Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Real Impact of Internationalization


This fall we will have 450 international students studying here at CSUSM representing 40 countries around the world, most notably China, Korea, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. As education standards are rising globally, there is more interest and demand for higher education in virtually every country around the world  - http://blog.euromonitor.com/2014/06/the-top-5-trends-in-higher-education-globally.html 

Despite this fact, I am often asked why a public university like ours continues to admit international students:  is this contrary to our mission of ‘expanding student access to an excellent and affordable education?’

You may find the answer startling.

According to the California Colleges for International Education, “ it takes roughly 4 international students to open a section, thereby making it possible for another 30 more California students to receive college instruction.”  The bottom line is that the influx of international students allows us to better serve domestic students by offering more programs and additional sections of existing programs, to help mitigate the issues raised by impacted classes and programs.

Because international students do not qualify for government aid and most pay their own way, they bring into the U.S. literally billions of dollars each year to cover tuition, housing, food and other expenses.

But these are the dollar and cent issues. The biggest impact I see is in the lives of our students and faculty who are learning together and exploring issues from a truly global perspective.

When students from China, Saudi Arabia and Norway are engaged in a project with students from the United States, they have an opportunity to think about preconceptions, biases, and assumptions they may have never considered. I recently watched a discussion among international students regarding the roles and responsibilities of public service agencies in working with displaced populations such as refugees and immigrants. Conversations like these are where real learning occurs.

What do you think about the internationalization of our campus? To see what some of our international students think, view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BQNLVbeNpA

I look forward to your comments; please feel free to email me at eldean@csusm.edu




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