part of the experience. The fact that English has become the second most spoken world language and is the language of international commerce doesn't lessen the importance of encouraging competency in a second or third language. Over one billion people speak a form of Chinese, while Hindi and Spanish are a close third and fourth to English. Language is not only the key to better communication; it is central to better understanding. International students bring cultural diversity to university campuses. They also have a major economic impact. According to the Institute of International Education, in 2005/2006, the net contribution to the U.S. economy by foreign students and their families was more than $13 billion. Two-thirds of Penn State's international students are graduate students. Grad students tend to be attracted to an institution to pursue a specific research or professional interest. They are a productive but often insular group living off campus and socializing with smaller, more homogeneous groups. It would serve us all to recruit more international undergraduate students. Undergraduate students often live in residence halls and tend to interact with a much larger population in clubs, organizations, and classrooms. The relationships formed can go a long way toward building goodwill and lasting respect among young adults. Kofi Annan said "Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development." As we look to the future, what will be the reality of a true international university? Will it, like the iPod, incorporate strengths from different countries? Will it be a model of collaborative outsourcing? Will each university build on its history to provide a unique international experience? Let the discussion continue. |
