The Senior International Officer As Change Agent

Published by Distributed by StylusThis new edition reflects the dramatic changes that have taken place across the world in higher education in the decade since it first was published, and addresses how they specifically impact international education and inform the role of senior international officer (SIO) today.Declining public investment in higher education and a negative political climate have increasingly led to the commercialization of international education activities and the expectation they should pay for themselves by levying fees or seeking outside funding. In addition, today’s international education leadership faces several contradictory realities. While inexorable trends in globalization continue to stimulate higher levels of participation in international study and exchange, its impacts – such as increased migration, global terrorism and the populist resistance they have provoked – are shifting institutional priorities from those of greater openness and global understanding to those of profitability and security.Facing these issues and the global competition for student talent at a time of declining enrollments; the impacts of technology; the increasing diversity on campus; pressures to partner across borders; changing emphases in institutional mission; and the expectations of both parents and students in gaining a global perspective during university studies, it’s clear that the key issue facing SIOs is managing change as colleges and universities seek to strengthen, professionalize, and centralize – or in some cases decentralize – their international offices.

Co-published with What do university leaders need to know and be able to do to internationalize their institutions?This volume provides senior professionals in international education, increasingly known as Senior International Officers (SIOs), with the foundational knowledge that informs leadership practices, together with suggested strategies for implementing and developing the wide range of functions, activities and skills associated with comprehensive internationalization that will ensure effective support for their institutions’ educational mission in today’s globalized and interdependent world.This book addresses strategic leadership issues in internationalization including strategic planning, shaping the curriculum, recruiting students, risk management, and developing partnerships. Throughout, the Association of International Education Administrators’ (AIEA) Standards of Professional Practice for SIOs and International Education Leaders (reproduced in the appendix) are integrated as a point of reference, providing a much needed guide for international education leaders.This resource is a vital starting point for anyone in a senior leadership role in higher education, as well as for anyone desiring to understand more about this key leadership position essential to higher education institutions in developing institutional global capacity and in educating global-ready graduates.

This book is a timely insight into the internationalization of higher education institutions. The internationalization of higher education is a global phenomenon, but with substantial variation in how it is made operational in individual institutions. Comprehensive Internationalization focuses on desirable practices in institutions and their actual approaches to implement a more integrated, strategic, or comprehensive global engagement across their core missions: teaching, research, and service. Part I of the book investigates a wide range of issues governing the internationalization of institutions: Outlining the origins, meaning and evolution toward more strategic and comprehensive forms of internationalization; building an understanding of the meanings of comprehensive internationalization, as well as common aspirations, when linked to different types of institutions; understanding the rationales and motivations for internationalization and intended results; creating an institutional vision and culture to support comprehensive internationalization; and implementing key strategies for successful internationalization in terms of practical actions and programs and results, including identifying and ameliorating barriers, engaging organizational change, assessing outcomes, and obtaining resources. Part II of the book offers case stories from institutions across the globe which describe varying pathways toward more comprehensive internationalization. Institutions were chosen to reflect the diversity of higher education and approaches to internationalization. An analysis of the cases uncovers similarities and differences, as well as common lessons to be learned. With contributions from mainland Europe, Australia, the USA, the UK, Latin America, Singapore and South Africa, the global application of the book is unparalleled. Comprehensive Internationalization will be of vital interest to a wide variety of higher education institutional leaders and managers as they address the problems and solutions for institutional internationalization available to them in a rapidly changing educational world and a 21st Century global environment.

Co-published with AIEAInternational higher education has evolved, in some respects dramatically, in the decade since publication of the first edition of this handbook. The new issues, trends, practices and priorities of research that evolved over this time have in some instances been transformed by one of the most dynamic and tumultuous periods in the history of international higher education, brought on by the pandemic, a re-emergence of nationalism, and the recognition of the power imbalances between the developed economies and the global south, and racial inequities within and across borders. This new edition addresses the myriad changes across all aspects of international education, each chapter addressing to the extent possible the reality of the present in which they were written and offering some insights for the future. While updating a number of chapters from the first edition, it also includes a preponderance of new chapters written by contributors representing wider and more diverse backgrounds.In keeping with the first edition, the overall message is that the internationalization of higher education has a vital role to play in a world that is more interconnected than ever before. Recognizing changing economic, geopolitical, climatic, and public health issues, as well as the importance of international and cross-cultural collaboration to address global problems, this handbook offers a comprehensive range of models, data and ideas to stimulate new directions in the conception and practice of international education.This edition reflects today’s concerns around inclusion, diversity and equity, and how international education is being changed by issues such as decolonization, the focus on learning outcomes, the impact of digital tools to enhance access and learning and collaboration such a virtual exchange, competition for resources, risk, new patterns of mobility, and new models such as joint programs and qualifications.As with the first edition, the chapters often intentionally pair scholars and practitioners from different parts of the world, and include text boxes that highlight concrete institutional, national, or regional experiences, providing diverse voices and perspectives from around the world. This comprehensive new edition provides ideas, concepts, theories and practical ideas from around the world for those seeking to enhance the quality of the three core functions of higher education: teaching, research and service to society. It constitutes an essential resource for everyone involved in the delivery of international education and in determining its future direction. Summary of ContentsMaintaining a similar structure of the first edition, this revised Handbook is comprised of four sections. The first section includes five chapters that address national, regional and international frameworks and contexts. The second addresses key aspects of internationalization at the strategy level, covering leadership, institutional strategies, outcomes assessment, resources and financing, risk management, and institutional linkages and partnerships. The third describes core functions of internationalization, addressing intercultural competence development, the internationalization of the curriculum, teaching and learning, virtual exchange, international perspectives on the work of student affairs professionals, student engagement, engaging staff and faculty, the internationalization of research and finally, and a chapter on serving communities.

This is the authoritative guide to implementing COIL Virtual Exchange, conceived, and co-edited by one of the originators of this innovative approach to internationalization, Jon Rubin. COIL, the acronym for Collaborative Online International Learning, is a central modality of what has come to be known as virtual exchange. Since its first iteration in 2002, it has gradually established itself as a mature pedagogy that is being increasingly implemented across the world and is validated by a growing body of research. COIL Virtual Exchange at its most essential is a bi-lateral online exchange involving the integration of existing courses across two, or sometimes more, institutions that are geographically and/or culturally distinct. To launch a COIL VE course, the instructor of a class at a higher education institution in one location links online with a professor and his or her class in another region or country. Together, their students engage and develop joint projects, usually over a continuous five to eight-week period. Compared to the limited number of students worldwide who can engage in study abroad, COIL VE potentially opens up more equitable and inclusive participation in international education and intercultural experiences to all students, involves them in rigorous disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies, and promotes close and constructive engagement with students with different cultural perspectives.While many COIL courses are launched by individual instructors, based on their research connections and online outreach, they are being increasingly supported and led by dedicated COIL Coordinators who facilitate virtual exchanges and provide professional development. This comprehensive guide covers COIL VE pedagogy, provides examples of what takes place in the COIL classroom, and explores what instructors and staff need to know to facilitate and support a variety of COIL courses across the curriculum. It addresses how institutional stakeholders, especially those in leadership positions, can develop and embed a successful COIL initiative at their institution. It offers varied perspectives of COIL viewed from different institutional and cultural vantage points -- from research universities, community and technical colleges, and university systems -- and describes how COIL VE is developing in five different world regions, presenting eleven case studies.The book concludes with a guide to thirteen global organizations that support COIL and other forms of VE. Additionally, the book provides links to the COIL Connect for Virtual Exchange website (https://coilconnect.org) which includes an updated directory of organizations, an expanding database of faculty and institutions participating in COIL and looking for partners, course templates, survey data, and case studies.This book offers faculty and administrators across the world -- whether formally involved in international education, in service-learning and community engagement, or wanting to incorporate a cross-cultural perspective in their disciplinary courses -- theoretical foundations, guidance on effective collaboration, and the strategic and pedagogical considerations to develop robust COIL VE courses and programs.

The idea of the professional who bridges both research and practice has been largely overlooked and at times even disregarded by the academic and administrative structures that govern activity in higher education today. In international higher education, the number of students who now engage in mobility and exchange has expanded globally, along with the administrative cadre that manages all facets of internationalization, and the quickly growing scholarly attention to understanding the phenomenon. In this process, two distinct professional categories have emerged: those who ‘study it’ and those who ‘do it’ – the scholars and the practitioners. Practitioners are seen as those who manage the daily logistical flow of students and personnel around the globe, while scholars are seen as those who conduct research, collect and analyze data, and publish findings to inform, improve, and justify the activity. Yet this dichotomy is overly simplistic, outdated, and excludes the large and growing class of hybrid scholar-practitioners who now engage regularly in both kinds of activity. It is this rapidly growing population of bridge builders that are profiled and discussed in this book through critical essays on the notion of the scholar-practitioner and its implication for the further development of international higher education. The chapters include detailed analyses from university faculty, senior international officers and other high-level administrators, directors of research centers, key leaders from influential professional associations and private organizations, managers of study abroad and exchange, and graduate students. This book launches a much-needed dialogue about the perception and reality, potential and promise, of the scholar-practitioner in higher education today. It will be of relevance to a wide variety of readers, from those within universities and organizations to those who are outside observers of higher education.

With the increased interest in study abroad from government, educators, employers and students, the question is: is study abroad engendering the desired intercultural competencies and intellectual development?To achieve this goal, this book proposes two strategies: structure study abroad to bridge the separation of academic learning from experiential and intercultural learning; and integrate study abroad with the undergraduate curriculum.In proposing this integration, the editors take into account the need for institutional change, and recognize faculty members’ concerns about maintaining the integrity of the curriculum, teaching in areas outside their expertise, and keeping up with ever-evolving institutional missions.This book opens with two chapters presenting different theoretical perspectives relevant to the integration of study abroad into the curriculum. The following nine chapters provide examples from a variety of disciplines – from anthropology and religious studies, to literature, urban studies, biology and public health – and within such contexts as distance learning, service learning, and the senior thesis. The concluding chapter considers faculty development activities and institutional structures and policies that support curriculum integration. While the examples are drawn from Beloit College and Kalamazoo College – liberal arts colleges with substantial study abroad enrollments, and nationally recognized for their innovative practices – readers will recognize they are easily adaptable to their own institutions. The two colleges achieved their curricular innovations with limited financial resources, and in the context that most of their students are dependent on financial aid. The transformational ideas and practices described here provide material for reflection and campus conversations for anyone concerned with developing global citizens and well-educated students, and offer a blueprint for implementation.