the nuts & bolts of research: internationalizing the campus nafsa annual conference washington,...
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The Nuts & Bolts of Research:Internationalizing the Campus
NAFSA Annual ConferenceWashington, DC25 May 2008
Richard C. Sutton, Ph.D.Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Programs and Senior Advisor for Academic AffairsUniversity System of Georgia Board of Regents
What is “Internationalizing”??
Knowledge?Skills?Attitudes?
Ambiance?Flavor?Style?Weltanschauung?Purpose?Diversity?Richness?Atmosphere?
What is “Campus”??
Students?Faculty?Staff?Senior Administrators?Courses?Facilities?Services?
What do you mean by “the”??
It depends…TimePlacePeopleResourcesCommitmentTrustIncentivesRewardsConsequences
External Efforts to Define Terms
Goldman Sachs PrizeIIE Heiskell AwardsNAFSA Paul Simon AwardsAmerican Council on Education (ACE)
Much of this conversation driven by identification of “best practices”
New ACE Report Raise Questions about the Success of Internationalization
Despite increased attention and rhetoric to support internationalization, declines since 2001 in:
Global courses in the core curriculumForeign language requirements
Fewer than 50% have full-time IE staff, 40% have IE reference in mission statement, 10% include IE in tenure and promotion criteria
Internationalization RubricsPractitioners’ (and presidents’) model—programs and services, participation rates, etc.
Curricular model—foreign languages, area studies, international affairs
Intercultural competence model—assess individual progress on a scale (many options)
Mestenhauser model—globalization of disciplinary knowledge
Common Elements of ITC
Study abroadInternational studentsCurriculum, degrees & majorsCo-curricular activitiesFaculty developmentSenior administrative leadershipMission, policy, strategic plan
Less Common Elements of ITCStaff developmentInternational orientation of campus servicesImmigrant students other than Fs and JsNon-trad students w/international experienceLocal community cultural resourcesLocal community business interestsVolunteerism, civic engagementAthletics & the artsCareer & life choices
What elements should take priority?
Small group exercise (2 minutes):
Decide as a group
Rank top three elements that define an internationalized campus
Identify your top three priority elements
Study abroadInternational studentsCurriculum, degrees & majorsCo-curricular activitiesFaculty developmentSenior administrative leadershipMission, policy, strategic planOthers:_______
Staff developmentInternational orientation of campus servicesImmigrant students other than Fs and JsNon-trad students w/international experienceLocal community cultural resourcesLocal community business interestsVolunteerism, civic engagementAthletics & the artsCareer & life choices
Ha, Ha—You’re Wrong!!No single construct to determine what “things” make a campus international
It depends…On campus cultureOn local resourcesOn environment
University System of Georgia’s “Internationalizing the Campus” Program
Annual competition among 35 colleges and universities
Awards up to $60K
Three-page application
Day-long campus site visit for finalists
History and Rationale
Used to give $3-10K seed-money grants to support “projects” and “programs”
Larger investment and more intensive review process intended to focus on “plans” that have sustainable impact
Not intended as a “reward” for best practices, but as investment in future development
How ITC WorksOnly in existence two years, but has generated proposals from 1/3 of USG institutions each year
Finalist selection based on potential impact and sustainability
Elevates and deepens each institution’s internal dialog about how international it is
Being selected as a finalist and earning a Regents’ site review itself advances the conversation, even without funding award
“Moving the needle” of campus internationalization
Every campus can compete, because there is no absolute measure
Change is the key metric
To measure change, need to know where you are beginning
Change over time, rate of change, volume of change, etc.
ITC Proposals funded to date:Internationalizing lower-division coursework in core disciplines
Internationalizing majors in all colleges at a public liberal arts university
Internationalizing the first-year experience (required seminar) at a research university
Creating international learning communities of thematically linked courses and co-curricular activities
But how will we know if they were successful in “internationalizing” the campus?
Contractual Responsibilities: Doing what you said you would do in proposal
Going Beyond Implementation to Achieve Results
Models for Emulation/Stimulus
So what do you measure, and how does that fit into an institutional research agenda?
What is your measure of change?
Compared to what?
Who cares?
ITC Research Questions typically bigger than the capacity of any single unit
Depending on nature of research question, need to involve
Provost/chief academic officerChief student affairs officerDeans & department chairsOffice of institutional researchOthers who might have a direct interest in the findings (admissions, career placement offices, etc.)
The Georgia Tech exampleAdopted “global competence” as theme of their institutional accreditation plan
Administering Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to matriculants and graduates
Tracking IDI changes by large number of variables
Research driven and funded by Office of Institutional Research & Assessment
Integrating international into institutional research
What is your institution currently researching about itself, and how is it conducting those assessments?
Can you place an international lens on those research questions?
Why are your questions more important than others? What are their practical implications? What are their policy implications?
Policy
Poly (adj.) = many
Sea (n.) = large fluid environment where most things sink to the bottom
Politics
Poly (adj.) = many
Tics (n.) = blood-sucking leeches
Measuring ITC: Inputs/Benchmarks# of students abroad# of international students# of students taking foreign language courses# of international journals/newspapers in the library# of faculty/staff with international experience# of faculty/staff with international expertise# of internationally focused events on campus (films, lectures, performances, etc.)
Measuring ITC: Outputs/Deliverables
# of degrees awarded in international fields# of degrees awarded in foreign languages# of international scholarships and awards received (Fulbright, Rhodes, Gilman, etc.)# of international research and program grants received# of books/articles published on international topics
Measuring ITC: Outcomes/ResultsOutputs become inputs for outcomes
Students and faculty choose to attend/work there because of its international characterStudents pursue careers/life choices with international focusState/local community looks to the campus as an international resourceInternational outputs create critical mass to drive campus culture, decisions, and funding
Approaches
Single variable analysisMultivariate analysisDemonstration pilot projectsResearch project grantsInstitutional investigationsMulti-institutional investigations
Questions?Comments?