Global Trends In University Reform And the Implications For Future US-Eurasian University Cooperation

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Global Trends In University ReformAnd the
ImplicationsFor Future US-EurasianUniversity
Cooperation

• Paul L. Gaston, Ph.D.
• Provost, Kent State University
• Kent, Ohio, USA

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Global Challenges?Global Reforms ?Global
Progress
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Higher EducationResponding to Challenges
University Responses To Global Issues
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Five Fundamental Questions

• 1 What are the most prominent internal challenges
  facing universities in the US and Eurasia? How
  are universities responding?
• 2 What global issues require the response of
  universities in the US and Eurasia? How are
  universities responding?
• 3 Why are US-Eurasia university partnerships now
  especially important?
• 4 What have we been doing?
• 5 What more might weshould wedo?

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1 Internal Issues Facing Universities In the US
and Eurasia (Selected)

• A Inadequate funding threatening access
• B Recruitment of students and encouragement of
  persistence
• C Increased social and governmental demands for
  documented accountability
• D Need for stronger, coordinated public messages
• E Risk of insularity, provinciality at time of
  national and international anxieties
• F Concern that regional compacts (Socrates,
  Erasmus) may discourage broader international
  links
• G Information security

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue A Inadequate funding
• Some responses
• Increased efficiency
• Closer alignment of curricula with student needs
• Sharing of technical services, other resources
  among universities
• Centralization of library resources
• Closer focus on primary mission
• Greater differentiation of university missions
• Exploration of new revenue sources

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue B Recruitment of students and
  encouragement of persistence
• Some responses
• Cooperation on more convenient transfer of
  credits
• Informed awareness of differences between
  academic schedules
• Awarding of interim documentation certifying
  progress towards degree
• Increased investment in capacity for distance
  learning
• More focused recruitment of matriculating
  students to encourage persistence in one
  university
• Increased reliance on student services
• Support for student communities

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue C Increased Social and Governmental
  Demands for Documented Accountability
• Some responses
• Clearer definitions of educational outcomes
  promised by each educational program
• More thorough measurement of student progress
• More direct use of information from measurement
  to strengthen academic programs
• Increased transparency of accreditation actions
• More effective communication from universities to
  society regarding mission and methods

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue D Need for stronger, better coordinated
  public messages
• Some responses
• In US, framing of messages through national
  associations
• Representative national presence ACE, NASULGC,
  AASCU, AAU, AACC, etc.
• Advocacy for particular values e.g., AACUs
  commitment to liberal education, diversity,
  womens issues
• Disciplinary advocacy American Historical
  Association, Modern Language Association,
  American Chemical Society, etc.

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia(Need for Stronger, Better Coordinated
Messages)

• Responses to Issue D, continued
• Assignment of university representatives
  (lobbyists) to work with state and national
  governments
• Work within independent state groups (e.g.,
  Ohios Inter-University Council) to articulate
  coherent policy recommendations
• Attempts (through meetings like this one) to
  understand shared problems and develop shared
  approaches

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue E Insularity, provinciality arising from
  national and international issues, anxieties
• Some responses
• Universities take lead in articulating conviction
  that planet Earth must resolve cultural
  misunderstandings, transcend focus on national
  self-interest, and accomplish well-being for all
  
• IREX and other international conferences promote
  sharing of ideas, successes, caveats
• Ensure sufficient resources to sustain
  person-to-person growth in awareness and
  eliminate impediments wherever possible

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue F Concern that regional compacts
  (Socrates, Erasmus) may discourage broader
  international links
• Some responses
• Promote capacity of compacts to create
  cooperative, not competitive environments
• Consider different models for trans-national
  accreditation
• Create international clearinghouses for higher
  education information
• Encourage sharing of resources across national
  boundaries (and oceans) through collaborative
  higher education centers

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Internal Issues Facing Universities in the US and
Eurasia

• Issue G Information security
• Some responses
• In US, continuing review and upgrading of
  information protocols expedited sharing of
  information on present and anticipated threats
• Understood need to expand awareness within
  international higher education community of
  shared responsibility
• Shared international understanding that secure
  communication is critical to every element of
  cooperative higher education mission

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2 Global Issues Summoning Responses from
Universities

• A Globalization of the economy the flat world
• B Increases in the power and influence of
  technology
• C International competition for finite natural
  and intellectual resources
• D Commitment to developing markets with high
  potential for growth
• E Threats posed by natural disaster, economic
  catastrophes, terroristsand the need for
  informed responses transcending boundaries

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Global Issues Summoning Universities

• Issue A Economic globalization creates
  interdependent productivity, stimulates consumer
  demand, raises cultural issues
• Some responses
• Higher educators refine economic models, improve
  quality control mechanisms, consult on issues of
  supply, distribution, marketing
• Higher educators study market forces, economic
  and environmental constraints
• Translation advances facilitate communication
• Global collaboration enhances cultural knowledge
  and sensitivity

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Global Issues Summoning Universities

• Issue B Advances in technology create haves,
  have nots
• Some responses
• Higher educators refine technology to support
  learning international in scope, collaborative in
  method, focused in intent
• Disaggregated global management draws on higher
  educators to support technological applications
  adapted to corporate priorities and regional
  requirements
• Managers of global economies require learning of
  unprecedented currency and focus in a context of
  cultural and historical awareness
• Technology offers higher educators opportunity to
  broaden educational access for the worlds
  dispossessed

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Global Issues Summoning Universities

• Issue C Competition for finite resources (water,
  oil, time) requires coordinated approaches to
  efficiency and conservation
• Some responses
• Scholars collaborating across boundaries define
  issues, develop credible solutions
• Universities advances in science, engineering,
  technology balance benefits, costs
• Cross-cultural perspectives promote
  understandings sufficient to support responsible
  actions
• Cross-disciplinary analyses recognize that
  problems are multi-dimensional
• Higher educators share conviction that technical
  solutions must embody awareness of social,
  historical, cultural factors

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Global Issues Summoning Universities

• Issue D Markets with high potential encourage
  development but require prompt, diversified,
  coordinated responses
• Some responses
• Complex financial engineering supports, protects
  international investment
• Cultural education facilitates economic exchange,
  weighs against missteps
• University-developed products, processes
  stimulate growth in commerce, industry
• Quality management approaches (TQM, Six Sigma)
  support fundamental economic growth

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Global Issues Summoning Universities

• Issue E Threats posed by natural disaster,
  economic catastrophes, terrorismand the need for
  informed responses transcending boundaries
• Some responses
• University-based science enhances predictive
  capacity regarding natural disaster
• University-based economists can show
  inter-dependency of all nations at time of crisis
• University-based legal, historical, cultural
  expertise promotes understanding of causes behind
  unrest

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3 Why are US-Eurasia university partnerships
especially important?

• Both internal and global issues appear universal,
  with no boundaries
• US and Eurasian universities face a particular
  challenge in creating educational opportunities
  for highly diverse populations that include
  strongly differentiated cultures
• Strong social and cultural divisions inform the
  educational priorities of universities in both
  the US and Eurasia
• Effective partnerships between US and Eurasian
  universities create a salutary model for the
  world

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(US-Eurasia university partnerships especially
important!)

• US and Eurasian universities share a particular
  responsibility for the resource-rich Northern
  Hemisphereand particular opportunities made
  possible by electronic and physical proximity
• Universities joined in collaboration offer
  govern-ments exemplary bridge for healthy
  relations
• Students and faculty derive significant
  educational, cultural benefits from international
  engagement
• With educational gains flow cultural
  understandings
• International partnerships reward, support, and
  leverage specialized expertise

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4 What have we done so far?

• US educational opportunities offered to Eurasian
  citizens since 1993, more than 100,000 from
  Eurasia have participated in educational programs
  (e.g., management, social services, NGO
  development)
• Undergraduate Exchange Program supports Eurasian
  citizens for one year of non-degree undergraduate
  study in US that can lead to community college
  and university scholarships (FY02 293)
• Muskie program provides opportunities for
  Eurasian scholars to enroll in graduate study in
  US (338 program total)

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What have we done so far?

• Fulbright program sends US faculty to teach in
  Eurasian countries, offers research awards for
  Eurasian scholars to study in US (FY02 71 US
  scholars, 93 Eurasian scholars)
• Fulbright program also supports US and Eurasian
  students in study abroad (FY 02 40 US students,
  31 Russian and Ukrainian students)
• IREX program places Russian university graduates
  with leadership skills in US non-degree programs
  in community, governmental, or corporate affairs
  (FY02 27 Russian scholars)

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What have we done so far?

• Accrediting associations working internationally
  to support assessment and institutional
  strengthening in FY02, nearly 7000 Eurasian
  citizens worked with US associations US higher
  education associations (ACE, NASULGC) working to
  ease visa application and approval
• Eurasian Junior Faculty Development Fellows enter
  two-month practical internships in US (FY02 100
  Eurasian fellows)
• IREX offers Eurasian officials and professionals
  access to issues critical to regional
  redevelopment through 4-month programs in US
  host advisors guide research (FY02 108
  Contemporary Issues Fellows)

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What have we done so far?

• Promoting curricular reform and supporting
  university leadership in Eurasia, Educational
  Partnership Program funds links between US and
  Eurasian universities (especially outside of
  capital cities) in law, business, economics,
  education, public administration, public policy,
  government, journalism and communications, etc.
  (FY02 23 grants)
• Many other US government programs full listing
  available at
• http//www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rpt/23602.htm

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What have we at Kent State done so far?

• From 1995 to 2000, Soros and FSA fellowships
  enabled more than 30 Eurasian students to earn
  graduate degrees at Kent State
• Eurasian Kent State graduates lead educational
  initiatives in Eurasia, for example students
  from five Yerevan and six US schools participated
  in an online chat in February 2005 at the end of
  Black History Month USA, enabling Kent State
  faculty to answer students questions about Black
  history, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King
• Kent State working with Voronezh State University
  to establish Association of Black Sea Higher
  Education Leaders

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5 What should we be doing?

• Develop joint degree programs
• Expand support for faculty research collaboration
• Marshall international administrative experience
  to address common issues
• Support curriculum, research, adminis-tration
  through greater reliance on technology
• Multiply exchange opportunities for faculty,
  students, administrators
• Strengthen focus on quality of learning

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What should we be doing?

• Ensure that regional associations, compacts are
  outward looking and committed to collaboration
• Taking a world view that, while genuinely global,
  recognizes the particular value of US-Eurasian
  educational cooperation
• Thanking one another for the commitment that
  brings us together in the most important cause
  there is

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Thank You From Your Colleagues At Kent State
University