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Global Learning for All
Cleveland State University
http://www.csuohio.edu/
Contents
General Institutional Overview
http://www.csuohio.edu/
Located in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland State University (CSU) is a
comprehensive urban university with seven colleges and 45 academic
departments. Established in 1964, CSU offers 60 majors leading to
baccalaureate degrees; 28 master’s degrees; two advanced degrees
in law; three six-year post-master’s programs; and six doctoral
degrees.
In 1994, the Board of Trustees adopted a statement that recognizes
the centrality of the new majority student to the university’s
mission. The first sentence reads, ÒCleveland State University is a
comprehensive urban university committed to providing an education of
high quality to students, primarily from the metropolitan area, with
diverse backgrounds, experiences, interests, and educational
needs.Ó To fulfill this mission, CSU has adopted an open admissions
policy. This means that the university gives everyone who has earned a
high school degree a chance to succeed in college. CSU is the most
diverse public institution in Ohio. It consists of 31 percent
minorities, 55 percent women, 28 percent part-time students, and 5
percent international students (graduate and undergraduate) from more
than 80 countries. The average age of CSU students is 26.6. Present
enrollment exceeds 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 90
percent of whom work full or part time and commute to campus. Further,
nearly 96 percent of the university’s students come from Northeast
Ohio, and 85 percent of graduates remain in the area.
Overview of Internationalization Efforts
Through a special committee, CSU is in the process of articulating a
strategy for internationalization of its curriculum. At the general
education level, this involves a curriculum that will give students an
understanding of the cultural, political, and economic relationships
between the United States and other major nations or regions, from both
a historical and geographic perspective. With regard to majors,
CSU’s objective is to provide academic and practical training that
will help students stay competitive in a job market that is shaped by
global supply and demand.
To achieve these ends, the committee will identify faculty teaching
expertise and interests in the various international subject areas.
Then, it will review the existing curriculum to repackage, retool, and
refocus the content and variety of courseworkÑadding new courses if
neededÑto meet the criteria of CSU’s general education
requirement. This will be followed by a plan that will provide
curricular preparation assistance, joint-teaching proposals, and other
cross-pollination opportunities between faculty and academic
disciplines. The committee also expects to offer recommended
combinations of introductory courses catering to the specialized needs
of students with different academic study foci (e.g., language courses
for science and engineering, and basic courses on variation in human
cultures for business majors).
CSU also is considering a service component to its
internationalization strategy. This will involve identifying domestic
and internationally oriented organizations and institutions in the local
community that could participate in CSU’s international education
programming. Potential partnerships will include corporations, public
interest groups, community service organizations, professional
organizations, and educational institutions with an international
interest or mission. Examples of curricular integration that are
possible include domestic speaker programs, special seminars, visiting
tours, field study trips, workshops, internships, and cooperative
arrangements, in addition to overseas initiatives such as study programs
and student exchange programs.
Although CSU has made significant strides toward offering all
students experience with international cultures and people, much remains
to be done. CSU’s institutional strategy has yet to be formulated;
so far, university administrators have made piecemeal efforts on several
fronts, but these efforts have not been based on any comprehensive plan.
Nonetheless, during the past 10 years, CSU has made significant strides
toward raising the international awareness of all its students.
CSU’s most important areas of achievement are:
- General and specialized curricula exposing all students to
international knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
- Study-abroad programs for students from a variety of disciplines who
desire the direct experience of international living and study.
- Faculty participation in an increasing variety of international
experiences that they bring back to the classroom for students’
benefit.
Curricula
To date, CSU’s efforts to internationalize the curriculum have
moved in two directions: general education courses required of all
students, and specialized curricula available to all students. Ten years
ago, CSU established general education requirements that expose all of
its students to a minimum of four courses in culture and civilization.
The required categories of courses students must select from are:
- Non-Western Culture and Civilization (one course).
- Western Culture and Civilization (one course).
- Human Diversity (two courses, one of which must be the
African-American Experience).
The College of Arts and Sciences, in which the majority of these
courses are taught, contains 22 departments. Of these, 14 departments
offer a total of 67 courses on Non-Western Civilization; 19 offer 60
Human Diversity courses; and 14 teach 121 Western Civilization courses.
These numbers indicate significant participation on the part of the
college (64 to 86 percent of departments offer courses in each of these
requirements).
The College of Arts and Sciences also has developed specialized
curricula designed to add an international component to student majors,
particularly the sciences and business. The certificates are in area
studies, cross-cultural communication, and language skills for business.
In addition, the College of Business is in the process of developing an
international business major and a modern languages specialization in
interpretation and translation. Finally, the Center for International
Studies and Programs is working with the Department of Political Science
on a master’s degree in international relations, which CSU will
offer to part-time students in the evenings.
Study Abroad
Until 1996, study-abroad programs resided mostly in the Department of
Modern Languages, and faculty members were almost completely responsible
for organizing and running their overseas classes. Since then, CSU has
established the Center for International Studies and Programs (CISP),
which has encouraged faculty in a wide range of departments to conduct
overseas study programs. The result is that while CSU operated an
average of three programs before 1996, in 2002 it ran eight different
programs, only three of which were in modern languages. The
participation of students in the study-abroad programs run by CISP has
also increased dramatically, from 49 in 1998 to 107 in 2002. CISP also
has sought to promote overseas student internships and semester-abroad
opportunities. Formerly, one or two students would so before CISP was
established; in winter 2003, 12 students participated in individualized
study programs.
CSU has made a concerted effort to make study abroad available to all
students. The university has mobilized approximately $30,000 per year
for study-abroad scholarships ranging from $200 to $700. For the most
part, these scholarships are allocated based on need. In addition,
faculty-led study-abroad programs run for two to four weeks, so as not
to interfere significantly with work and family demands. Currently, the
College of Business and College of Arts and Sciences are seeking outside
funding to expand the number of scholarships offered for more extended
study-abroad opportunities.
Faculty Research and Teaching Abroad
To promote the internationalization of CSU curricula, CISP has
encouraged and supported faculty research and teaching abroad through
partnership projects and Fulbright grants. CSU has secured three
partnership grants from the federal government; these grants have
allowed faculty to engage in cooperative projects with colleagues in
Zambia, Botswana, and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, two or more faculty
members lecture at European partner institutions every year. The
university has strongly encouraged faculty to seek outside support for
overseas research and teaching, and the results have proved very
encouraging. For instance, increasing numbers of faculty are winning
Fulbright grants for faculty teaching and research overseas: 43 since
1983, 19 of which received their funding in the past six years and 11 of
which received their funding in the past two years.
Internationalization and the New Majority Student
CSU has a number of special programs for minority students, including
tutoring, peer and faculty mentoring, special academic counseling, and
two TRIO programs (Student Support Services and Upward Bound). In
addition to these services, minority students may choose to participate
in any of the nine culture/ethnicity-focused organizations on campus.
The interdisciplinary black studies academic program consists of
approximately 87 black studies courses offered by 20 different
departments. By enrolling in several of these courses, students can earn
a minor in black studies.
In an effort to promote the matriculation and graduation of part-time
students (most of whom are working adults), CSU allows students to
complete many majors through night and weekend courses. The university
further accommodates adult learners’ educational needs through
off-campus programs throughout the area, a special center for returning
women, and degree credit for work experience. More than 40 percent of
newly enrolled, degree-seeking undergraduates during the past five years
have been transfers. Many transfers come from three local community
colleges: Cuyahoga Community College, Lorain County Community College,
and Lakeland Community College. CSU facilitate the transition from these
institutions by using a transfer module, which consists of 36 to 40
semester hours (or 54 to 60 quarter hours) of courses in English,
mathematics, arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences,
natural and physical sciences, and interdisciplinary studies.
International Learning Goals
CISP is a comprehensive international programs and studies office
with the goals of revising general and development of specialized
curricula, expanding study-abroad programs, and promoting international
experiences for faculty. Historically, CISP has been responsible for
articulating institutional goals for internationalization at CSU and for
overseeing their implementation. The first of these goals is
particularly urgent: CISP has been seeking an opportune time to expand
the internationalization process into the general education curriculum.
Recently, in cooperation with the College of Arts and Sciences, CISP
formed a university-wide committee to review the global learning taking
place as a result of general educational requirements. The co-chairs of
the committee will receive a course reduction for spearheading the
endeavor. In addition, the offices of the Dean of Arts and Sciences and
the Provost have committed to help finance the committee’s work.
Assessing International Learning Goals
CSU’s Assessment Committee is in the process of formulating
effective procedures for determining student achievement with regard to
the university’s general education requirements. For example, in
1999, the committee evaluated a set of student papers from courses in
three general education categories relevant to international learning
(Western, Non-Western, and Human Diversity) and found that an average of
70 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in all three
categories. Expectations included the ability to understand primary
materials in the context of the culture that produced them. Based on
three years of outcomes assessment, the committee has identified a set
of issues and recommendations for addressing the outcomes in future
assessment of CSU’s general education requirements.
Last updated: April 27, 2005
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