| 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. |