The Online Public Hearing on the Future of Utah Higher Education at http://www.higheredutah2020.org/ is a very interesting and innovative project. According to the Commissioner of Higher Education in Utah [appointed by the Board of Regents as the Chief Executive Officer of the Utah System of Higher Education] on the website:
“The Governor has asked the Utah State Board of Regents and my office to develop a master plan for higher education to meet the goal of having our workforce ready for the new economy.”
I have no stake in Utah higher education but I couldn’t resist searching the site and documents for mention of international education and I found absolutely nothing.
From what I can tell, Utah has not issued an International Education Resolution. According to a data table on the NAFSA website (here), during the 2006/2007 academic year, 2,845 students in Utah studied abroad out of a total higher education enrollment of 202,151 equating to 1.41% study abroad participation rate for that period. Data over on the Open Doors website shows that the total number of study abroad students from Utah dropped from 2,845 in 2006/2007 to 2,597 in 2007/2008 equating to a -8.7% change in study abroad participation between those two years. We are just a few weeks away from knowing what the study abroad numbers for 2008/2009 will reveal.
Did I miss something or is Utah missing the boat?
