GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

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GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

• By Skye Stephenson Ph.D.

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I Plan To Discuss Globally Responsible
Education Abroad, And Its Potential For
Contributing To A Better World
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WELCOME!
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PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

• We will consider the concept of Globally Respon-
• sible Education Abroad, looking at
• What Globally Responsible Education Abroad
  means and what should be includes in its purview
  and
• Why it is so important these days

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QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

• 1. Why are you engaged in education abroad?
• 2. What kind of world would you like to see seven
  generations into the future?
• 3. In what ways might education abroad
• contribute towards making this vision a
  reality?
• 4. How might all of us, as study abroad
• professionals, play a role?

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SECTION 1

• WHY EDUCATION ABROAD IS IMPORTANT

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THE THREE REASONS

• This is a critical time to consider Education
  Abroad
• in the United States because
• Its significance tends to be underackowledged
• It is currently experiencing rapid expansion and
  deepening and
• It is being buffeted by strong cross-currents of
  several types

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1 THEIR UNDERACKOWLEDGED SIGNIFICANCE

• Education Abroad is one type of International
• Educational Flow (IEF)
• IEFs are all movements of individuals and groups
  across
• national boundaries whose primary intention is to
  study,
• research, and/or enrich academic knowledge and
  whose
• primary activities while abroad are directly
  related to
• achieving these educational goals.
• From Skye Stephenson, International
  Educational Flows between the United
• States and Cuba (1959-2005), Journal of Cuban
  Studies 37 (2006)

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A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS

• IEFs may be considered a type of composite
• transnational network or a meta-network (See Keck
• and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders).
• IEFs typically include
• Instrumental goals
• Shared Causal Ideas
• Shared Values

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IEFs IN THE GLOBAL ARENA

• The importance and impact of IEFs has received
• little study due to
• 1) The challenges of getting an analytical
  grasp of them
• 2) The relative lack of IEF self-awareness
  because they are meta-networks.

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2 THE CURRENT SITUATION

• Education Abroad is currently a hot topic
• in the United States. This is due to a variety
• of factors, including globalization,
• technology advances, national concerns,
• changes in higher education, as well as
• generational shifts and individual
• preferences.

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• STUDY ABROAD FACTS AND FIGURES
• The number of US students in study abroad has
  doubled in the past decade, and increased since
  September 2001 almost 20.
• In 2004, 191,321 US-based students were engaged
  in some type of study abroad activity. This
  represents about one third the number of foreign
  students who study at US universities.

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STUDY ABROAD IN LATIN AMERICA

• Particularly noticeable is the increase in Study
• Abroad to so-called non-traditional destinations,
• including Latin America and the Caribbean.
• In 2004, there were 29.053 study abroad
• students in the region Argentina had
• (up 52) Brazil had 1554 (up 16) and
• Cuba had 2148 (up 46 until nearly closed down).

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US GOVERNMENT INTEREST In November 2005, the US
Senate declared 2006 to be the Year of Study
Abroad (S. Res. 308). The On-Going Lincoln
Commission Project, stemming from former Senator
Simons ambitious 2003 proposal.
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• 3 BUFFETING CROSS-CURRENTS
• Five of the most salient cross currents
• facing education abroad these days are
• Mission Cross-currents
• (2) Values Cross-currents
• (3) Power Cross-currents
• (4) Inclusiveness Cross-Currents
• (5) Knowledge Generation Cross-currents.

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MISSION CROSS-CURRENTS Global Community and
Peace Promotion (Idealist) Paradigm student
exchangemore intercultural contactgreater
understanding of the otherless
ethnocentric-behaviormore peaceful world
Growth and Benefit Paradigm student
exchangegreater skills and knowledgeenhancement
of professional possibilitiescontributing to a
more competent national workforce helping the
nation become stronger and maintain
its competitive position in the world
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DIFFICULT QUESTIONS Are these two different
visions of education always mutually
compatible? In some contexts, could the Growth
and Benefit perspective actually clash with
Peace Promotion and Global Community one? If
so, then how should we promote dialogue and
handle these possible conflicts in applied
settings?
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VALUES CROSS-CURRENTS Increasing view of study
abroad as a type of commodity purchased and
the fear of lawsuits raise the question of the
values under girding study abroad. How should we
deal with the real privileges and, at times,
sense of implicit entitlement embedded in some
education abroad practices?
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POWER CROSS-CURRENTS Study abroad implies power
differentials, especially in the developing
world, and may be more political than commonly
acknowledged. Whatever the level of political
implications, study abroad always has economic
ones.
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INCLUSIVENESS CROSS-CURRENTS U.S.-based
education abroad to date has been
self-centered to date and tends not to focus
too much on host country impact and collaborators.
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KNOWLEDGE GENERATION CROSS-CURRENTS Implicit
in much of education abroad is the assumption
that what has been learned abroad has to somehow
match what the sending school offers. Might it
not be more enriching to use study abroad as a
way to facilitate a reciprocal dialog and
discussion between home and host institutions?
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A FINAL THOUGHT

• How we respond to these cross currents blowing
• through education abroad these days will
• profoundly impact how education abroad evolves
• in the upcoming decade, and beyond.

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SECTION 2

• TOWARDS GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

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CONSIDERING GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

• The concept of Globally Responsible Education
• Abroad serves to place the work and profession of
• Education Abroad in the United States in a larger
• context that incorporates a sense of ethical
• responsibility to carry out our work and monitor
  its
• impact at all levels in ways that enhance and
• improve the well-being not only of the
  participants
• themselves and the sending society, but of the
• entire world human and otherwise.

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MORE ABOUT GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

• Globally Responsible Education Abroad as a
  construct consists of
• Six Major Themes
• Five Levels

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GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD
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THE FIVE LEVELS OFGLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION
ABROAD
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SUSTAINABILITY I

• Sustainability is the ability for the current
  generation to live a full life without
  jeopardizing the ability of future generations to
  do the same. It refers to environmental
  stability as well as social, cultural and
  economic justice and equality.
• New List Serve
• http//lists.livingroutes.org/mailman/listinfo/sus
  tainabilityabroad

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SUSTAINABILITY II

• One big aspect of sustainability is
  environ-mental sustainability, which can be
  attended to in various ways.
• One way that some programs like Living Routes
  are doing this is through carbon off-set, to
  make up for the carbon emissions of the
  airplane flight to the program site.

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PEACE PROMOTION I

• Even though many people firmly believe that IEFs
  help promote a more peaceful world, we could be
  more explicit about this in much of endeavors.
• Peace in this context does not mean only the
  absence of war, or specific political positions.
  Promoting the culture of peace is very closely
  linked with understanding and accepting the
  other and is both an internal and external
  process. Education is key to learning peace.

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PEACE PROMOTION II

• Supporting the movement for a Culture of Peace
  that declared 2001-2010 The International Decade
  for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence
  (www.decade-culture-of-peace.org)
• Following precepts like IIPT (International
  Institute for Peace through Tourism)
• Affiliating with NAFSA Peace and Social Justice
  SIG (www.peacejusticesig.com)

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INCLUSIVENESS

• Globally Responsible Education Abroad needs to
  consciously incorporate more host national
  personnel, collaborators and issues into the
  international education fold.
• This can be accomplished in various ways, such as
  reciprocity projects, support in professional
  organizations, standards and assessment policies,
  and research.

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COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT I

• Education Abroad and IEFs of all types do impact
  communities in both sending and receiving
  societies, as well as the global community. In
  some cases, the programs can even serve as a
  bridge linking involved communities that might
  not otherwise be connected.

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COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT

• Globally Responsible Education Abroad recognizes
  this impact and consciously strives to make the
  impact as positive as possible.
• Certain concrete practices to achieve this
  include reciprocity projects, fair trade
  policies, and encouraging continued participant
  engagement upon reentry.

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DIVERSITY

• Acknowledging and accommodating diversity of all
  types within the entire Education Abroad
  community is a critical component.
• Diversity in this context includes cultural
  diversity, as well as educational differences.
  People and projects abroad might not function the
  same way as the US.
• Providing appropriate cross-cultural training and
  support to all involved is very important.

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ALTERNATIVE VISIONS

• Given the current global situation, one of the
  most critical functions of Education Abroad
  should be to encourage alternative visions of
  what can be possible. Much of this might not fit
  into the standard US academic mold.

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AN EXAMPLE UNIVERSIDAD INTERCULTURAL AMAWTAY
WASI

• The Universidad Intercultural Amawtay Wasi was
  established in Ecuador by the Indigenous Movement
  after nearly a decade of study and discussion.
• Their vision of education is learning to achieve
  relationalism, symbolized experience, symbolic
  language, as one way to advance towards wisdom
  and approach an understanding of living well.

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Qué queremos de la vida universitaria?
Qué se aprende en la vida universitaria?

• Mientras más horas se pasa en ella más vale uno
  en el mercado.
• Valora el consumo siempre insatisfecho.
• Valora la promoción jerárquica, la sumisión y
  pasividad.
• Tener ganadores y perdedores..
• Ser especialista o súper especialistas.
• Reflexionar y pensar como seres fragmento.
• Aceptar sin revelarse su lugar en la sociedad.
• Renunciar a la soberanía
• Controlar y manipular
• Desvalorizar nuestra cultura y adoptar otras
• A creer que ser es tener.

• Aprender conviviendo
• Aprender a re-aprender
• Comprender la condición humana
• Ser parte pensante del cosmos vivo
• Ambiente de ambientes derrochador de alegría
• Orientada a la sabiduría y al bien vivir
• Qué dispute el sentido de la vida
• Articulada a las diversas culturas.
• Se fundamente en el respeto a lo diverso.
• Fomente el diálogo, las conversaciones
• Qué permita la emergencia de la autopoyesis
  individual y colectiva.

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Los cuatro elementos de la vida
Aire
Fuego
VIDA
Agua
Tierra
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Los cinco Centros del Saber
YACHAY AIRE
YACHAY USHAY
MUNAY YACHAY
MUNAY FUEGO
USHAY AGUA
Kawsay
RURAY MUNAY
USHAY RURAY
RURAY TIERRA
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NIVELES DEL APRENDER
Nivel 3
Aprender a desaprender y reaprender
Nivel 5
Nivel 2
Aprender toda la vida
Nivel 4
Aprender a aprender
Aprender a emprender
Nivel 1
Aprender a pensar haciendo comunitariamente
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FINAL THOUGHTS

• ABOUT GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE EDUCATION ABROAD

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Final Thoughts

• Articulating and implementing a conscious
  practice of globally responsible education
  abroad can benefit all of us, at this critical
  moment in global history. As more people become
  involved in education abroad and demands
  continues to expand, it behooves us as committed
  global citizens to ensure that we are carrying
  out our work in a way that is responsible to all
  parties involved as well as to the planet that we
  all call home!