Visiting Scholar Explores U.S. Higher Education Partnerships with India

May 24, 2017

​Identifying potential international partners can be a challenging task for colleges and universities. Questions of where to start—both geographically and in terms of how to begin conversations on campus—can confound any institution, no matter its size, scope or individual internationalization goals.

ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement (CIGE) provides research and programs to help institutions answer these questions and establish successful relationships with counterparts abroad. This spring, CIGE has had an opportunity to explore the dynamics of institutional collaboration–as well as possibilities for the Center’s own involvement–in a particularly unique and exciting context: India.

Through the beginning of June, CIGE is hosting Kaoushikk Mukherjee as a visiting scholar. Mukherjee is a member of the 2016-17 cohort of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, a U.S. Department of State-funded development initiative that brings professionals from designated countries to the United States for a year of non-degree graduate-level study, leadership development, and professional collaboration with U.S. counterparts.

Fellows are hosted by a campus for one academic year, and at the end are placed for a six-week professional affiliation with a U.S. organization. Mukherjee studied higher education and organizational development at Pennsylvania State University before coming to CIGE.

“U.S.-India engagement has always been a priority of the Indian government, and internationalization is a major priority for many Indian higher education institutions,” Mukherjee notes. “However, many roadblocks exist. My goal—and CIGE’s—is to help identify what can be done to remove some of these roadblocks, encourage bilateral collaboration, and make Indian higher education institutions more globally competitive.”

According to CIGE’s forthcoming Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses report, the timing of Mukherjee’s affiliation with CIGE could not be better.

Data from the 2016 Mapping survey reveal that interest in working with India is growing among U.S. colleges and universities: It is the number two target country for expanding international partnerships.

Among institutions that completed the Mapping survey, India is also the number two target country for recruiting international students. According to the Institute of International Education's Open Doors® survey, India also sends more international students to the United States than any country except China.

While interest in India is strong, many higher education leaders in the United States are unfamiliar with the Indian higher education system and are unsure how to go about establishing fruitful relationships with their counterparts. Institution leaders in India face similar challenges when it comes to navigating the U.S higher education landscape. An India-focused installment in CIGE’s International Briefs for Higher Education Leaders series explored these complexities.

Guided by Mukherjee’s expertise, CIGE is considering a number of possible program and research activities to help facilitate connections between Indian institutions and their leaders and inform institutional strategies for bilateral engagement.

“I have already learned so much about the Indian context from Mukherjee,” said Robin Matross Helms, CIGE’s director. “We are currently gathering input on the types of hands-on programs that might benefit both U.S. and Indian institutions, as well as what research topics—such as an examination of good practices for U.S.-Indian partnerships—would be most valuable. There are a lot of exciting possibilities.”

Robin Helms; Heather Ward, associate director, Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement; Kaoushikk Mukherjee.

Other CIGE International Activity

In addition to providing in-depth analysis of critical international education issues and administering programs and services to support the internationalization of campuses, CIGE is widely engaged with international institutions of higher learning. See below for other examples of recent collaboration.

• Delegations of institutions from the United Kingdom, Colombia and Mexico attended ACE2017, ACE’s 99th Annual Meeting. 
• Participation by Universidad Antonio Nariño (Colombia) in the current Internationalization Laboratory.
• Representatives from Japanese institutions and the Japanese Ministry of Education at the recent ACE COIL Leadership Academy.

For more information on internationalization and other CIGE programs, click here or email CIGE@acenet.edu.