Browsing by Subject "internationalization"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Comparison of the partner institutions’ perceptions of the cross-border higher education program and the impact on program implementation: case studies of two Sino-U.S. business management programs.
    (2011-07) Jie, Yiyun
    This study examined discrepancies and similarities between the partner institutions' perceptions of the motivations, expected outcomes, and desired strategies achieving such outcomes in their cross-border higher educational programs from a game theory perspective, in the context of Mainland China (hereafter referred to as China). By comparing the key stakeholders' perceptions from the partner institutions, this study identified compatibility and potential conflicts between the partner institutions involved in cross-border higher educational programs and to analyze these discrepancies and similarities in relation to program implementation strategies to identify potential impact they could have on the program implementation. Two Sino-U.S. business management programs were used as cases to answer the set of research questions that are informed by game theory. A conceptual framework that is grounded in international education, strategic management, and game theory, was devised to capture the dynamic phenomena in cross-border education. This study found that regardless of the institutions' home country (China or the United States) and their institutional type, similar types of motivations and expected outcomes were identified across all four participating institutions (those with official accreditation). These motivations and expected outcomes included 1) brand recognition and academic reputation, 2) strategic positioning, 3) capacity development and learning, and 4) revenue generation. However, institutions appeared to have different interpretations of these openly stated motivations and expected outcomes, based on their own institutional contexts. The findings suggested that within each partner institution, faculty and administrations (including leaders) sometimes placed a different level of emphasis on expected outcomes, even though key stakeholder groups shared a common understanding around the institutional motivations and expected outcomes mostly as a baseline outcome. The key participants from both partner institutions tended to apply their own interpretation references to their partners, which led to misperceptions between the partners. Moreover, findings from this study suggest that the strong compatibility between the partners' motivations, expected outcomes, and the preferences of various outcomes made the joint-venture model most appealing to both the Chinese and the U.S. institutions. This compatibility mostly focused on the outcomes of brand recognition, academic reputation, strategic positioning, and financial sustainability of the collaborative programs. Potential conflicts existed between the partners' preferences around these outcomes in the long run, especially between brand promotion and revenue generation. As the collaborative programs continued to evolve and possible external environmental changes occurred, so did the partners' expected outcomes and the related preferences. As a result, the partners tried to make changes and/or added new components to the original chosen strategy. Therefore, although the collaborative programs had been successfully established with the chosen desired strategies, there were potential conflicting discrepancies between the partners' expected outcomes and preferences for various aspects of the desired strategies at a later stage.
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    The Elephant in the Room: Humanizing the International Higher Education Practitioner-Faculty Relationship
    (2024-05) Pattison, Sarah
    This study explores how International Higher Education (IHE) practitioners at public universities in the United States perceive interactions with those in the faculty role when working to achieve internationalization aims. Additionally, this study explores the insights these practitioners have for developing and sustaining generative relationships with those in the faculty role. The findings of this study demonstrate that IHE practitioner-faculty relationships are essential to the advancement of the field yet are stymied by hierarchy and elitism in higher education. To assist the IHE practitioner-faculty relationship, this study provides recommendations for (1) empowering and developing IHE practitioners, (2) emboldening constructive behavioral choices, (3) fostering cooperative cultural values, and (4) establishing egalitarian structures. This study also suggests that to enhance internationalization efforts, leaders at institutions of higher education should (1) become aware of the negative impacts of hierarchical power structures on IHE practitioner-faculty interactions, (2) make elitism and hierarchy discussable at their institution, (3) acknowledge that IHE practitioners are not responsible for faculty engagement in internationalization, (4) enlist IHE practitioners and faculty in collaborative efforts to advance internationalization goals, and (5) recognize that generative IHE practitioner-faculty relationships are a likely site for the emergence of new IHE concepts and practices.
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    The Engagement of Multicultural Student Affairs Staff in the Internationalization of Connecticut Higher Education Institutions
    (2016-12) Gorlewski, Emily
    The rise in diversity and the increasing internationalization of United States higher education institutions are well established. In order to deal with these phenomena, areas of practice for multicultural education and internationalization have arisen. In the past few decades there have been calls for practitioners within these two separate areas to work together toward common goals. The purpose of this study was to explore the engagement of multicultural student affairs professionals in the internationalization of the selected higher education institutions in which they work. This study used a basic qualitative methodology, consisting of interviews and observation, to investigate how a selected group of multicultural educators in the state of Connecticut defined and described internationalization, what internationalization activities they did and did not engage in, and their motivations and barriers to engagement. The investigation found that not all of these professionals were familiar with the term “internationalization,” but all were able to define it. Their definitions had to do with student mobility, globalization, a broader perspective, and one more comprehensive definition, though many focused on international students coming to the United States. The participants were all engaged in internationalization to some extent. This engagement occurred at all institutional levels, the most common being the individual student level through student and student organization advising, as well as programming for students. The participants’ motivations to engage were philosophical, personal, and practical. They were motivated by their beliefs and values, their backgrounds as immigrants or study abroad students, and the practical needs of their students. The origins of their engagement were most often student based, though the professionals also initiated the activities themselves or were invited by colleagues or administration. The participants’ efforts or desires to engage more in internationalization activities were hindered by a lack of time and personnel, their own or others’ perception that this was not part of their job, as well as perceived cultural and financial barriers. Most participants did desire to engage more in internationalization activities, but were unable to due to these factors. Future research on this topic is warranted, as is further research on multicultural student affairs in general. The effects of recent, race-related events on U.S. campuses should be taken into consideration and studied further as well. As increasing diversity and globalization continue in U.S. higher education, further research into collaborations between practitioners of multicultural and international education will also be needed. Upper administration in higher education institutions should support both multicultural education and internationalization efforts. This would include promoting the internationalization of multicultural education and multicultural transformation of international education. Training should be provided for practitioners in both of these areas and other personnel across the institution. The administrative structures responsible for managing the processes of internationalization and multicultural transformation should be brought closer together administratively and physically, but remain separate so that their individual missions are not diluted.
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    Ethical Possibilities In International Student Recruitment
    (2020-05) Kirsch, Emily
    This study explores how international education professionals at public universities in the United States understand ethical international student recruitment. Decreasing federal and state support for public universities has contributed to some U.S. institutions regarding international students as a source of additional revenue, as they often pay substantially higher tuition than domestic students. While practitioners serving and recruiting these students may understand the life-changing decision students and their families make to study in a country outside their own, economics has a mediating factor in recruitment motivations. A social cartography developed out of the Ethical Internationalism of Higher Education (EIHE) study is used to map ethical dilemmas international student recruiters face in their work, making evident the tension between the student’s best interests and institutional financial imperatives. Recruiters who work in a neoliberal-liberal tension zone are guided by a self-perceived ethic of care that was exemplified by personal commitments to information sharing and consultation with trusted colleagues, navigating a contentious higher education environment by developing a set of personal and professional ethics that guided their daily actions.
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    Internationalizing the Advancement Agenda: A Multi-Case Study of Advancement Practices at Universities with Very High Research Activity
    (2014-05) Weiner, Bradley
    Institutions of higher education seek alternative revenue sources due to increasing educational costs and diminished public financing. One potential revenue stream includes philanthropic support from international alumni and donors. This multi-case study investigates the process by which two very high research activity universities, have adapted their institutional advancement strategies to engage international constituents. This study also investigates whether those processes differ by public or private institutional authority. By employing a conceptual framework based on the accumulation of Market Knowledge in for-profit firms, this study extends those concepts into the context of non-profit sphere by providing a foundation for understanding how the internationalization of the advancement agenda aligns with earlier literature on globalization, university internationalization, and institutional advancement. Market Knowledge is explored as three different knowledge domains defined as Business Knowledge, Institutional Knowledge, and Internationalization Knowledge. Each of these domains contributes meaningfully to total amount of Market Knowledge but Business Knowledge, which includes awareness of alumni names, contact information, and philanthropic history, emerged as the most important in the context of international advancement. Internationalization Knowledge, which includes the awareness of internal resources and capacity for this agenda emerged as the least important for moving toward further international commitments, but may be the most efficient in times of resource scarcity. This study also suggests that there are few differences between public and private universities with regard to the actual mechanics of building international relationships, but that public university constituents may find the agenda less defensible, even in times of waning public financing. These findings provide theoretical context for understanding an important component of the campus internationalization strategy that has been previously hidden and underexplored. Furthermore, it provides guidance to both scholars and practitioners on ways in which international partners can be engaged as lifelong supporters and prospective donors to institutions that increasingly rely on external revenue.
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    Student Learning on Faculty-Led Study Abroad: A Qualitative Study of Stakeholder Views
    (2019-05) Schlarb, Mary H.
    This is a study of intercultural learning and teaching through study abroad programs at one four-year public higher education institution in the United States. The purpose of this study is to determine stakeholder views of factors influencing student learning in faculty-led study abroad programs. Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology and qualitative methods, the researcher explored with faculty study abroad leaders and returned study abroad students their experiences with intercultural learning, and from the collected data, constructed themes related the two research questions. The first question was: 1) In what ways do student and faculty stakeholders describe the student learning outcomes achieved through participation in faculty-led study abroad programs? Themes related to student learning outcomes include applied learning of course content, professional development, comparative understanding of cultures, personal growth, and understanding of identity-related issues. The second question was: 2) What do faculty and students view as factors influencing student learning outcomes in faculty-led study abroad programs? Key factors suggested by students and faculty related to student-centered teaching and learning, instructor expertise, student behaviors, and institutional support of faculty. Several implications for pedagogy and professional practice in the field of study abroad also emerged from this study. These related to faculty and student mutual definition of student learning outcomes; incorporation of authentic student-centered pedagogical practices, and related faculty professional development. Study findings also illustrate the need for institutional support for faculty engagement in study abroad programs.
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    Teacher Educators’ Engagement in the Internationalization of Teacher Education: A Function of Personal, Institutional, and External Factors
    (2017-12) Wilwohl, Christian
    This study identifies factors that impact teacher educators’ engagement in the international dimension of pre-service teacher education. Through a mixed-methods research design with a greater emphasis on the qualitative findings, this research illustrates that the teacher educators engage in internationalization as a function of intersections among personal, institutional, and external factors. The participants in this study are teacher educators in the School of Education at a comprehensive, master’s level institution in a large state system of higher education in the Northeastern U.S. One of the key findings is that the teacher educators derive their motivation to engage in international work, mostly through teaching, from their international experience. What limits their engagement is largely the presence of institutional and external barriers. While the findings from qualitative research through semi-structured interviews have limited generalizability, this study has implications for future research and practices in similar contexts (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Yin, 2012). Conceptually, this study confirms Blackburn and Lawrence’s (1995) assertions that faculty role performance is shaped by both personal and institutional factors. The findings also bring Blackburn and Lawrence’s framework into the context of teacher educators given that external factors also shape their engagement in internationalization.
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    What's Happening with Internationalization at Community Colleges? : Community College Presidents' Perceptions of Internationalization Actions, the Desirability and Feasibility of Internationalization Actions, and the Importance of Internationalization
    (2017-05) Bissonette, Bonita
    Internationalization of higher education is critical for United States’ citizens to be globally competent and economically competitive. With nearly 50 percent of U.S. higher education students currently enrolled at community colleges, the topic of internationalization actions at community colleges is an important one. This study examines internationalization actions taken at U.S. public community colleges, the college presidents’ perceptions of actions not yet taken as desirable or feasible, and presidents’ assessments of the importance of internationalization. Responses to a web-based survey sent to 887 presidents of public community colleges in February 2016 reveal certain personal and institutional characteristics that are significantly related to internationalization actions at community colleges. These include years as a president at any institution, number of foreign languages spoken, and number of professional international trips taken, as well as the geographic setting of the institution. These findings will be useful for understanding opportunities for and challenges to internationalization at community colleges.