Going Global

Wednesday, October 31, at 3:30 p.m., U.S. Eastern Time

William Brustein is associate provost for international affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and president of the Association of International Education Administrators. He has written and spoken extensively on issues surrounding internationalization (http://www.iienetwork.org/page/84657/

A transcript of the chat follows.

Karin Fischer (Moderator):
    Hello, and thanks for joining us. There's a growing expectation today that colleges will produce graduates who have the international and intercultural skills to participate in an increasingly global workforce. William Brustein, the associate provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and president of the Association of International Education Administrators, is here to talk about some of the key questions with which colleges are grappling.

Question from Carlos Parra, Southern Adventist University:
    I totally agree with initiatives already in place at institutions such as the University of Pittsburgh, and Boston College. Granted, both programs (Global Studies & Global Competence) are dealt with in different ways since they, I believe, accomplish different objectives for those institutions. However, the principle is the same, to provide the platform for students to engage on global issues from both, in & out of the box.

Now, how do you launch such programs at small institutions where not many courses emphasizing international issues/approaches is available? Are they not fit for programs of this nature? Are they to tap into other institutions far and near to provide such environment? What about the role distance learning play within program of this nature? Is there anything out there, any program in place addressing this need in a similar fashion? If so, what are the results? Thanks.

William I. Brustein:
    I realize that no one model fits all. At smaller schools one should try to work within existing courses to internationalize the course content. It is important to keep in mind the larger picture of what it is that you hope to achieve and then try to bring the pieces together in a coherent whole. Taking advantage of neighboring colleges' and universities' resources as well as distance education are excellent means to produce coherent programs.

Question from Maureen Jameson, University at Buffalo, State University of New York:
    Arguably an attribute of a "globally competent" student is fluency in a second language. Efforts of higher ed faculty and high school faculty to produce fluent graduates will continue to fail so long as college students keep starting over at the beginning retaking elementary courses they already took long ago or which they consider inadequate for college work. How can we collectively persuade state education departments that, for language study (and probably everything else), there has to be a K-16 continuum? New York state's calendar for language instruction is the most irresponsible waste I have ever seen.

William I. Brustein:
    I couldn't agree more with your assessment of this problem. If we are to be successful in equipping all of our students with second language capability we need to have a partnership with K-12. Too often our colleges and universities are expected to produce foreign language proficiency in too short a period. I believe we also need to rethink how we can do a better job of developing second language courses for those in our colleges and universities who are not language and literature majors--courses customized more to their specific needs.

Question from Constant D. Beugre:
    What mechanisms are there to establish an efficient and effective identification of the best global students?

William I. Brustein:
    We have to develop assessment instruments to measure global competency of our students. In particular, we need to measure a) the ability to work effectively in international settings; b) awareness of and adaptability to diverse cultures, perceptions, and approaches; 3) familiarity with the major currents of global change and the issues they raise; and 4) the capacity for effective communication across cultural and linguistic boundaries. There is not one instrument to accomplish all of this. In some cases a capstone experience (e.g., research paper, an exam) may suffice.

Question from Phyllis Ngai, University of Montana-Missoula:
    What do you think the connection between the global and the indigenous?

William I. Brustein:
    For me as a social scientist, the benefits of studying the "indigenous" can help me rethink the generalisability of the theories I apply to the questions I study. Knowledge of the indigenous helps me to lay out the scope conditions, that is, under what kinds of conditions does my theory apply. The global provides me with a guide or a blueprint in terms of specifying my search of what I need to look for in the indigenous.

Question from Naomi F. Collins, Independent Consultant:
    What are some incentives for faculty to broaden the content of their courses, or to work with others to broaden (internationalize) the curriculum?

William I. Brustein:
    There are many incentives for faculty to broaden their courses. By adding a comparative/international element they are likely to rethink some of their pre-existing notions or develop new research initiatives and form international teaching and research collaborations. There are funds made available by programs like the U.S. Department of Education's Title VI for faculty to internationalize their courses.

Question from Stephen David, Purdue University:
    What does it mean to "internationalize" a course or curriculum?

William I. Brustein:
    I define it as equipping students with the ability to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate the meaning of the course material in the context of an increasingly globalized world.

Question from Jim Lucas, large research university:
    How can research one universites institutionalize their efforts for real, lasting change? Are internationalization efforts best centralized by administrative initiatives, decentralized by working with individual departments and colleges, or mixed?

William I. Brustein:
    Large research universities tend to be de-centralized. Internationalization efforts will only be successful if faculty, departments, and colleges see it as value added, that is, as enhancing the teaching, discovery, and engagement missions of their individual units. Additionally, faculty efforts must be rewarded or faculty will find other avenues to invest their time and energy.

Karin Fischer (Moderator):
    We're at the halfway point of our discussion. Thanks for the great questions, and keep them coming.

Question from Jim Mello, University of Hartford:
    Many campuses have a International Center and professional staff. What are some strategies an institution can implement without the benefit of an International Center staff?

William I. Brustein:
    For those without an International Center and professional staff, it is important that incentives are provided by academic units for faculty to create programs like study abroad and to provide faculty the resources to internationalize their courses. Again, as I have stated previously, faculty will have to see internationalization as relevant and as value added to their objectives.

Question from Karin Fischer:
    William, just to follow on the earlier question -- are there particular strategies, carrots, if you will, to encourage faculty members to integrate more of an international perspective? How can you change the perspective of a faculty member who is in more of an insular discipline and doesn't see how internationalization applies to them?

William I. Brustein:
    I have found that there are many grant opportunities for faculty who integrate more of an international perspective into their courses (e.g., Title VI funding). Additionally, more and more deans and provosts are requiring faculty to provide evidence of their internationalization efforts vis a vis teaching, research, and engagement. In some departments, your chances of a merit salary increase can be improved by proof of your efforts to internationalize your teaching and research. Much of this is tied to a senior administration that sets internationalization as a key priority.

Question from MJ Brukardt, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire:
    Our regional comprehensive has a strong international study program, with almost 25% of our students learning abroad. As we try to engage more of our students in such transformational experiences, are there strategies that can support our non-traditional students--those with families or job commitments--so that international learning is also possible for them?

William I. Brustein:
    One of the first things one should do is to make sure that the study-abroad office includes staff (either permanent or temporary) who come from non-traditional student populations. People tend to look for advice frequently from people who have shared similar experiences. Also, short-term programs during holiday periods may work better for non-traditional students.

Question from Karin Fischer:
    We've talked a lot about strategies but not about outcomes. How do you know that your internationalization efforts are actually working?

William I. Brustein:
    We have not focussed sufficiently on outcomes, unfortunately. Part of the problem is: how you measure an outcome that may not manifest itself until later in one's career? For instance, a student graduating with a global-studies certificate and second-language proficiency may become the individual who plays the critical role in landing a multi-million dollar deal for an American company in Brazil ten years after graduation. Our measuring instruments may have difficulty assessing that outcome if they are applied at time of graduation. Nevertheless, we can provide our students global competency tests at different points of their college experience to measure progress--I would recommend deriving measures from some of the foundational skills for global competence that I have listed earlier.

Comment from Naomi F. Collins, Independent Consultant:
    Just a comment: FIPSE (at the Deptment of Education) also provides support for internationalization of the curriculum, and for university affiliations with overseas institutions.

Question from Andrea Byrum, Edgewood College:
    Do you have any suggestions for an institution wanting to develop a major or minor in global leadership?

William I. Brustein:
    Start by thinking what skills a graduate from this major or minor would possess at the completion of the degree. Then work backwards to design the ideal curriculum. Keep in mind that to the extent that you can design this major or minor in global leadership by building on existing strengths at your university or college, you are more likely to get buy-in from others.

Question from Claire Bradin Siskin, University of Pittsburgh:
    How can personnel in language labs/centers help to internationalize the college experience? Do you have any suggestions in this regard?

William I. Brustein:
    One of our biggest needs is to customize language learning for students who are not majors in languages and literature. I believe that language labs, working closely with language departments and others, can develop methods which will enable these students to gain the proficiency that they might not gain in a standard language course for language majors.

Question from Sara Hebel, Chronicle of Higher Education:
    With internationalization efforts straddling so many parts of universities, how should or can administrators create strategies to most effectively focus their work?

William I. Brustein:
    At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign we have established a campus-wide international advisory council comprised of deans or associate deans (holding responsibily for the international portfolio of the college or school). The IAC reports directly to me, the associate provost for international affairs. The IAC serves to bring the units together to share best practices, to inform each other of ongoing international activities in their units, to discuss ways to eliminate redundancies, and to provide a stamp of approval for new international initiatives which will go on to the provost and chancellor.

Question from Thomas Linney Consultant:
    William, how do campuses cope with competition from overseas nations with better visa/immigration policies than the U.S.? Is the U.S. government doing all that it has promised to do to help U.S. campuses?

William I. Brustein:
    Given the hurdles we put in the way of international students, it is simply amazing that our colleges and universities still attract much of the great talent in the world. I like you, Tom, am very worried about the future if our visa/immigration policies do not change. The full impact (negative) of our policies may not become apparent for several years. I always remind people that 100 years ago the best scientific talent in the world wanted to travel to Germany to study. The fact that we are a magnet today for the great minds should not make us feel too comfortable for, like Germany, we can quickly lose that position.

Karin Fischer (Moderator):
    It's time to wrap this discussion up. Thank you to William, and to everyone who participated.