Karl W. Deutsch on Nationalistic Responses to Study Abroad

I'm currently reading:  "From the NAFSA Archives, Nationalistic Responses to Study Abroad" by Karl W. Deutsch (from the Spring 1997 International Educator).  This was the address that Deutsch gave at NAFSA's fifth annual conference in 1952.  It is a great article on many levels and it is as relevant today as it was in 1952.

Deutsch begins his address with the following question "Does Foreign Travel-Does Foreign Culture Contact-unite people?  Towards the end of his address Deutsch talks about the "actual results" of the encounters between foreign students and the civilization of the United States and indicates that they have been better than expected."  Deutsch describes four types of individuals who come to the United States to study:

1.  The Future Americans, those students who stay and become Americans
2.  The Deracinés, those students who go back to their own countries, but [who] have lost their roots at home and are now at home in no country
3.  The Rebels, those students who go back to their own countries and remain critical or hostile to the United States
4.  The Bridge Builders, those students who go back to their own countries and stick to their own people and to help to link them to the Western world and the United States [perhaps the most valuable group]

In reference to the Bridge Builders, Deutsch asks "how can we help these men [and women...]?  His response is of much interest to me as this is a question I wonder about often [and was going to focus my dissertation on until I realized that finding the answer will take more than a dissertation]. Deutsch argues that our task is "to encourage the identification with us, without destroying their identification with their own personalities and memories and with their own people at home."  He further asks "what can we do to help?" and then answers that "the first think we can do for them is to organize research; to follow up the experience of returned students and to see what positions they find at home. What are their attitudes, their influences, and what is the sociological depth of their contacts at home?  The second thing we can do is to stress the positive and cooperative aspects of the world in general, and the creative and cooperative aspects of American culture in particular.  We can show them what the United States has learned from the other peoples of the world.  We can emphasize the creative contributions they and people like them might make in the future.  We can treat them as resources and friends.  We can get them together on or campuses, not only with the technical and instrumental parts of the curriculum that are offered, but also with our most creative and imaginative courses, teachers, and students."  What do you think about Deutsch's comments?

Karl Deutsch was one of the most well know political scientists/international relations theorists of the 20th Century.

New Look for IHEC Blog!

Recently I spent a few minutes changing the look and feel of IHEC Blog.  I liked the previous look and feel but after three years in operation I thought it was time for a change!  There are still some bugs to be worked out but I think I like the new layout and colors and in particular, light blue on brown!  From time to time you may notice small changes but hopefully they will be small enough that you won't even notice.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the new design!  Please feel free to leave a comment if you have a moment.

Photo credit:  David Reece

Study Abroad and Curriculum Integration – University of Minnesota Style

Check your calendars and hold this Thursday, April 1^st at 12:00pm (EST) if you can because The Chronicle of Higher Education is hosting a live chat for their "Innovators in Internationalization" series with University of Minnesota colleagues Gayle Woodruff, Director of Curriculum and Campus Internationalization, and Martha Johnson, Director of the Learning Abroad Center.  I know Gayle and Martha and am excited to hear what they have to say!  The following description of this Innovators in Internationalization chat was posted to SECUSS-L by Karin Fischer from The Chronicle of Higher Education and I am posting it below with her permission:

Most colleges wrestle with low study-abroad numbers. How do you convince students, and professors, that taking time away from the campus is both feasible and beneficial to a student’s academic career? The University of Minnesota has developed a method for success by working closely with departments to map out a realistic timetable, and appropriate international partners, for dozens of majors.

Learn how Minnesota did it, and get tips for your own college, by joining a Chronicle of Higher Education live chat with Gayle Woodruff, director of curriculum and campus internationalization at the university, and Martha J. Johnson, director of the learning-abroad center there. It will be held on Thursday, April 1, at noon Eastern at
http://chronicle.com/article/Live-Chat-Innovators-in/64820/.

You can read a related article from the March 28^th The Chronicle entitled “U. of Minnesota Integrates Study Abroad Into the Curriculum” here.

Photo credit:  blmurch

International Education and the Immigration Reform Debate

NAFSA’s latest blog post on the immigration debate caught my attention and I thought I would post about it to IHEC Blog. In her post entitled “International Education Is Key to Making Immigration Reform Work for America” Heather Stewart, NAFSA’s Counsel and Director of Immigration Policy, explains the pivotal role international education plays and specifically addresses the need for policies to attract more international students and scholars in order to boost our economy, competitiveness, and ability to connect with the global community.

Heather also pleads the case for a productive national conversation on immigration. She says, “Historically, immigration reform is an issue that cuts across party lines, only succeeding with bipartisan cooperation” and “Immigration reform is a moral and economic imperative, not a political football to be fumbled or kicked down the field. When our members of Congress treat immigration as a game, we all lose.”

Have a thought about this? If so, please visit NAFSA’s blog and leave a comment.

Twitter + NAFSA’s Advocacy Day: A Perfect Match

The following is a guest post by Frank J. Merendino who is the NAFSA Region VI State Rep-Ohio.  I got to know Frank only a few short weeks ago as I was following the NAFSA Advocacy Day activities via Frank’s live tweets of updates and photos he took.  I like what Frank was tweeting so much that I invited him to serve as a guest blogger to share his experiences during NAFSA’s Advocacy Day.  Frank’s post follows:

When David asked me to be a guest blogger on the IHEC Blog I was thrilled for several   reasons. 1) IHEC Blog is such a valuable resource for international educators—it’s a great site for one stop shopping about past and current events in international education so I am honored to be a contributor, 2) I have the opportunity to share my wonderful experience at NAFSA’s Advocacy Day with a larger audience, and 3) I get to blog for the first time ever!

Yes, you read that correctly. I am on the boundary line between GenXer and Millennial (born in 1980) and I have never written a blog post before...hard to imagine, eh? Speaking of blogging, let’s stick with the new media conversation and talk about the benefits of Twitter. Live tweeting is also something I have never really done until Advocacy Day 2010. I’ve had a Twitter account since 2008 and been following a few people for a while (I have even made an occasional tweet every once and a while about nothing important), but it was my interaction with Twitter on my mobile device during Advocacy Day that allowed me to truly understand what all the fuss was about.

I’m certainly not comparing the importance of my tweeting during Advocacy Day with what Iranian citizens were doing a few months back when they made their voices heard during the election protests in a way their government couldn’t block (at first).  However, there is some similarity in that I was able to share a live event I was participating in while it was happening with interested followers. It was a very empowering feeling. Thank you to all my “tweeps” for their encouragement and feedback throughout the Advocacy Day event. Tweeting about what was happening throughout my brief time in DC greatly enhanced my own experience and also allowed me to feel like I was sharing something important with colleagues.

This was my second year attending NAFSA’s Advocacy Day and my hope is that I am able to continue to attend throughout the years. If you only take one message away from this post, it’s that you should absolutely attend Advocacy Day at some point in your career. I’m dead serious. I have had several different NAFSA “experiences” so far in my relatively short time in the field--attending state, regional, and national conferences, attending a regional leadership team meeting, and in my new position as the Region VI State Representative for Ohio, I am currently experiencing the joys of planning Ohio’s state conference—but bar none, Advocacy Day takes the cake as my favorite NAFSA event.

I spent a whirlwind 32 hours in our nation’s capital cramming information into my brain about immigration reform, the ACTION Act, and why lifting the travel ban to Cuba is in our best interest. When it was all said and done, and I had given my pitch about the many benefits of international education to two Senator’s aides and one House staffer, I was exhausted...but it was well worth it. Advocacy Day is a great venue to increase your overall understanding of international education. Seeing the “big picture” and where your own specialty in international education fits into the spectrum is just one of the rewards. You get to listen firsthand to public policy wonks speak about current issues affecting student visas, meet and interact with international educators from across the country, share your stories about the positive impact of studying abroad, and most importantly, take an active role in the democratic process and help to determine the future of international education policy by letting your voice be heard.  Regardless of your role in international education—whether you advise domestic students on studying abroad, help international students and scholars maintain their visa status, teach English, or work in recruiting and admissions—attending NAFSA’s Advocacy Day is an incredible opportunity to help make a difference for students, fellow international educators, and hopefully the United States of America.

I’ll see you in Washington DC in 2011!

If you have any questions, or would like to chat more about why NAFSA’s Advocacy Day is a worthwhile experience, feel free to drop me a line at region6.ohiorep@gmail.com.

Regards,

Frank J. Merendino

NAFSA Region VI State Rep-Ohio

International Student Advisor

My thanks to Kari Lantos and NAFSA’s Public Policy team on all of their hard work in putting together another great Advocacy Day.

Photo Credit:  All photos were taking by Frank via his mobile device and posted to TweetPhoto (via Twitter).  To see all of Frank's photos from NAFSA Advocacy Day please visit here.

Back to Castilla – Video of the Week

In searching for videos to highlight in future video of the week segments I thought I would search for Forum on Education Abroad as I thought it might be good to highlight the Forum on the last day of the conference!  I came across a great video created by John Aslanian during the Crossing Borders, Creating Culture: Digital Storytelling & Study Abroad workshop at the Forum conference on Wednesday.  I really like this video and wish I had the skills to put something like this together!  Perhaps I’ll be able to get back on the Forum conference circuit next year and take advantage of this workshop should it be offered again next year.  Additionally, I studied abroad in Valladolid, Spain and visited many of the sites shown in the video!  

Plenty of Free International Education Materials to Download on the Internets

It's a busy week this week as my two older kids are out of school on spring break and I'm home with them all week.  Additionally, I have a draft of my dissertation proposal due soon so my time to focus on IHEC Blog posts and navigating in other spaces is limited.  The following are some quick links where you can download several great resources related to international education. Happy reading/researching!

AIEA 2010 Annual Conference Presentations

NAFSA Advocacy Day 2010 Issues Briefs

NAFSA Region XI Archives (subject of recent IHEC Blog post)

Photo credit:  fontplaydotcom