ACE last week hosted the Institute for Leading Internationalization, a three-day professional development program for campus leaders who have a critical role in advancing internationalization.
Participants traveled to the meeting in Washington, DC, from colleges
and universities from across the country, Mexico and Costa Rica. Many
of the institutions were brought together by the same issues, including:
- The need to coordinate internationalization efforts and build trust with faculty
- Dealing with the pressure to attract more international students to increase revenue
- Navigating, tracking, and evaluating international partnerships
A team of seasoned international experts served as instructors,
introducing participants to a comprehensive model of
internationalization and giving them guidance on how to work with campus
executives, manage international partnerships and raise funds for
internationalization.
Cheryl Matherly, vice president and vice provost for international
affairs, Lehigh University (PA), led a session on partnerships and
international engagement. She discussed the value of strategic
partnerships, methods for finding partners and effective ways to manage
such partnerships once they are established. Matherly also suggested
that institutions use the approval process for new partnerships to
develop a campus-wide sense of ownership in the relationship.
Gilles Bousquet, senior advisor to the University of Wisconsin (UW)
System president for international economic development, UW-Madison,
provided an overview of the importance of fundraising and external
relations. He emphasized that fundraising is about sharing a compelling
vision and asking people to invest in the future of the institution,
rather than asking for money to fill existing budget gaps.
Other sessions focused on building a comprehensive
internationalization plan and how to integrate international and
institutional goals. To see a full list of people who spoke at the
Institute, click here.
Through the collaborative and open nature of the Institute,
participants were given practical examples and best practices to address
these issues, as well as time for candid conversation about what is
working best for them on their respective campuses.
The Institute is being followed by an ACE-supervised project, where
each participant is applying lessons from the Institute to a particular
challenge or opportunity on their campus. Many participants noted that
the Institute’s retreat-like environment fostered greater collaboration
and group brainstorming, and several participants are planning on
working together on their projects.