Links of Interest for Week of October 23rd to 29th

Continuing my weekly Friday trend, here is a list (a bit brief this week) of some of the most interesting posts that I came across or posted to Twitter this past week:

Institute of International Education launches “Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education”

Latest volume of Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad has been published (via @IDPDRIE)

New Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange website

GlobaLinks Learning Abroad named Small Company of the Year by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce (via @australearn @asialearn @eurolearn)

NAFSA 2009 Annual Report available

Discussion started on “How to measure impact of international education/exchange programs on US public diplomacy efforts?” on the IHEC Blog Facebook page. Be the first to add your opinion!

New "Research in Internationalization of Higher Education" LinkedIn group

Research Notes: A Brief History of Comparative Education through the 1960s

When examining the literature in comparative education over the past 100 years it is clear that there has been an “identity crisis” regarding its boundaries and much of the confusion stems from the blurred boundaries of the field. Until the late twentieth century, few authors worked to clarify the distinctions between the two fields of comparative education and international education, and in fact, many authors carelessly used “comparative education” and “international education” either inter-changeably or simultaneously without distinction.

There is certainly an overlap in the histories of comparative education and international education, though comparativists seem to have a stronger sense of who their founding fathers are, what the key pieces of literature in its history are, and when important shifts have taken place.

Unlike international education, the founding fathers of comparative education are much more easily identifiable by those in the respective field. It is rare to find an article examining the early stages of comparative education or even current comparative theory without finding mention of Marc Antoine Jullien, Michael Sadler, and Issac Kandel. These authors provided the foundation of comparative education and serve as a reference point for emerging comparativists. Jullien was an early figure encouraging cross-national data collection, Sadler stressed the importance of looking at society as a whole when considering educational systems, and finally Kandel helped to clarify some of the goals of comparative education. In the mid to late twentieth century, as the field of comparative education strived for rigorous methodology, several authors such as Harold J. Noah and Max A. Eckstein, William W. Brickman, George Z. F. Bereday, C. Arnold Anderson, Erwin H. Epstein, and Irving Epstein helped to challenge and clarify comparative theory.

In 1954, The School of Education at New York University began a conference that would, at their third meeting two years later in 1956, establish the Comparative Education Society. Early activities of this organization included working to define the field of comparative education as an academic venture, creating study tours abroad, and publishing the Comparative Education Review, which now appears quarterly. Even then, the overlaps in the domains of comparative education and international education were illustrated by the Comparative Education Society changing its name to The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) in 1968, the name by which the organization is known today. The 1960s saw the formation of the Comparative Education Society in Europe, which prompted the publishing of Comparative Education beginning in 1964. Several other countries, such as Canada, Japan, and Korea followed suit and created comparative education societies.[1]

The World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), a non-governmental organization under UNESCO, formed in the late 1960s and holding its first world council in 1970 with representatives from five comparative education societies including the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Canada. The WCCES aims to promote the study of comparative and international education throughout the world and enhance the academic status of this field and to bring comparative education to bear on the major educational problems of the day by fostering cooperative action by specialists from different parts of the world.[2] The organization typically meets every three years in a new country for each Congress.

I hope to be able to pull together a brief history of Comparative Education from the 1960’s to date in the near future.

Previous IHEC Blog on "System Transfer in Comparative Education" is available here.

[1] William Brickman, “Genesis and Early Development of the Comparative and International Education Society” Comparative Education Review 10, no. 1 (February 1966): 9-19.
[2] World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) description of its two specific goals (2006), http://www.hku.hk/cerc/wcces/.

Why Premeds Should Study Abroad

I was searching through my research notes today during lunch and came across a quote that I copied and pasted from a SECUSS-L post (study abroad listsev) from the mid-1990’s that I’ve been referring to in my advising meetings with premed students on the value of studying/researching/working abroad. This is the type of quote that gets students to listen.

"Spending a year of study abroad is a life enriching, life changing experience. Those of us involved in medical school admissions can well appreciate the value of such experience. When we review an application to medical school, of course, we are interested in grades and MCAT scores. But we're also interested in clinical and researchexperience, as well as other kinds of experiences that impact on the applicant's maturity, leadership skills and sensitivities to people of differing backgrounds and cultures. Spending a year living and studying in another country and culture is truly a transforming and enriching experience. And since so few American students study abroad, only 2%, it would be a unique experience as well. Having a year of study abroad in one's background would be a very positive component of an application to medical school." Dr. Ralph Purdy, ChairMedical School Admissions CommitteeUniversity of California, IrvineOctober 24, 1996

To be sure, premed students shouldn’t study abroad just so they are more competitive in the medical school application process. It’s just a nice outcome of a transformative educational experience.

Promotion of a Better Understanding on the Part of American Citizens of the other Peoples of the World at the University of Chicago in 1923

Over the weekend I was scanning through a book entitled The Story of The University of Chicago 1890-1925 by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed (1925) and was pleased to find the following paragraph:

"In the very last days of President Judson's administration, Mr. and Mrs. M. Haddon MacLearn and the sons of Mr. Harris, Albert W. Harris, Norman D. Harris, Hayden B. Harris, and Stanley G. Harris, gave the University $150,000 for the endowment of the Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation, in memory of Norman Wait Harris, for many years one of the leading business men of Chicago and head of the Harris Trust and Savings Bank. The fund was given in the name of Mrs. N.W. Harris. The income of this endowment was to be expended for the "promotion of a better understanding on the part of American citizens of the other peoples of the world, thus establishing a basis for improved international relations a a more enlightened world order." The first conferences under the Harris Foundation were held at the University during the Summer Quarter of 1924. Lectures were delivered by eminent Men of other countries and heard with great interest." (p. 186-187)

The fact that this endowment was established in 1923 to promote better understanding between Americans and other peoples of the world is impressive and interesting to me. What is equally impressive is that the Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation Fund is still in existence and is one of the oldest endowments at the University of Chicago. You can learn more about how the Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation Fund is being used here.

Photo: Asia Lecture Series at the University of Chicago 25 to 29 May 1949. The 25th annual institute of the Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation in International Relations dealt with Nationalism and Regionalism in South Asia. Speaking at the far right is Phillips Talbot, director of the 1949 Institute, and visiting assistant professor of political science.

Archival Photographic Files, [apf3-01135], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

International Education Offices, Organizations and People on Twitter & Facebook or MySpace

From time to time I have posted to IHEC Blog about new media (or social networking sites) and the growing number of users in the field of international education. In fact, my last several IHEC Blog posts on Fridays has been a list of interesting links that I pulled from Twitter.

In my opinion, international educators should not underestimate the power and value of new media tools (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Study Abroad Alumni International, ExchangesConnect, NAFSA’s network discussion forums, etc.). Find a few extra minutes in your day to investigate and to participate!

If you are looking for a place to start, my colleague Penny Schouten has been compiling a growing list of international education programs and colleagues on Twitter and Facebook/MySpace. You access Penny’s list for Twitter here and her list for Facebook/MySpace here.

For those of you attending the upcoming NAFSA: Association of International Educators Regional conferences I thought I would add the following information that Penny posted this past Friday to SECUSS-L:

"The hashtag (#) is used in Twitter so that people can follow a specific conversation. So far the hashtags designated to be used by the regionals are:

Oct 26-29th Region 3: #NAFSAR309
Nov 7-10th Region 6: #nafsa609
Nov 11-14th Region 8: #NAFSA09VIII
Nov 3-5th Bi-regional 10 & 11: #nafsaxxi

If you are tweeting from a conference, please include the appropriate hashtag so we can follow your tweets and find out what's happening at your conference.

Even if you don't have a twitter account, you can see what people are talking about at each conference by going to http://twitter.com/ and putting the corresponding hashtag in the search box."

You can follow Penny on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PennySchouten

Links of Interest for Week of October 16th to 22nd

Here are some interesting links I have found and posted to Twitter this past week. There are a few that focus on China mixed in with a little bit of Fulbright. I hope you find some of them to be of interest.

LinkedIn group "Research in Internationalization of Higher Education"

"Experience Being Abroad w/ the State Dept." event in DC Nov. 2

US F1 student visas fall 25% in Times of India

60% of U.S. business & industry leaders place premium on new recruits’ international experience, new IIE survey (via @IIEglobal)

Fulbright Program Adapts to Obama Administration's Priorities

National Education Abroad Fair calendar

University of Buffalo and China Collaborate on Language Initiative in Schools (2 min audio piece available)

Top Producing Schools for Fulbright came out in the Chronicle of Higher Education (via @FulbrightPress)

How do you answer: "What are, or should be, the ethics of public diplomacy?" (via @mountainrunner)

Tentatively named my personal international education library & archive the "Bury International Education Library & Archive"

Univ. of Chicago to open new center in China for University’s divisions & schools. Fall '10 opening (via @globalhighered)

U.S. and China marked 30 years of science and technology cooperation (via @dipnote)

Institute of International Education (IIE) Launches Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education (via @globalhighered)

Free & open access “Journal of International Education in Business”

Counting International Student Numbers in Non-English Language Destinations (via @WESFans)

“Who Are You Now” ~ Study Abroad Alumni Survey by The Foundation for Asia Pacific

The Foundation for Asia Pacific Education is surveying study abroad alumni from the United States and Canada to learn more about the impact study abroad has had one’s life today. All study abroad alumni (meaning it doesn’t matter when you studied abroad) can take the survey so please alert any study abroad alumni you know to this research project and if you studied abroad please try to fit 15 minutes into your schedule to complete the survey. Additionally, all survey participants will receive a copy of the results via e-mail.

If you have difficulty accessing the survey via the button above you can also link to the survey here: http://asia-pacificfoundation.org/survey2009/index.htm

I really like the work that The Foundation for Asia Pacific Education is doing (in addition to conducting this survey) and I previously posted to IHEC Blog about them which you can read here.