International and Language Education for a Global Future: Fifty Years of U.S. Title VI and Fulbright-Hays Programs

Appendix C. Summary of Discussions from Plenary Panels, Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference

Plenary I: Panel on Current Issues and Future Directions for International Education Panel: Chair – Craig Calhoun, President, Social Science Research Council; University Professor of the Social Sciences, New York University Members: Gene Block, Chancellor, University of California, Los Angeles Mark Gearan, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges KimWilcox, Provost andVice President for Academic Affairs, Michigan State University Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009 • “We must produce a new wave of workers and informed leaders who can address global demands. Title VI can do this by strengthening performance in global education and enabling all students to understand foreign cultures and languages.” • Internationalization occurs on campuses not only through study abroad programs but also through international university partnerships, as well as undergraduate student engagement with faculty, graduate students, and immigrant diaspora populations near our campuses. • Undergraduates are looking for an education that includes service learning, community building, and international experience. These endeavors need to be well A P P E N D I X C Summary of Discussions from Plenary Panels, Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference 377 funded for both the students traveling abroad and the foreign students coming to the United States to study. • Study abroad is key to language study; however, the experience can be deepened by the addition of preparatory foreign area and language studies, as well as reentry education on returning from abroad. • In the current economic climate, universities and colleges need to embed activities within their budgets, look to private and philanthropic donors, work with alumni who have benefited from international experience as a source of donations , and form new collaborations to ensure funding. • Title VI funding transforms existent programs and creates new programs, but the Title VI community needs to heighten awareness on campus and in our communities about the needs for and benefits of this unique funding. Even though internationalization might not be measured correctly on reporting forms, the experiences are invaluable for the individual as well as the country. Plenary II: Panel on Advancing the Internationalization of Higher Education Panel: Chair – Jeffrey Riedinger, Dean, International Studies and Programs; Professor , Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies Michigan State University Members: Robert Berdhal, President, Association of American Universities Maureen Budetti, Director of Student Aid Policy, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Constantine Curris, President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities Madeleine Green, Vice President, International Initiatives, American Council on Education Peter McPherson, President, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Date: Friday, March 20, 2009 • “The definition of being well-educated in the United States also must include being internationally educated.” • Accountability to an “international mission” must occur at the highest administrative levels of a higher education institution. • Study abroad programs need not apply only to U.S. undergraduates. Institutions that are internationalizing need to create more opportunities to send more of their faculty members abroad, as well as to bring more foreign students to the U.S. institutions. 378 A P P E N D I X C • Institutions, particularly community colleges, need to find ways to integrate international education pedagogy into the curriculum for students who cannot travel abroad, as well as to find creative study abroad programs that fit the needs, schedules, and budgets of working students. • Institutions of higher education need to find methods and resources to make study abroad affordable for both the students based in the United States and foreign students already studying in the United States. We also must assist those foreign students to secure visas. • In this economic climate, institutions need to be more vocal to members of Congress about the products and outcomes that Title VI and Fulbright-Hays funding produces on campus and in the states. Assembled by Marita Eibl, Michigan State University March 19–20, 2009 S u m m a r y o f D i s c u s s i o n s f r o m P l e n a r y P a n e l s , Ti t l e V I 5 0 t h A n n i v e r s a r y C o n f e r e n c e 379 ...