Kenneth Asks Anderson About Study Abroad On Twitter And Anderson Responds to Kenneth

Click on the photos to better read tweet conversation

Celebrating the 4th of July as an American while studying abroad

Today is my birthday!  This post is not a way for me to receive birthday wishes but an opportunity for me to reflect upon the two times I celebrated the 4th of July abroad as an American.  I celebrated the 4th of July on my 16th and 18th birthdays (to say I had some fun on those dates is an understatement!) while an exchange student in Rosenheim, West Germany.  These dates were very unique and valuable experiences for me to be a young American in a country that simply treated the 4th of July as just another Friday (1986) and Monday (1988) without all the celebration that comes with Independence Day here in the United States.  It is experiences like these that are just one of the many valuable takeaways I had from my exchanges in Germany.

Photo credit:  shino 誌野

Study Abroad and the Movie "Taken"

Almost every day I search the therm "Study Abroad" on Twitter to see what people (ie. young people/students) are saying about study abroad and as I scan through I pick a tweet about study abroad that I find of interest and post a "Study Abroad Tweet of the Day" to IHEC Blog's Facebook page.

Yesterday I posted the following Study Abroad Tweet of the Day focusing on the movie "Taken" and the study abroad experience:

"Of course Grandma brings up the movie "Taken" while @xxxxxx is discussion study abroad. #FamilyReunionAdventures pt.2" [Twitter handle removed by me for confidentiality]

I followed up that post with a brief mention that I have never seen the movie "Taken" but that I see many tweets about the movie having a negative connection to study abroad.  This was especially true tonight as I searched for today's Study Abroad Tweet of the Day as I found no less than eight out of about one hundred fifty tweets focusing on study abroad and Taken so I'm sharing those tweets below:

"my dad won't let me study abroad because of the movie taken."

"I haven't seen the movie Taken. And I don't think I should since I'm determined to study abroad..."

"Watching Taken with my fam when my sister's leaving to study abroad Tuesday....."

"when your parents use Taken as an excuse to not letting you study abroad<<< #really #itsjustamovie"

"Decided not to study abroad after watching taken #nightmares#seeyaneverrome"

"If my Mom knew about the movie "Taken", she would never let mestudy abroad. #terrifying #whereisliamneesonwhenyouneedhim"

"Watching Taken as my parents scare me about study abroad in August #GREAT

"Great. Taken 2 is coming out the week I have to submit my studyabroad application. #secondguesses"

I of course have to see the movie now and most likely Taken 2.  Have you seen the movie?

The Climate for Innovation

The following guest post is from my friend and colleague Bryan McAllister-Grande who is currently at Doctoral Candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Education and an Advisor for Global Affairs at Brandeis University.

Two years ago, at NAFSA’s Annual Conference in Kansas City, a group of international educators presented a new award to Josef Mestenhauser, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. The “Award for Innovative Research and Scholarship in Internationalization” -- now an annual peer-reviewed process -- is meant to honor contributions to a comprehensive, learning-centered approach to internationalization, an approach that Mestenhauser helped pioneer. Professor Mestenhauser has been gracious to serve on the selection committee for this new award, which was recently given to Bruce La Brack of the University of the Pacific.

Last fall, Mestenhauser published his magnum opus, an 160-page monograph based on his lectures at Minnesota. This book covers, roughly, the entirety of his career and thought. It critically examines the whole field, offering new interpretations of “culture,” research, student learning, education abroad, and learning for international students. Yet, it has not received much attention or debate. Part of the reason must be because it is only available on Amazon.com and has not been marketed in the usual circles. In addition, Mestenhauser’s work has always been considered complex, given his highly philosophical style, and many practitioners are not given ample time to read and review new work in the field – especially at the theoretical level.

But these two reasons can’t fully explain the silence on this book. Other scholars who work at the theoretical level have received comparatively much deeper attention. I wonder if there are other reasons, too, that speak to the current climate for innovation in internationalization.

Mestenhauser’s book arrives at a somewhat odd time for international education. On the one hand, the field seems to be expanding at an unbelievable rate, with more and more people claiming stake to the work. On the other, academics are questioning whether internationalization is reaching an “end,” a “mid-life crisis,” or is simply an empty fad. Jane Knight argues that all the attention given to internationalization has led to some “unintended consequences” – competition, elitism, market-driven priorities, and downgraded quality. The International Association of Universities recently released a statement entitled “Rethinking Internationalization”, which asks, “Has internationalization lost sight of its central purposes?” and aims to convene a global working group.

Meanwhile, on campuses, budgets are being cut, resources are being redirected, and some faculty are questioning the attention being given to initiatives deemed ‘outside’ the central campus mission of teaching and research. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison – a noted leader in global education – a faculty group recommended to dissolve a central Division of International Studies favor of a more diffused approach. The faculty did not repudiate internationalization as a goal, but they did question the motives and the process.

International education has no chance of dying out in today’s global world – but have we lost a sense of purpose and common goals?

When a group feels threatened (even somewhat unconsciously), the tendency is to retreat into familiar, stable, and comfortable positions. True innovation is at risk. Even the recent trend in higher education toward online education and open courseware, while seemingly innovative, seems like a retreat to a comfortable and marketable position. Similarly, I wonder how much “space” there is for international educators to innovate in this climate. When divisions of international studies are dissolved and internationalization is questioned, radicals and critics like Mestenhauser are more apt to be ignored, or pushed off to be tackled ‘later,’ in favor of more positive and conformist arguments.

After all, Mestenhauser does not so much criticize faculty and students and universities in general, but rather turns a mirror on the field itself. While acknowledging many improvements in theoretical rigor and practice since the founding of NAFSA, he still finds the field conceptually bereft. (He cites more publications from the 1950s and 60s than he does from the contemporary literature.) The prominence of current research on “global competence,” for instance, comes under attack for being superficial, as do singular studies on education abroad and international students. Most importantly, Mestenhauser deems the field’s understanding of “culture” to be limited and partial, if not itself culture-bound.

Of course, there is another issue: our field is overwhelmingly collegial and friendly, and we are not used to the usual academic peer review, which can be harsh and judgmental. I wonder if Mestenhauser’s particular mode of criticism is, again, out of place with a general tendency toward collaboration and sharing “best practices” versus theoretical debate. But can’t and shouldn’t we have both?

What do others think?  Do you find examples of true innovation in the field, and in what ways?  What qualifies as innovation in our field? What are the barriers to innovation, both apparent and hidden? Does innovation come from the sharing of best practices and collaboration, or also from healthy critique and debate and academic-style peer review?

NAFSA’s Review of Global Studies Literature (an online compilation of book reviews and essays of literature in the field, for which I serve as a co-editor) is also considering a forum on this general topic of ‘critiques of internationalization,’ and we would welcome diverse thoughts on Mestenhauser’s book as well as general ideas for reviewing recent critiques in a variety of topic areas. In addition, the next Call for Nominations is available for the 2013 Award for Innovative Research and Scholarship in Internationalization. Please consider nominating someone (or yourself) who has made a crucial and important contribution to the dialogue on how we approach our work.

Bryan McAllister-Grande

Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Advisor for Global

Affairs, Brandeis University

bwm561@mail.harvard.edu

StudyinBC.com – A BC Council for International Education (BCCIE) Initiative for Prospective International Students

Last month the Province of British Columbia, Canada announced their new International Education Strategy and today the BC Council for International Education (BCCIE) officially launches a new website StudyinBC.com which provides a unique glimpse of what it means to study in British Columbia and gives international students a platform on which to share their experiences.  The site features content from student bloggers, photographers and videographers who will document their study in British Columbia experience and share it with others considering the same path.  The focus of the site is not specific to post-secondary studies and provides a wealth of information on K-12 education in the Province for those who want to study

I was able to look through StudyinBC.com this past week and found it to be an excellent resource for prospective students.  The website was very user friendly and it provided a wealth of information on studying in BC.  Check it out for yourself!

I have been a huge fan of the international education efforts of British Columbia and BCCIE since I entered the field back in 2000 and StudyinBC.com only enhances my appreciation of their efforts!

You can also connect StudyinBC on Twitter and Facebook.

[Note: I received no compensation or benefit for posting about StudyinBC.com or the International Education Strategy of British Columbia]

My Declining Presence at International Education Conferences

Over the past few years my attendance at international education conferences has dwindled.  I have missed the past three Forum on Education Abroad conferences (my last one was Portland in 2009) and the past two NAFSA: Association of International Educators conferences (my last one was Kansas City in 2010) and the past four CIEE conferences (my last one was Toronto in 2007).  I did manage to make it to the CIES conference in Chicago in 2010 to present but my time at this conference consisted of arriving 30 minutes before my presentation and leaving 30 minutes after my presentation ended so I really can’t say I attended the conference (my only CIES conference I have seen) as I only presented at the Chicago CIES conference.  This also sums up the amount of time I spent at the 2011 NAFSA Region V conference in Champaign, Illinois (my last NAFSA Region V conference was in 2004 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) as I was also in and out of the conference venue only to present and say hello to a few friends and colleagues.  I did attend the entire 2010 U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. and it was a worthwhile event.

There are several reasons for this decline such as dissertation conflicts, lack of funds (almost all of my previous conference participation was self-funded) or lack of support.

I do hope to attend the 2013 Forum on Education Abroad conference as it will be in Chicago and perhaps the NAFSA conference in St. Louis in 2013.  CIEE 2012 in Shanghai is definitely out for me but who knows about 2013 in Minneapolis!?!?!

I will attend the annual conference of the Partnership in International Management (PIM) in Lima, Peru in late October (in many ways PIM has become my new NAFSA) and next week I will attend the Peer Schools International Educators [group of top business schools in the U.S.]  meeting at Stanford Graduate School of Business for a couple of days (in many ways Peer Schools has become my new Forum although on a much, much smaller scale] so I’m not totally out of the conference/meeting circuit…it’s just changing!  Last month I attended my first Chicago NAFSA Roundtable meeting since I worked in the Office of International Affairs at The University of Chicago seven years ago.

Originally posted to my International Higher Education Consulting website on June 11, 2012.

Literature on Education Abroad from the 1800's

Many IHEC Blog readers are aware of my interest in the history of international education in the United States.  My historical interests date back to colonial times but the late 1800's, early 1900's, the inter-war period (1918-1939), post-World War II through the 1960's and then the 1970's-1980's.  While fluid, these are the various time periods I tend to focus my research on.


Some time ago I posted a link to a short piece of literature in Google Books from 1896 that was making an argument for American students to study in France versus Germany (link below) to Twitter and IHEC Blog's Facebook page and several people enjoyed the posts so I am sharing links below to two historical piece of literature focusing on education abroad:


Should American Youth Be Educated Abroad? In “Education Abroad, And Other Papers” by Birdsey Grant Northrop, LL.D., Secretary of Connecticut Board of Education. New York and Chicago: A.S. Barnes & Co. (1873) at http://bit.ly/fb0kE6 [scroll down a little] or http://bit.ly/ugAqvy


An argument for American students to study in France vs. Germany via the “Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science”, Volume 7 (1896) at http://bit.ly/eI10q7.