National Benefits and Challenges of Internationalization in Higher Education Marlene Wall, PhD Interim President LCC International University

INTERNATIONALIZATION DEFINED

A process Internationalization “at home” Internationalization “abroad”

LCC: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONALIZATION

LCC: A CASE STUDY 1991: joint venture between Lithuania, Canada, and the United States Degree-seeking students – 50% from Lithuania – 50% from 24 other countries Study Abroad students – More than 50 students annually from 30 US partner institutions

LCC: A CASE STUDY Student exchanges Professors – 35% from Lithuania; 65% from other countries – 7 Fulbright scholars in the past 9 years Accreditation – Lithuanian Ministry of Education – Seeking US accreditation Language of instruction – English

LCC: A CASE STUDY Curriculum – 8 competencies, including “multicultural perspective” – Develop a multicultural awareness and an understanding of the global nature of contemporary issues. Summer programs – Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia

LCC: A CASE STUDY INPUTS – Requires international recruitment strategies – Requires accurate evaluation of home country educational systems – Requires extensive migration work PROCESSES – Requires a well-structured residential model – Requires clear systems of academic credit transfer (beyond ECTS) – Requires intentional programming for the celebration of diversity

LCC: A CASE STUDY OUTCOMES – Requires cross-cultural competence of faculty – Requires data-collection methodology to assess effectiveness Deardorff, Pysarchik and Yun (2009): “With globalization driving the demand for global-ready graduates, it becomes crucial for administrators to assess these outcomes of internationalization to determine exactly what our students are learning through these efforts and how effective our programs are in achieving the stated learning outcomes.”

NATIONAL BENEFITS OF INTERNATIONALIZATION

NATIONAL BENEFITS Attraction of good students from abroad Acquisition of intercultural skills among all students Promotion of global responsibility Positive change in social environment Political Economic Social and Cultural Academic

NATIONAL BENEFITS Contact between countries for future business development Contact between scholars for future research projects Economic benefit of foreign investment Marketing of the country

NATIONAL CHALLENGES OF INTERNATIONALIZATION

NATIONAL CHALLENGES Create a safe environment. Create convenient legal work and study conditions. Liberalize visa policies. Consider student practicum requirements. Pay attention to infrastructure issues.

CONCLUSIONS...