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Internationalization lacking on college campuses
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by Zach Frey
Friday, October 31, 2003
Despite the growing presence of globalization and international business, internationalization of college campuses still remains a priority universities nationwide are struggling to implement, a recent report conducted by the American Council on Education found.
While pointing out most students and professors at the institutions involved in the study said they had participated in some kind of international program or course, the report nonetheless noted that internationalization is not high on the overall priorities of many universities.
In addition, the study found that most professors are interested in internationalizing education, but are often slow in actually incorporating these changes.
Council spokesperson Christa Olsen stated universities must take on various goals in order to achieve internationalization.
“They need to work on getting international language into their mission statements and their strategic plans. They need to offer visible support for international studies,” Olsen said. “There should be incentives, such as financial rewards, for professors who are integrating an international focus.”
University of Wisconsin Dean of International Studies Gilles Bousquet said UW is also working to improve internationalization, especially focusing on increasing global studies across all areas.
“In today’s world it’s not just enough to have humanities students who are globally competent. We also need doctors, engineers and businessmen who are globally competent,” Bousquet said, adding that improving these standards is one of five priorities for the UW campus.
Bousquet also said that working with different schools is key to accomplishing this end.
“On this campus, we’re working together to find collaborative ways, even between schools, to create new courses,” Bousquet said. “We’ve been working with the business school for a number of years to fund joint courses on foreign language for business.”
In order to do so, Bousquet said connecting resources is key in meeting the desired level of internationalization, something he personally takes on himself. As he noted, part of his job is linking internationally-focused resources, such as the International Institute with schools that traditionally don’t focus on internationalization, such as the schools of engineering, medicine and education.
UW is currently working on providing beneficial resources from outside of the university community for students.
Olsen is confident that universities will in fact meet their desired goal of implementing internationalization, but notes that such an accomplishment will take some work.
“We’re seeing a lot of progress,” Olsen said. “But there’s still a ways to go.”
