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Internationalization Collaborative
Community Colleges
Tidewater Community College
Tidewater Community
College (TCC) is a comprehensive public community college
located in the South Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Founded in 1968
as part of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), the college has
campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, as well
as a regional Visual Arts Center in Olde Towne, Portsmouth, and the TCC
Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts Center in the theater district
of downtown Norfolk. In its mission, the college states its dedication
to "providing accessible, affordable educational opportunities that
prepare students for employment, for transfer to other institutions, and
for achievement of their professional and personal educational goals."
The college also affirms its commitment "to sustaining partnerships with
business, government, and the community of South Hampton Roads."
TCC is the largest postsecondary institution in the Hampton Roads
metropolitan statistical area, which has a population of 1.5 million. In
the 200102 academic year, the college anticipates serving over
32,000 students (14,245 FTE students), 59 percent of them women, in
college transfer and workforce development programs. TCC enrolls 42
percent of all regional students attending colleges in Virginia. The
college is the second largest member of the 23-college VCCS and is the
37th largest community college in the nation’s 1,600-institution
two-year college network. TCC is accredited to offer Associate in Arts
(A.A.), Associate in Science (A.S.), and Associate in Applied Science
(A.A.S.) degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools.
Fifty-two percent of TCC’s students are enrolled in college
transfer (A.A. and A.S.) programs. Of the remaining students, 29 percent
are enrolled in college-credit programs leading to occupational or
technical A.A.S. degrees or certificates, and 19 percent are
noncurricular. The typical TCC student is older than the traditional
college age and frequently is the first member of his or her family to
attend college. Thirty-seven percent of TCC’s students are 30
years of age or older; however, a large and growing number of
TCC’s students are recent high school graduates. The majority of
TCC’s students (67 percent) are enrolled part time, and
approximately 74 percent are employed while enrolled. Last year,
TCC’s student population included 92 individuals classified as
international students (F-1 visa holders); 283 students were enrolled in
English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) courses. TCC currently employs 269
full-time teaching faculty, 85 full-time administrative and professional
faculty, and 720 adjunct faculty.
Overview of Internationalization Efforts
Tidewater Community College was one of eight institutions selected
for the ACE
Promising Practices Project: Spotlighting Excellence in Comprehensive
Internationalization.
I. Vision and Goals for
Internationalization
TCC recently completed several years of intensive discussion among
various constituent groups to develop a strategic plan and set
priorities and goals as it works toward the institutional vision of
becoming a national exemplar of a comprehensive community college in the
21st century. Bearings on the Future: The Tidewater Community College
Strategic Plan calls for the college "to expand students’ personal
horizons through encounters with a broad range of human knowledge and
exposure to different cultures—in South Hampton Roads, in the
nation, and in the international community." In conjunction with its
strategic goal to foster the successful development of the whole
student, the college specifically commits to investing "in programs that
offer students the ability to expand their frame of reference, to
travel, and ultimately to deepen their experience and understanding as
members of a regional, national, and global community."
As part of its planning process, the college sets annual working
priorities to advance the institution toward its strategic goals. One
current priority identifies international education as an example of a
college program that has gained national recognition and therefore one
in which the college should continue to invest. One of the objectives
that follows, to "develop strategies for further integrating
international education into the curriculum and the overall TCC
collegiate experience," is now the focus of effort. Although TCC’s
international education program has been successful thus far with a
number of individual projects, a key challenge remains taking the
program to a higher level through comprehensive internationalization.
II. Progress
As a community college, TCC does not offer majors in area studies or
exclusively international topics as many four-year universities
do—a significant challenge to international educators who search
for ways to integrate international education into the curriculum and
overall collegiate experience. To do this, the college strives to infuse
international material into as many aspects of students’
educational experience as possible. Transfer students are encouraged to
study a foreign language, but foreign language courses through the
intermediate level are required only of students enrolled in the liberal
arts and fine arts programs. All graduates in the A.A. or A.S. transfer
programs are required to have had at least one course with an
international emphasis. Faculty members are encouraged to infuse their
courses with international material and submit their tactics to the
International Education Committee. The committee reviews submissions and
updates the international course list accordingly. This list currently
includes courses from a variety of disciplines, including foreign
languages and selected history, geography, humanities, communications,
literature, fine arts, philosophy, anthropology, geology, and culinary
arts courses.
Over the years, TCC has offered a variety of foreign languages,
including the traditional French, German, and Spanish, and the
less-traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Tagalog. In the 2001–02
academic year, the largest foreign language enrollments were in Spanish,
followed by French. Funds provided by NSEP also have enabled the college
to offer Vietnamese, which currently has an enrollment of 25 students at
TCC and consortium partner colleges who receive the class through
compressed video technology.
Faculty in a variety of disciplines teach internationalized courses.
Currently, faculty determine the international scope and depth of course
content, but this practice is evolving. A program-by-program curriculum
review will be necessary to determine how much international material
students are being taught. Continuing efforts must be made to encourage
faculty to internationalize their courses in a systematic manner to
ensure that all students are exposed to international perspectives
whenever possible.
The international cocurriculum is supported by a variety of offices
and by faculty and staff who are dedicated to the goal of
internationalizing the college. The International Programs Office
collaborates with Student Activities, the Visual Art Center, the
Women’s Center, and the Office of International Student Services
to present an assortment of international activities that both
complement the curriculum and appeal to a broad range of students. The
International Programs Office has established a Fall Film Maker Series
that brings a nationally acclaimed director of foreign films to TCC to
lead student workshops, public film screenings, and lectures. In recent
years, Sundance Film Festival director Tony Bui (Three Seasons,
Vietnam) and award-winning director Jule Gilfillan, (Restless,
China) have made the Fall Film Maker Series a popular event. In
conjunction with the Student Activities Office, the International
Programs Office also sponsors the college’s annual International
Film Festival. This festival features films from Asia as well as other
countries that complement material taught in foreign-language courses.
The International Programs Office also supports and promotes the
international activities initiated by the International Education
Committee.
Another strong supporter of international education at the college is
the Women’s Center, which promotes an international perspective in
its sponsored activities. The Women’s Center, with offices on all
four campuses, frequently brings international speakers to the college
who discuss the economic impact of women’s work, as well as
ideologies such as apartheid and machismo and how these affect
women’s lives. The speakers have discussed the importance of
educating women and the consequences of providing or denying educational
experiences to women in other countries. Last year, in a successful
series of events, the Women’s Center presented a program featuring
women in world religions. Another event brought together several TCC
faculty who had traveled extensively in the developing world to discuss
women in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Further, the International Student Services Office provides support
services for the college’s international students. Every fall, the
International Student Services Office, in conjunction with the Student
Activities Office and the TCC President’s Office, provides a
comprehensive orientation program for international students. The
college’s international student adviser talks to students; an
immigration attorney gives an overview of immigration law governing F-1
students; and college administrators briefly speak with students.
In conjunction with the Student Activities Office, the International
Student Services Office sponsors the annual international dinner,
arguably the college’s best-attended on-campus event. Each year,
about 350 students and their families attend this cultural event, which
gives students the opportunity to showcase food, fashion, music, and
dance representative of their global origins. The dinner allows
international students to share their cultures with one another and with
the larger student body. Community involvement in this event has
increased in recent years, giving TCC an opportunity to work
collaboratively with established local immigrant communities, such as
the Filipino-American Youth Group that performed modern and traditional
Filipino dances at the 2002 International Dinner.
Another international effort under development is service learning
abroad. A horticulture service-learning abroad program in Costa Rica was
highly successful. Plans are in place to conduct a major
service-learning abroad experience in Vietnam during summer 2002 as part
of the college’s NSEP grant. During this experience, students will
work with students at Hong Duc University, tutoring them in English. A
subsequent NSEP grant for students to participate in a service-learning
program in the Philippines is currently in the planning stages. The
International Programs Office plans to work collaboratively with the
college coordinator for service learning to identify other such
international opportunities.
In addition, TCC currently offers one formal study-abroad program for
Spanish-language students in Costa Rica, and offers a formal
French-language program in France when enrollments permit. The college
has recently been included in a FIPSE-funded regional consortium
initiative designed to offer local higher education students a regional
approach to study-abroad programs that will emanate from specific
on-campus courses. The college’s participation in this program
should multiply the study-abroad opportunities available to TCC
students.
III. Successful Strategies
Although the college is proud of each aspect of its
internationalization efforts, specific aspects warrant special
attention. One highlight is the faculty-driven nature of TCC’s
international education efforts and the resulting college support for
these efforts. Central to the college’s vision regarding
internationalization is the commitment of the faculty to build, sustain,
and promote global awareness. This faculty-driven approach has kept the
college’s mission a learning-based priority. In contrast to many
colleges’ more centralized international education efforts,
TCC’s program was conceived by an enthusiastic core of faculty
members who have succeeded in building and maintaining the program
despite the changing administrations of four presidents and countless
deans and administrators. The result of this effort is an international
education program that is faculty-owned. The International Education
Committee, comprised primarily of teaching faculty, is responsible for
establishing annual international education priorities. Furthermore, the
International Education Committee sets spending priorities for the
college’s international education budget. In addition to faculty
who are members of the committee, all college faculty are encouraged to
develop international initiatives, including study-abroad opportunities
for students. International professional development grants are
available to ensure that faculty have an opportunity to contribute to
the college’s international education efforts.
Outreach to other community colleges represents another highlight of
TCC’s internationalization success. Once the college had
cultivated its own program, well beyond what was current in most
community colleges, TCC took the lead in mentoring other community
colleges in international education through a FIPSE grant. This
consortium of community colleges from Colorado, North Carolina, and
Virginia encouraged collaborative partnerships between new international
education programs and older, more established programs. Once the
younger programs established international education programs of their
own, they mentored a new tier of colleges with fledgling international
programs. From this consortium grew a smaller, focused consortium of
East Coast colleges in Virginia and North Carolina that is carrying out
the NSEP Vietnam project. In November 2000, TCC, with the support of the
Stanley Foundation and the VCCS, organized the first-ever meeting of
VCCS faculty and administrators involved in international education.
After determining that the group was interested in forming a VCCS
international consortium, organizers successfully lobbied for Peer Group
status with the system.
Another highlight is TCC’s involvement in the local
international environment as a partner in global education. The
college’s international education program provides cocurricular
international activitiesthat reflect the international environment in
which the college is located. Hampton Roads is home to NATO, a chapter
of the World Affairs Council, the Norfolk International Terminals, Naval
Station Norfolk, and other military facilities that attract thousands of
international visitors each year. TCC’s cocurricular support for
international education allows the college to infuse international
initiatives into the everyday lives of students and the community at
large. College offices such as the Women’s Center, Student
Activities, the International Student Services Office, and the
International Programs Office collaborate on cocurricular programs that
enhance students’ world view. Likewise, the academic departments
work with the International Programs Office to provide activities, such
as films and lectures, that enhance instructional content. Finally,
student clubs, such as the International Club, provide students with
opportunities for cross-cultural experiences.
Recent partnerships with various groups and institutions in the local
community have helped TCC to diversify the international activities and
services it provides to students. A partnership with the Virginia
Tidewater Consortium for Higher Education has allowed TCC’s
international programs coordinator to become involved in a regional
international program coordinators group, which meets monthly to discuss
regional international education issues. An outgrowth of this committee
has been a Title VIa grant project designed to encourage a regional
approach to offering study-abroad programs. A collaborative relationship
with the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk has produced ESL teaching
modules, which focus on the museum, and training materials for Chrysler
Museum docents to use with museum visitors whose primary language is not
English. Another cooperative project exists between the Contemporary Art
Center of Virginia and several local universities and results in a
yearly student gallery reception designed to give local international
students an opportunity to meet each other and learn about educational
programs at various local higher education institutions.
IV. Future Plans
In the future, TCC will continue to build on its broad range of
existing relationships to promote international education. TCC also will
continue its collaboration with the Stanley Foundation and will continue
providing leadership to the Virginia Community College System
International Education Peer Group.
The college also will take a number of internal steps to promote the
awareness of international education. The orientation assembly for new
TCC faculty now includes a session on the role of international
education at the college and highlights opportunities for faculty to be
involved in these efforts. Systematic review of courses and programs for
significant international elements will be undertaken. The role of
international education is expected to be intensively examined as the
college embarks on a major reconsideration of its general education
program and definition of the TCC collegiate experience.
Finally, TCC will continue to enhance its internationalization for
students by coordinating efforts between organizations on campus and off
and by finding strategies to provide more study-abroad activities for
students. A more coordinated and intentional approach to providing
internationally focused student activities will allow for the
development of a richer international cocurriculum. Toward this end, the
student activities offices can be better utilized to provide activities
on all four campuses. Additional study-abroad opportunities will become
available almost immediately through the college’s participation
in the FIPSE program, but TCC must also train replacements for skilled
study-abroad trip leaders who will be retiring.
*Please contact the institution directly if you have
questions about their institutional programs.
Please direct questions about this page to:
beth_burris@ace.nche.edu |
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This page last updated on:
6/16/2006
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