ACE and the Institute of International Education (IIE)
announced today a new partnership to co-design programmatic offerings that will
address escalating challenges in higher education internationalization and
serve the evolving internationalization needs of diverse higher education
institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
Minority-Serving Institutions, and community colleges.
ACE and IIE, each with more than 100 years of higher
education leadership, will leverage their respective strengths—ACE as the major
coordinating body for the United States’ colleges and universities and IIE as
an international education leader administering programs with more than 28,000
participants across 180 countries annually. This new initiative will bring
together extensive research, decades of practice, and deep knowledge from
networks of experts across the international higher education spectrum.
“ACE is thrilled to partner with IIE to bolster
internationalization in higher education,” ACE President Ted Mitchell said.
“Global engagement and international education are critical underpinnings of
American higher education, and IIE is a pioneer in this space. We look forward
to working with IIE to strengthen international education programming, expand
inclusivity, and address critical challenges.”
“IIE’s partnership with ACE builds on our joint imperative
to support higher education and international education,” said IIE CEO Allan
Goodman. “We know the importance of making the case for internationalization
and we welcome working with ACE to address the emerging challenges facing the
field today.”
In one of their first actions, ACE and IIE will convene a
group of experts to work with presidents, senior international officers (SIOs),
scholars, and other constituents to identify and analyze key challenges in the
international education space. The committee’s insights and findings will guide
the partnership’s subsequent activities, which will include supporting
institutions through workshops, study projects, and strategic planning. ACE
and IIE will call upon their extensive networks—including college presidents
and SIOs—to support the co-design process.
Through this partnership, the two organizations will
collectively leverage decades of programmatic work, particularly ACE’s Education Futures Lab's Internationalization Laboratory, and a wealth of primary
data, such as IIE’s Open Doors Report
on International Educational Exchange and ACE's Education
Futures Lab’s Mapping
Internationalization on U.S. Campuses, allowing the organizations to
share trends, data, and practice-based insights that will benefit a broad range
of institutions.
“IIE has long been a leader in international education
programming, supported by significant research,” said Hironao Okahana,
assistant vice president and executive director of ACE’s Education Futures Lab.
“Coupling IIE’s good work with ACE’s own expertise in this space, accumulated
over two decades through the Internationalization Lab and Mapping Reports, this
partnership will be anchored by complementary strengths and will allow us to
create space as a think-and-do tank that is learner centric and impact
oriented.”
“Higher education, like many other fields, is experiencing a
period of disruption. In order to respond to emergent, complex challenges,
institutions need data-informed analyses and solutions rooted in evidence and
research,” added Mirka Martel, head of Research, Evaluation
& Learning at IIE. “ACE’s and IIE’s collective insights uniquely
position both organizations to deliver just that as colleges and universities navigate
both challenges and opportunities.”
This new, collective endeavor adds another critical element
to ACE’s Education Futures Lab, which also expanded its research portfolio in
July when ACE announced a partnership with the UCLA School of Education
and Information Studies to strengthen and lead the Higher Education Research
Institute. By partnering with IIE, ACE will expand its support for campus
internationalization and further leverage its extensive data and insights.
IIE’s collaboration with ACE will expand the organization’s
reach to more U.S. and international institutions, providing new opportunities
to actively and regularly engage with stakeholders on U.S. and international campuses.
Founded in 1919, IIE is a trusted convener and research leader in the field of
international education, publishing industry-standard publications such as Open
Doors® and the Fall Snapshot Survey on
International Student Enrollment and supporting higher education
institutions’ internationalization goals through its 10,000-member IIENetwork
and cutting-edge Center
for International Partnerships. As part of its commitment to advancing diversity, equity,
inclusion, and accessibility in the field, IIE created the Center
for Equity and Access in March 2023. Through dialogue and action, the
Center leverages programs and partnerships that examine the intersection of
international education with diversity, equity, inclusion, and access;
cultivates global learning to support engagement and understanding of individuals
and communities; and supports access for underrepresented communities by
examining and addressing structural inequities.