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Internationalization Collaborative

Comprehensive Institutions

Northern Kentucky University

As a metropolitan and regional institution, Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has a singular mission within the commonwealth to address the educational needs of a large and diverse population and to educate students to be productive citizens, preparing them for careers and lifelong learning. As an educational, cultural, and social center, the university stimulates economic development and fosters the academic, artistic, and personal freedoms vital to a free society.

NKU also develops creative and mutually beneficial partnerships with public and private enterprises in the local metropolitan area and the region in support of economic growth and investment. The university is especially committed to offering training, applied research, and other services in support of area businesses, industry, and government. It recognizes a special commitment to research and service in support of local elementary and secondary schools in its primary service area.

From a historical perspective, Northern Kentucky University, the newest of Kentucky’s eight state universities, was founded in 1968 as Northern Kentucky State College (NKSC) and began offering courses in 1970 for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Since then, the institution has continued to grow in size and in programs. The Salmon P. Chase College of Law, formerly an independent law school in Cincinnati, Ohio, merged with NKSC in 1971. In 1976, Governor Julian Carroll signed House Bill 180, making Northern Kentucky State College a university: Northern Kentucky University. The following year, the Graduate Center was established on the NKU campus to administer graduate programs. Major construction of the main campus in Highland Heights began in 1972; today the campus accommodates a growing enrollment that now is over 14,500 students, from primarily northern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and southeastern Indiana.

The university is authorized by the commonwealth of Kentucky to confer bachelor’s degrees in arts, fine arts, music, science, nursing, and social work (55 programs), and associate degrees in applied science and in arts (8 programs). NKU also has 15 graduate degrees in arts and sciences, business, informatics, education and human services, and nursing and health professions. The College of Law confers the juris doctor degree, and the College of Law and College of Business jointly confer the juris doctor/master of business administration degree. In addition, NKU offers a variety of certificates (post-baccalaureate and post-master’s), ranging from entrepreneurship to advanced taxation.

NKU is a Carnegie master’s comprehensive university and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Individual programs are accredited by a variety of associations including the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business–The International Association for Management Education, American Association of Law Schools, American Bar Association, American Chemical Society, American Council for Construction Education, Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, Council for Standards in Human Service Education, Council on Social Work Education, Education Professional Standards Board, Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology, National Association of Schools of Music, National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Overview of Internationalization Efforts

I. Vision and Goals for Internationalization

Northern Kentucky University has had three major efforts involving campus-wide internationalization in the past six years. The first effort included the release of a report, titled Globalizing NKU: Twenty-Four Initiatives and One Strategic Priority, in February 2000. The initiatives were as follows:

1. Make internationalization a strategic priority for NKU.
2. Provide a passport for every NKU student who earns 30 hours with at least a 3.0 GPA.
3. Provide country-specific “Study Abroad Sashes” for graduating seniors at commencement.
4. Establish scholarship funding, with special emphasis on “First Year Global Scholarships” for incoming students.
5. Implement a $1 per student per semester fee for study abroad.
6. Enable the banking and matching of work-study money.
7. Provide seminars on sources of support for student travel.
8. Encourage service abroad components for study abroad experiences.
9. Facilitate international internships.
10. Schedule an annual International Returnees Week.
11. Create a Study Abroad Alumni Organization.
12. Increase interactions between local and international students.
13. Encourage growth in the number of international students enrolled at NKU.
14. Strengthen the global emphasis of general education requirements.
15. Create international options within disciplinary majors.
16. Encourage the development of a study/service abroad requirement for honors students.
17. Encourage the development of a study/service abroad requirement for international studies majors.
18. Provide compensation, recognition and incentives for international activities conducted by faculty.
19. Increase faculty participation in CCSA and KIIS programs.
20. Develop a faculty that has expertise on international issues.
21. Increase the number of international faculty exchanges.
22. Increase awareness of and enthusiasm for civic engagement aspects of international travel.
23. Increase faculty cooperation on projects with international students and visiting international scholars.
24. Organize one international symposium each year.

This effort was followed by the formation of an advisory committee that published Internationalizing NKU: An Action Plan in June 2003. The background, motivation, and philosophy for this came from the earlier Globalizing NKU report. It proposed five action items in five categories of imperatives: coordinate, audit, link, recognize, and welcome. Most of these five items dealt primarily with faculty and administrative infrastructure. They are, of course, only a means to an end: reaching the students. The gifts of internationalization—intellectual empathy and a resistance to stereotyping, chief among them—rank among the best that we, as educators, can bestow.

From that work, an international audit of all academic departments was conducted in the fall of 2004, and the results presented to the university provost and president. Currently, a new task force has been formed to move NKU forward in this process.

A newly announced Internationalization Task Force will use the ACE Internationalizing the Campus: A User’s Guide as well as these previous endeavors to focus our efforts.

II. Progress

Progress has been made on many fronts. Two of the most significant are:

• Providing salary for faculty teaching in a study abroad program has been a major concern. NKU recently implemented a phased incentive program for payment, which has proven very successful.
• Creating a network of departmental liaisons has improved communication between the Office of International Programs and individual academic departments. Information about different opportunities for faculty, staff, and students now reaches the appropriate people in a timely fashion.

III. Successful Strategies

NKU has found the following three strategies to be very effective:

• Presentations by the Office of International Programs (OIP) about study abroad and international educational opportunities are made in classes throughout each semester. We have experienced long-term return on this particular investment.
• OIP has found it especially advantageous to focus study abroad opportunities to academic fields of study. Each year, letters are mailed to students highlighting study abroad opportunities specific to their majors. Furthermore, participation in study abroad among our students is strengthened when faculty members within an academic discipline become involved in the offering, recruitment, and implementation of programs, thereby creating a “following” of students who wish to study abroad under a certain professor.
• For the past several years, OIP has engaged in outreach and collaboration with academic and departmental advisers across campus as another means to inform students about education abroad opportunities.

IV. Future Plans

The newly announced Internationalization Task Force will review NKU’s past goals and may include some of them, along with the following actions, in our plans:

1. Propose a change to NKU’s mission statement to include internationalizing language programs and a plan to appropriately fund these efforts.
2. Survey NKU faculty and staff to produce a database of current international activities and faculty expertise and interest.
3. Publish an annual newsletter/report that describes NKU’s accomplishments in the international arena.
4. Begin at least one new international linkage and submit three new grant applications each year.
5. Develop a plan to fund at least one new visiting professor each year.
6. Assist faculty and staff in applying for international opportunities, such as Fulbright Awards, faculty exchanges, research grants, and conference attendance.
7. Implement a plan to increase the number of international students and utilize their expertise in transforming the campus and the P-12 setting.
8. Encourage and assist in the development of P-12 international experiences.
9. Increase the number of study abroad students.
10. Implement a plan to infuse international and global themes into the curriculum and provide professional development for faculty.
11. Increase the number of advertised lecturers that have international and global themes.
12. Develop a plan to require each student to have an international experience, such as engaging in world language study, studying abroad, or doing a service learning project in another country.

Please direct questions about this page to:
beth_burris@ace.nche.edu
This page last updated on 1/18/07