International // Browsing posts in International
Challenge and Opportunity in the Global Agenda
I’ve written before about the uphill aspect of expanding global goals in American higher education: the fact that U.S. faculty are less enthusiastic about global agendas than counterparts elsewhere, the lack of any formal government pressure or encouragement (again, a marked contrast to the situation in China, Russia and elsewhere). Elements of the situation are ...
Visiting Pakistan
Returned recently from Pakistan, mainly visiting the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad. This is an impressive new university, of high quality and high ambition, and Mason has various collaborative projects with them and prospects for more in future—including some joint educational and research efforts on Pakistani-American relations. My reason for blogging is ...
Global Information: A New Mason Register
One of the perennial challenges in trying to build a global university involves developing and sharing appropriate levels of information about what’s already happening. We had the experience a few years ago of rounding up about 35 faculty interested in Africa, from various disciplinary standpoints. Not only had many of them not met before, as ...
Peace, and University Opportunities
One of the striking things about the recent, unlamented presidential campaign was the absence of much reference to peace. At one of the debates, Romney used the term, which I found encouraging, but as far as I could tell Obama, the Nobel awardee, did not. At a point when we’ve ended one war and are ...
China 1-2-1
Quite a few people know about this highly successful program, but a further shout out is appropriate. The program, now in its 9th year at Mason, has brought 264 Chinese students to Mason from a variety of interesting Chinese universities. The students spend their first year in China, come here for two or more years, ...
Commuters and Commuter Schools
Two preliminaries. First, the initial spur for this blog came from our new University president, who has a knack for asking timely questions. I hope I am usefully embellishing the thought. Second, this is an unabashed effort to have my institutional cake and eat it too, but I think our record warrants the combination; you ...
Mason’s Access Program: An Update
This is the odd time of year when I realize that summer is close to over, as far as my activities are concerned, with the usual regrets about its passing too quickly, and when I also begin to anticipate the excitement of a new academic year. As I’ve written before, when I stop feeling a ...
Lessons to Ukraine?
I’m off to Kiev this week, giving several talks and participating in several forums on higher education. Audience and co-panelists will be mainly higher ed officials from Ukraine. I’m sponsored by the State Department (and taxpayers will be relieved to know they don’t pay for business class airfares). The goal is to use discussions of ...
Toward More Education on Global Problems
Next week Mason hosts a conference with representatives from universities in China, Korea, Russia, India, Turkey, Kenya and Brazil, with the goal of agreeing on some concrete programs that will improve undergraduate opportunities to explore global issues ranging from environmental change to violence to poverty and hunger. The idea, which I blogged about some time ...
Collaborations
Collaborations are hardly an innovation on the education front, but it does seem to me their importance is expanding. Certainly for a self-professed up-and-comer like Mason, collaborations are a vital means of expansion and improvement. We’re pleased, of course, at the growth of dual degree collaborations with various international partners. The China 1-2-1 program is ...
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Changing the World
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When It's Time to Leave Academic Administration
What follows involves a delicate topic, probably insufficiently discussed because of its...
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