Internationalization Initiative

Internationalization Council 2001-2002

Internationalization Working Group
DRAFT - December 2001

International Vision
Portland State University's future will be guided by the understanding, belief and commitment that our students will enter the 21st century as leaders in an emerging global community. The University understands that internationalization must become integral to the fabric of everything that we do. The University administration, faculty, academic professionals and staff believe that we must prepare our students to be not only globally aware but also globally active. The University demonstrates, on a daily basis, its firm commitment to our international mission. Through the integrated efforts of the administration, faculty, academic professionals and staff, we will internationalize our culture to the point that international is no longer something added to the university's mission, but is seamlessly woven throughout the fabric of our campus. PSU will provide every PSU student with the highest quality international education possible within the limits of fiscal responsibility.

Internationalization Goals,
Recommendations and Short-Term Actions

Goal #1: Increase opportunities for every PSU student to have meaningful contact with other cultures through: (a) our academic curriculum, (b) study abroad opportunities, (c) international students, (d) faculty visiting our campus and (e) all other aspects of the campus environment.

Recommendations:

1.1. - Enhance international aspect of our curriculum across the whole university.
1.2. - Create more study abroad opportunities and more student/faculty participation.
1.3. - Increase the number of international internships and linkages with local organizations that have an international aspect to their activities.
1.4. - Increase the number of international faculty who visit PSU.
1.5 - Increase the number of international students who study at PSU.
1.6. - Utilize our international students shared learning opportunities.
1.7. - Promote international opportunities for service learning.
1.8. - Increase the visibility of our current international activities and opportunities.

Short-Term Actions:

• Redesign the PSU website to highlight the international dimensions of PSU.
• Provide support for faculty who want to enhance the international aspect of their curriculum, their research and their other scholarly activities.
• Determine ways to reduce the financial burden of studying abroad, especially for the disadvantaged student.
• Review current university policies and procedures with respect to the student's earning of credit and the tuition/fees for bilateral exchange programs, making it easier for our students to study at a university outside of the USA and for international students to study at PSU.
• Provide financial and administrative assistance for departments who want to invite an international visiting faculty member to PSU's campus.
• Develop a plan that makes maximum utilization of each international faculty member that visits PSU, including classroom presentations, faculty workshops and community programs which are promoted across the whole campus.
• Develop an inventory of PSU's current (a) international activities, (b) existing courses and programs which have significant international aspects, (c) international expertise within the campus community and (d) resources available within the university, the state higher education system, local community and various governmental agencies.
• Actively advertise and encourage students to participate in overseas volunteerism (e.g., WHO, Service Learning Abroad, JET, etc.) and campus international volunteerism (Focus, Conversation Partners, etc.).

Goal #2: Develop university policies and procedures that encourage leadership and innovation in the creation and delivery of a world class international education.

Recommendations:

2.1 - Encourage all levels of administration to aggressively support globalization by being willing to change policies, procedures, attitudes and work-flows.
2.2 - Involve the state system of higher education in helping accomplish this goal.
2.3 - Develop the support of the campus community to globalization before any significant changes are implemented.
2.4 - Pace the rate of change such that the natural resistance to change is minimized.
2.5 - Identify targets of opportunity (a department willing to move toward globalization more quickly) and work with them as leadership examples.

Short-Term Actions:

• Identify the university's policies and procedures that are the greatest barriers to the university becoming more globally active.
• Review and evaluate each policy and procedure with respect to its intended purpose and its unintended impact on globalization.
• Review with the Provost those policies and procedures that are identified as significant barriers to determine if an alternative policy or procedure would accomplish the same objective(s) without being a barrier to international activities.
• Centralize support for developing international partnerships.
• Develop consistent guidelines and a comprehensive checklist for developing and operating an international partnership.
• Work with the office of Graduate Studies to develop policies and procedures more consistent with a university that wants to participate in the international arena.
• Work with the registrar and other administrators to develop a better shared understanding of how international universities operate, their academic standards, their credit systems and how PSU can work more easily with them.
• Establish a permanent Internationalization Council to serve as the focal point for international strategies, a forum for dialogue on issues of international education and to be responsible for implementation of the Provost's recommendations

Goal #3: Increase opportunities for PSU faculty, academic professionals and staff to incorporate international dimensions into their teaching, scholarly agendas, programs and professional development.

Recommendations:

3.1 - Encourage PSU faculty, academic professionals and staff to participate in overseas activities, joint research efforts, study abroad and international professional development programs.
3.2 - Recognize and reward international activities within the university's P&T and merit processes.
3.3 - Increase opportunities for on-campus professional development through workshops/seminars offered by visiting faculty and on-campus expertise.
3.4 - Increase the number of international students who work as GA's on campus.
3.5 - Encourage distance learning and joint courses with our international partner universities.
3.6 - Share our successes and failures with the whole campus community to promote shared learning.

Short-Term Actions:

• Review the current P&T guidelines and merit system criteria to assess the extent that disincentives exist within the university's performance measurement and incentive systems with respect to participating in international opportunities.
• Establish a travel fund that supports international opportunities.
• Identify community, corporate and government resources that would be willing to financially support an enhanced globalization strategy.
• Develop a recruiting plan targeted to outstanding international students, offering them tuition incentives, GA positions, internships and other incentives to encourage them to study at PSU and to work closely with our faculty.
• Survey the campus to determine the potential professional development topics that would draw the greatest participation and have the greatest impact on internationalizing the curriculum.
• Provide all professionals on campus with a list of PSU's international partners, study abroad programs, prior faculty exchanges, prior visiting faculty and any other opportunities that could lead to new connections.
• Provide list of internship funding opportunities for faculty who would like to work abroad for a quarter or summer.

Goal #4: Build on Oregon and NW Washington's emerging sense of themselves as places with an international character and critical links with the rest of the world.

Recommendations:

4.1- Increase awareness within the region of PSU's current international activities.
4.2 - Actively search for linkages between the international community and PSU.
4.3 - Utilize regional expertise as a resource for on-campus activities.
4.4 - Advertise and promote PSU as a source of international expertise.

Short-Term Actions:

• Survey the "Friends of PSU" to determine who has international expertise that they would be willing to share with our campus.
• Contact outside groups (i.e., Mercy Corps, NW Medical Teams, Rotary, Peace Corps, Sister Cities, German-American Society, Italian-American Society, etc.) to determine their willingness to work with PSU.
• Distribute the Newsletter of the Office of International Affairs to a wider on-campus and off-campus audience and expand its to include all international activities across the whole campus.
• Meet with the University Publications Department to encourage the coverage of international activities and opportunities.
• Update all websites to highlight our international activities and opportunities.

Goal #5: Strengthen PSU's ties with its international alumni to develop their support of our international vision and mission.

Recommendations:

5.1 - Improve our relationships with our international alumni.
5.2 - Utilize our international alumni to recruit outstanding students, to serve as Global Ambassadors for PSU, to assist in finding internships for our domestic students and to mentor our students who are studying/working in their country.
5.3 - Increase the visibility of our international alumni within the PSU Alumni Magazine and other university publications and websites.
5.4 - Include our international alumni in our fundraising efforts.

Short-Term Actions:

• Establish a .5 FTE position in International Affairs/Alumni Affairs to take responsibility for developing our international alumni database, establishing contact with these students and developing the relationship.
• Develop an accurate list of international alumni.
• Create an International Alumni Association with its own publication and website.
• Work with University Publications to select and feature outstanding international alumni in the alumni publications.
• Provide a list of in-country alumni to each faculty, academic professional and staff who are traveling outside the US and encourage them to contact one or more alumni when they are in the area.
• Contact international alumni and ask them to provide in-country support for PSU exchange students.
• Select a few other universities that are known for their outstanding international alumni relations and benchmark how they developed and maintain the relationship with their international alumni.