One Way to Attract Great International Students

As this article* in the Chronicle of Higher Education argues, the competition to attract outstanding international students is heating up. The talent, determination and spirit of adventure that these students bring are vitally important to the University of Missouri. But what can we do to make our campus and community more attractive?

Check out this story about what one couple is doing on their own. They've opened their home and hearts to students from all over the world. Their hospitality, no doubt, enriches their lives. (It is, after all, more blessed to give than to receive). However, I think they are also adding value to our university that's hard to measure.

Valerie and Richard - thanks for all you do to help our students feel at home. Thanks also to the American Life program and the International Student and Scholar Services at the University of Missouri, for sparking these kinds of friendships.

* Access to this article may require subscription.

The Bologna Process - What You Should Know - and Why

The Bologna Process is the most ambitious attempt at higher education reform in history. There are lots of good resources available to learn more about this (see here and here, for example). However, at the moment, it doesn't seem to capture enough of our attention.

A not-so-recent post on Changing Higher Education takes an interesting tack.

This will take some time, but if you read this post and follow all the links -- you may know what you should know about Bologna and why you should care.

Here's a very brief excerpt -

The Bologna Process involves a number of components, all of which add up to a massive and daring remake of higher education in what is called the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which includes at its core the countries of the European Union. The process takes its name from the Bologna Accords, which were signed in 1999 by the education ministers of 29 countries. Clifford Adelman at the Institute of Higher Education Policy, has recently written a very thorough and informative report on the current state of the Bologna Process called The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Construction. Although most US attention has focused on the regional change to a 3 year bachelor degree and 2 year master degree, Adelman points out that this time-based description is misleading, and certainly not the most important and revolutionary part of the Process.

Ireland: Brief Background Materials on Three Cities

We're now two months away from the start of our Ireland study abroad program, and we have lots of work ahead. My course (see here and here) explores contemporary Irish culture and identity by focusing on the built environment in three principal cities: Dublin, Derry and Galway.

With readings and morning class sessions, we'll take photos to capture and share our experiences.

Of course, to do that well, we'll need to start with some basic appreciation for the history, topography and human ecology of these incredible places.

So - for program students and anyone interested, here are a few links to check out.

Comments and recommendations are most welcome.


Dublin

• A History of Dublin from Wikipedia
• The Story of Dublin - by D.A. Chart. (Written in 1907 - but still very useful)
• Photos of Dublin landmarks - these may inform class photo essay assignments
• The Architecture of Dublin - from the early 20th century
• Contemporary Architecture
  
• The Dublin Docklands - a major urban renewal project
  
• The Heart of Dublin (2001) - link to a good book by Peter Pearson
  
• Dublin maps - several handy downloads
  

Derry

• A Brief History of Derry - through the early 20th century
• A slightly longer history from Wikipedia
• A more detailed article on the City - from Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland
• Derry Architecture
  
• Photos of Bogside murals with background materials
  
• Derry City map - useful downloads
  

Galway

• History of Galway from Wikipedia
• James Hardiman's History of Galway - through the 17th century
• Architecture in Co. Galway
  
• Galway City map
  

The Power of Partnerships

The European University Association posted the announcement below about a new report called The Power of Partnerships: A Transatlantic Dialogue.

This is a very practical reading for everyone involved in negotiating, approving and managing university agreements with international partners. I especially recommend the sections on the economics of cooperation and on partnership conflicts.

A new report published this week underlines the power of international higher education partnerships, particularly in times of economic downturn and increasing competition in higher education.

The report – published by the American Council on Education (ACE) – is based on the outcomes of last years 11th Transatlantic Dialogue meeting organised by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), ACE, and EUA which brought together university leaders from North America and Europe.

The report concludes that partnerships between institutions are an important tool for higher education leaders to be “creative and adaptive in an environment where expectations are increasing and resources decreasing”. In this environment, the report notes, “going it alone may not be useful as a dominant strategy”.

Underlining that institutions are increasingly recognising the need to partner in a variety of ways, the report explores five key issues:

1. the motivation to initiate and maintain partnerships;
2. the economics of cooperation;
   
3. conflicts inherent in cooperation;
4. the role of government;
5. and issues related to the special case of partnerships with the private sector.

The report provides specific hands-on advice on how to develop, negotiate and implement joint ventures with other HE institutions, governments and private companies, outlining the leadership qualities and institutional characteristics that are vital to the establishment and maintenance of successful partnerships.

Please click here to download the report (which also contains an executive summary).

International Phone Calls for the Frugal

When you're travelling abroad, using your mobile phone (for calls or email access) can be very expensive.

If you're looking for ways to stay in touch without spending a fortune, check out this recent article from the New York Times Frugal Traveler.

It's a little cumbersome -- but the article and attached comments provide some interesting options.

A New Global Strategy -- at Columbia University

Despite deep financial constraints, major US universities still work aggressively to build global capabilities and reach. Historically, most have done so by: 1) pursuing a series bilateral agreements with peer universities around the world; and/or 2) developing new branch campuses - particularly in the Middle East, South or East Asia. Although questions persist about the real value and sustainability of these primary methods (for example see this recent New York Times article) they will continue to offer important opportunities for universities' international programs.

A new strategy for globalization is emerging which focuses on building global networks of academic excellence. (For more background, see series of excellent posts at GlobalHigherEd and Changing Higher Education).

Recently, Columbia University announced the launch of several global research centers. You can read its media advisory here, but here is a brief excerpt.

While some U.S. universities have built new branch campuses and degree-granting schools abroad, Columbia is taking a different path. Columbia Global Centers will provide flexible regional hubs for a wide range of activities and resources intended to enhance the quality of research and learning at the University and around the world. The goal is to establish a network of regional centers in international capitals to collaboratively address complex global challenges by bringing together scholars, students, public officials, private enterprise, and innovators from a broad range of fields.

“When social challenges are global in their consequences, the intellectual firepower of the world’s great universities must be global in its reach,” said Kenneth Prewitt, vice president of Columbia Global Centers and Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs. “Columbia’s network of Global Centers will bring together some of the world's finest scholars to address some of the world’s most pressing problems.”

Reflections on St. Patrick's Day - from Brussels

Last Tuesday evening I found myself observing St. Patrick's Day in a somewhat unlikely place - in a hotel room alone across from Kitty O'Shea's in Brussels. It's one of several Irish pubs in Europe's Capital, and from my room, it sounded like the patrons were having a good time. But I didn't join them.

I was in a much more pensive mood. I've been thinking a lot about Ireland lately. I'm really excited about the course I'm teaching this Summer on contemporary Irish culture (For more background, see here, here, and here.) For the last twenty years, we've witnessed amazing changes on the Irish island, including the Celtic Tiger economy, the Good Friday Agreement, and the transformation from being a continuing source of ambitious young immigrants to being a preferred immigrant destination. What an incredible time to study Irish culture and identity.

But lately I've been worried. After more than a decade of rapid growth, the Irish are now struggling with a deep recession. Its people and institutions are really hurting. Added to that, renegade Nationalists just assassinated members of the security forces in Northern Ireland, in attempt to reignite the Troubles.

These events made me wonder -- is this the right time to launch a course on Irish culture? Will the economic difficulties obscure the character of Irish culture from our students? Will it even be safe for our students to live in Derry this June? After an incredible generation of good fortune, will Ireland ever recover from very tough days?

These are the questions that ran through my head on a Brussels St. Patrick's Day. However, later that night I read some encouraging remarks issued at the US State Department by Secretary Hillary Clinton, Peter Robinson and Martin Mcguinness. This really cheered me up.

I recommend you read the whole text, but here's an excerpt of their statements, beginning with Secretary Clinton:

The two men standing on either side of me led Northern Ireland through the last days in a commendable manner. Along with the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom, they have confronted these acts of violence with boldness and statesmanship. And they have responded to actions intended to sow fear and division with unity and courage.
So we are here after ten years of peace, and we’re committed to looking forward to a future where we, the United States, working with them, can create a better life so that every child growing up in Northern Ireland has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.
The State Department and the Obama Administration will be actively engaged in assisting the leadership of Northern Ireland. And this is not a subject of passing interest, but of surpassing interest. During my time as First Lady, during my time as senator from New York, I have been privileged to see the people of Northern Ireland move in a direction that has given so much hope to so many, including those far beyond their own boundaries.
So I want to thank the first minister and the deputy first minister, and now let me turn to the first minister for any comments he wishes to make.
FIRST MINISTER ROBINSON: Thank you very much. At the very outset, I want to express my appreciation and the appreciation of all of the people of Northern Ireland to Secretary Clinton. Hillary has been a good friend of Northern Ireland, a great friend of the process in which we have been involved. We were delighted to hear in our meeting which has just concluded that that is going to be an ongoing interest. We’re looking for excuses to bring her to Northern Ireland, and we’re delighted to hear that the Obama Administration is looking to bring an envoy to continue to partner with us, and indeed to have a particular emphasis with someone looking after the issue of the economy.
The deputy first minister and I have had a difficult period of time. I think that anybody who has followed recent events will know that there was a single purpose on the part of those who carried out those dreadful acts. They intended to divide us. They intended to drag Northern Ireland back into conflict. Their hopes were that the work of the politicians in the assembly and in the executive would begin to fray and that the institutions would crumble and fall.
They have not succeeded, and they will not succeed. There is a massive determination, not just on the part of the deputy first minister and myself, but I was delighted to see it from every single political party. There was no party political bickering on the issue. Every politician stepped up to the line and made it clear their denunciation of the incidents and also their determination that they were not going back.
It is that determination not simply not to go back or to stand still, but to drive us forward, to complete the tasks that we have set our hand to, and to bring Northern Ireland to that place where it has a stable political and economic future, where prosperity is a daily diet of our people. It is that hope that drives us forward, and it is that hope that I believe we have the full support of the people of Northern Ireland in realizing.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much.
DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER MCGUINNESS: Well, if I could say that it’s an incredible good fortune for all of us on the island of Ireland and the north that Hillary Clinton has been appointed the new Secretary of State. She has for many, many years, alongside her husband, been a true friend of all of us, a true friend of the peace process, contributing tremendously to the transformation that has taken place over the course of the last number of years. And what has been really encouraging about this visit and the meeting that we’ve just come from is that it’s quite clear that she is surrounded by people who have a tremendous insight into our situation, going back many, many years. I find that tremendously encouraging, and we’re excited about our meeting with President Obama this morning and the things we heard from him and his reiteration of his commitment to help us within the process, continuing, I must say, a long line of important contributions from the United States of America.
And what we’ve heard just now in the course of our meeting with Secretary Clinton further encourages us that we will see the appointment of an envoy who will make their own particular contribution, also following in a long line of envoys who have been tremendously supportive for all of us.
And we talked about the economy because we believe that economic development is of critical importance, and our program for government identified the development of the economy as a key priority for all of us. And there has been a long tradition of American companies investing on the island of Ireland and in the north of Ireland, and our visit here and the West Coast, and we’ve been to Los Angeles, Peter’s been to Chicago, I’ve been to New York, and we’re now in Washington. Everywhere we went, it was quite clear that people were very tuned in to what had happened in our country and indeed at the time of those incidents were very shocked that it did happen.
But that shock quickly gave way to a bigger story, and the bigger story was the unity which Peter has just spoken about, not just between himself and myself, but between all of the parties recognizing that this represented a real challenge to our process by people who are dedicated to destroy the peace process, dedicated to the demolition of the political institutions, and absolutely dedicated to plunging our community. And we don’t speak about two communities. We represent – although we represent different parties, we represent one community in the north of Ireland, and we are not going to allow our community to be plunged into mayhem and destruction by people who have no support, no mandate whatsoever, and no right whatsoever to attack the peace that the people of Ireland as a whole and in the north voted for in the referendum in the aftermath of the Good Friday upheaval.
So I’m actually moving forward on all of this with tremendous confidence about the future, confidence in that we are united, that we are supported by the Irish Government and the British Government, and by a very strong Administration here in the United States of America led by President Obama and Hillary Clinton. So we will leave Washington incredibly buoyed up by the encouragement and support that we’ve received here, and I want to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to you, Hillary, and to President Obama and all those in all of the political parties on Capitol Hill who have stood by us through thick and thin.

To prepare for our course, I've been reading R. F. Foster's excellent recent book, Luck and the Irish. (BTW - if you want to learn about Ireland, he's written many other books worth your time). Anyway, in the very first sentence of the book's introduction, Foster quotes Bertie Ahern (Taoiseach - or Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland). Ahern was speaking in 1998 at a critical moment in the Northern Ireland peace process. Not all of his constituents were entirely satisfied with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. To them he said:

The cynics may be able to point to the past. But we live in the future.

In the end, I think my Brussels reflection on St. Patrick's Day reminded me - perhaps the best days for the People of Ireland are yet to come.

Global Service Fellowship Act

Thanks to US Senator Russ Feingold (and several other co-sponsors), an interesting piece of legislation was reintroduced and referred to Committee last week. Senate Bill 589 authorizes a new Global Service Fellowship to help rebuild citizen diplomacy, and to facilitate volunteerism among US professionals.

This Bill was introduced in 2007 and again in 2008. For more background on this idea, see this Brookings paper, and for a review of Sen. Feingold's opening remarks, see this post on the Working World blog.

The Bill is supported by the Building Bridges Coalition. Check them out if you're interested in international volunteer work.

Ireland : The City and the Country (Part II)

Registration for Missouri Summer Study Abroad has now closed, and we just learned that the Ireland program led by my colleague Bill Kerwin and me has attracted enough students to make it work.

This program includes a course on Irish literature and a course on Irish culture and identity. It's the first time we've offered this program, and the first time Bill and I have tried to team teach. We want everything to go well, so work on the program will take up a lot of my time. Fair warning, you'll probably hear about this regularly on this blog...

From my last post, you'll recall our plan to study Irish culture primarily through careful observation of the built environment. What can we learn about contemporary Irish culture from the appropriation, management, inhabitance and competing visions of space in Dublin, Derry, Galway, and the country between?

We'll start this work in Dublin -- a city where everything is controversial, and where a working knowledge of history is as useful in navigation as a good street map. If you're a student enrolled in this course, or if you're just curious -- this site may be useful background information.

If you want to know Dublin, you need to know the neighborhoods.

China Background: Final Installment (For Now...)

One final installment of background readings for China -- (see here and here for previous posts)...

The Economist magazine also maintains up-to-date profile on China. I'll check it regularly.

This week they publish a special report on China's hunger for natural resources. The report comes in several brief articles, but it's definitely worth scanning.

China Background Reading: Part II

Earlier this week I shared some recent reading I'm doing on China. It's on my mind because I encounter so many significant connections between the University of Missouri and the institutions and people of China.

Missouri has deep - and wide - collaborations with Chinese partners. For example, work in China by our School of Journalism goes back 100 years. The Colleges of Engineering, Agriculture, Education, and Arts and Science and other academic divisions all engage in active China research projects. Our campus is also sending more students to study in China, and we're seeing rapid steady growth in applications and enrollment of Chinese students.

As Director of the International Center, I stand in the middle of all this productive, multi-directional traffic. I keep thinking that the connections I witness are very important to the past, present and future of our university. If that's true, I need to learn a lot more.

In case you're interested, here are two more sources I've found for my edification.

1. For general purposes, there's a great and current China profile published by the BBC. This provides a really useful current background at your fingertips. (Of course, this goes for other countries of interest, as well).
2. For a recent and thorough overview of higher education issues in China, see this recently published report from the OECD.

According to this report, the potential student population for higher education is growing rapidly in China, and the demand for education far outstrips their current capacity.

The report also reaches the following additional conclusions:

A major task is to clarify the mission of all types of tertiary education institutions to meet varying needs, while ensuring consistency in the performance standards of institutions to improve equity and efficiency.

Opportunities for access and success are unequally distributed. This reflects differences in economic circumstances of regions, and the capacity and quality of their primary and secondary school systems.

China must take particular care to balance the need to build research-intensive globally competitive universities and the need to build the capacity of other institutions to contribute to national and regional needs.

Educational authorities and institutions should engage more directly with employers, to identify changing job requirements and monitor employers’ expectations of graduates and satisfaction with their performance.

There must be a higher level of investment in the national quality assurance system and a more nationally consistent approach to quality control.

Further enlargement of China’s national innovation system will require continuing efforts to build basic research capacity in selected universities, increase the pool of science and technology researchers and promote stronger processes of knowledge exchange.

The internationalisation of tertiary education and research in China is changing the nature of educational demand as well as supply, leading to new pressures on national policy frameworks, including qualifications recognition, tuition pricing, quality assurance and consumer protection.

In my opinion -- you could make very similar points about higher education in the US.

Get a Passport!

Through the International Center, the University of Missouri is a founding partner in the Institute of International Education's "Get a Passport" campaign.

The program is designed to motivate more people to study abroad.

For more information about Missouri's involvement, check here.

My Reading List: China

This week I hope to catch up on readings on China. On Sunday, The New York Times Book Review highlighted several new works, including James Fallow's, Postcards from Tomorrow Square. This review was written by Jonathan Spence, a celebrated scholar in the history of China, and author of such books as The Search for Modern China and Treason by the Book.

In this book, Fallows attempts to give us panoramic views of contemporary China.

Here's the summary from Spence's review:

What then is of enduring interest in Fallows’ observations about China? First, he has created portraits that illuminate the fragility and hustle of the Chinese pattern of growth, its constantly shifting boundaries, reminding us that nothing of this current growth should be seen as permanent. Fallows rightly emphasizes the deeply rooted poverty and the accompanying perils and opportunities that are present in China’s bypassed far-western regions. He shows us — for China’s economic life as a whole, and in response to global patterns — that China’s strength is not just that it is cheap but that it is fast. He shows us how unclear China’s goals are, how opaque its political system remains, how messy and ineffective and arbitrary its social controls can be. At the same time, he shows the remarkable inventiveness and energy that China’s entrepreneurs can bring to global competition. Perhaps most important to Fallows (and to us), he shows that the worst thing the United States can do is to cut itself off from China’s skills and opportunities.

For Fallows, the effort that the United States should (and must) make is to open itself to the Chinese, to develop the areas where mutual cooperation is feasible and valuable, to respect China’s brainpower and do everything possible to recreate the United States in Chinese minds as a focus for research and a potential source of fruitful collaboration. The venues for this collaboration range from basic agriculture to banking, from global warming and the conservation of natural resources to the reconfiguring of Chinese views of their own future. If China has taught him one key thing, Fallows suggests, it’s that a meeting of the minds from both societies is essential to the well-being of all.

The Art and Politics of (Global) Science

I've been reading a recently published book called The Art and Politics of Science by Harold Varmus. Dr. Varmus is a Nobel Laureate in medicine, and the former Director of the National Institute of Health. For a good overview of the book, check out this review in the New York Times.

I definitely recommend this work to scholars who want to enhance their political skills - and to anyone who's life depends on science. (In other words, the book deserves a broad audience).

The chapter most pertinent to this blog is called,"Global Science and Global Health". It's near the back of the book, (chapter 14) but you may want to jump right here from the start. Here, Varmus draws on his own experience and the work of economist Jeffrey Sachs to make three points:

1. The world's future depends on major improvements in health in the developing countries.
2. Such improvements will require scientists (and their home institutions) to work in global networks. In fact, more hubs of research excellence must be based in developing countries.
3. This will require substantial funding increases in global health research. (See this WHO Report for a detailed estimate of funding needs).
   

In this economy, these points may seem trite or politically impossible. However, Varmus makes a pretty compelling case.

Read this chapter -- and another Varmus speech in which he proposes a Global Science Corps to address these issues.

Visa Delays May Drive International Students Away

This story in the New York Times reports on difficulties that seem to be more common for international students and scholars in the US. Obtaining visa documents takes more time, and the length of time required is not predictable.

The problems are attributed to a shortage of staff in the US State Department. However, students and visiting scholars can find delays costly, stressful and sometimes, career-altering.

If the delays persist, Missouri's best and brightest international students and visiting scholars may choose to further their research in a different country. This would greatly diminish our research capacity and our abilities to prepare students to communicate across cultures.

Evaluating Chinese Students' Experience Studying Abroad

I read with interest a study by Simpson and Tan (2009) published in the Journal of Studies In International Education. The study tracked the experience of 160 Chinese students enrolled in New Zealand universities.

The study was conducted in the context of very rapid growth in international student population. In 1999, there were approximately 28,000 non-resident students in New Zealand. Five years later, this number had increased to ~ 120,000.

When growth is this fast, universities are tempted to see the numbers as new revenue streams and only in aggregate terms. In other words, we lose track of the quality and importance of individual student experience.

For the long term, I think universities need to pay much more attention to investigating the learning experience of all students. However, as student applications from China, India and other countries grow, we should start by focusing on these special populations.

Simpson and Tan (2009) adapt a SERVQUAL method to ask four key questions:

1. What are the primary factors that students consider when evaluating the overall quality of their educational experience?
2. What is the relative importance they assign to each of these factors?
3. To what extent did their educational experience meet their expectations?
4. What are the policy implications of these questions for universities?