Institutional Transplantation in Education- Cultural Transfusion to a New Institution

Vivek Sakhrani (presenting author)

Aikaterini BagiatiSanjay SarmaRichard de Neufville

Special thanks to Dara Fisher, Stella Kournelaki

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) & MIT-SUTD Collaboration

WEEF 2012 ForumOctober 15 - 18, 2012

Buenos Aires

Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD)

• New, engineering-oriented university in Singapore

• Inaugural cohort of 320 students– First classes on May 7,

2012

• Largest & most holistic transplantation venture of MIT to date

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Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD)SUTD envisions:•The best regional university for design and engineering education in South East Asia

•A culture of independence, bottoms-up innovation and and multi-disciplinary collaboration

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MIT – SUTD Collaboration

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Critical Building-Blocks / Pathways

Collaborative Curriculum Development

Students’ Culture Formation

Immersive New Faculty Development

“Institutional Transplantation” in Education• Definition:

“a process in which a host environment borrows an institution from another environment (the model) for the purposes of enhancing or improving the host environment.”

• Comparative Education (Phillips et al., 2009)

• Inherent Assumptions:–Successful model in donor environment–Selective grafting or replication is possible

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“Institutional Transplantation” in Education

An early warning (Sadler, 1900)

“…we cannot wander at pleasure among the educational systems of the world…and pick off a flower from one bush and some leaves from another…”

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Holistic educational transfer requires multiple pathways

Issue: Re-engineering Engineering Education

• Vision of the Engineer of 2020 – and beyond (NRC, 2004 ; NAE, 2005)

– Today’s engineering students, tomorrow’s leaders

• A global issue, central to the technological, economic and labor competitiveness of many nations

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Engineer of the future must be produced by educational institutions of the future

International Collaborations

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• The comparative advantage argument– Expertise, resource/environmental endowment,

niche markets

Degree of Structural Similarity

Degree ofIntellectual

Collaboration

Low High

High

LowStudy abroad

Joint degree programs

International Campus

Establishing new universities

collaboratively

Online

A Self-Preservation Strategy for MIT• Retain Global Relevance

– World’s most challenging and compelling problems are not nationally or geographically specific

• “Mens et Manus” = Mind & Hand– Balancing academic and practical impact for global

effectiveness

• Resources– Diversifying channels to support research and

educational innovation

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MIT – SUTD Collaboration

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Critical Building-Blocks / Pathways

Collaborative Curriculum Development

Students’ Culture Formation

Immersive New Faculty Development

Collaborative Curriculum Development

• Courses: project-based active learning• Structure: common first year “freshmore”• Dual masters and dual post-docs• Co-curricular emphasis

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Initial course development at MIT, taught at SUTD

MIT-SUTD Faculty Development Program

• Structure:

– Year-long– Small cohorts (6 to 8

professors)– One semester overlap– 70 professors over next 5 – 7

years– Intentionally designed

activities and programs delivered in bi-weekly seminars

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Goal: nurture the formation of a collective self-identity

• Bi-weekly Seminars:

– Orientation– Self-organized teams

& exercises– Pedagogy– Hands-on exercises– Academic Life…at MIT

and beyond– Reflection and

Evaluation

Students’ Culture Formation

• Best communicated within student body

• Interaction with older student cohorts

• Recruit MIT students as “surrogate upperclassmen”

• MISTI-Singapore Leadership Initiative

• Student governance emerging– 25+ student organizations

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Hacks.mit.edu

“Bicilivadora”Lima, PeruMIT D-Lab

Lessons so far…

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Collaborative Curriculum Development

Students’ Culture Formation

Immersive New Faculty Development

We need to evaluate and maintain ‘persistence’

‘Writing letters home…’ is hard

Classes have begun… but curriculum is very much a

work in progress

Attrition from leadership program

Staff and administrators ?

References• Bagiati, A., Sakhrani, V., Sarma, S., De Neufville, R. Approaching Institutional Transplantation

through Faculty Development. To appear in the 2012 SEFI Conference Proceedings, September 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece.

• Beech, J., Cowen, R., & Kazamias, A. M. Who is Strolling Through the Global Garden? International Agencies and Educational Transfer International Handbook of Comparative Education. Vol. 22, (2009) pp. 341-357. Springer Netherlands.

• Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., Cocking, R. R., National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, W. D. C. C. o. B., Social, S., & Education. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Expanded Edition.

• Cantor, J. A. Delivering instruction to adult learners. Toronto: Wall & Emerson (2001).• CDIO - Conceive Design Implement Operate Retrieved in April 10 th 2012 from

http://web.mit.edu/edtech/casestudies/cdio.html • Felder, R. M., Brent, R., & Prince, M. J. Engineering Instructional Development: Programs, Best

Practices, and Recommendations. Vol.100, No.1. (2011).

• First Year Engineering Program – Purdue University. Retrieved on May 20 th 2012 from https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear.

• Fullan, M., G. Staff development, innovation, and institutional development. In Changing school culture through staff development. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Deelopment Yearbook. (1990). pp. 3-25. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Curriculum Development.

• Jong, M., Mamadouh, V., & Lalenis, K. Two Contrasting Perspectives on Institutional Transplantation The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transplantation Vol. 74, (2003). pp. 19-32): Springer Netherlands.

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References• Leslie, S.W., Kargon, R. Exporting MIT: Science, Technology, and Nation-building in India and Iran.

OSIRIS 2006, Vol.21 (2006). pp110 -130, History of Science Society• Lohmann, J. R., Rollins Jr., H. A., & Hoey, J. J. Defining, developing and assessing global competence

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• Phillips, D., Cowen, R., & Kazamias, A. M. Aspects of Educational Transfer International Handbook of Comparative Education Vol. 22, (2009). pp. 1061-1077: Springer Netherlands.

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• Sadler, M. (1900) How far can we learn anything of practical value from the study of foreign systems of education? Address given to Guildford Education Conference, 20th Oct 1900. Reprinted as Bereday, G.Z.F. (1964). Sir Michael Sadler’s “Study of Foreign Systems of Education”. Comparative Education Review. Vol 7 No 3.

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