International

On Dec. 17, 2014, President Obama announced that he was restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba, a historic decision that is ending over 50 years of frozen relations. Higher education has been one of the main beneficiaries of these early efforts. Beth Stroble, president of Webster University in Missouri, explores the future for continued cooperation between U.S. and Cuban institutions.

ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement’s 2014 report, Mapping International Joint and Dual Degrees: U.S. Program Profiles and Perspectives explores the landscape of such programs in the United States, including characteristics and policies, academic focus areas, partner locations and programmatic challenges, and their role in broader institutional strategy and planning.

For many United States colleges and universities, increasing international student enrollment has become a strategic priority. Such students often pay full tuition, and amid state funding and other cutbacks, admissions offices are increasingly reaching across national borders in their recruiting campaigns. But that’s not the only reason to go international, writes Robin Matross Helms.

Prospects for alternative measures of institutional achievement have been welcomed by many for their potential to focus on institutional progress through the lens of student learning outcomes assessment. Several international organizations have taken an especially strong interest in this aspect of accountability, particularly the OECD, write Brad Farnsworth and Patti McGill Peterson.

Higher education leaders too often look to the recruitment of students from abroad as the single cure-all to create an internationalized campus. While that is one of several steps institutions can take, it’s not enough on its own. By only recruiting students from abroad, institutions are missing a vital part of campus internationalization: The experiences and preparation of U.S. students.

Montgomery County Community College (PA) recently formed an innovative partnership with Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea. The partnership, Montco’s first and the only global community college agreement of its kind in Pennsylvania, will allow students to easily transfer to Dongseo to obtain a bachelor’s degree.