AGENDA ITEM NO: 14.1
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
FOR INFORMATION ONLY
PRESENTED BY:
Gap Soo Chang; Chair, International Activities Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
June 18, 2015
SUBJECT:
Year-end Report to Council for 2014-15
COUNCIL ACTION:
For information only
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
YEAR-END REPORT 2014-15
The committee met on ten occasions in the 2014-15 academic year.
The International Activities Committee is responsible for:
1.
Recommending to Council on issues relating to international activities at the
University of Saskatchewan.
2.
Encouraging the development of programs and curricula that provide an international
perspective on campus.
3.
Promoting and expanding scholarly exchange programs for faculty, students and staff.
4.
Encouraging interactions with university and education/research institutions outside
Canada, thereby fostering new opportunities for University of Saskatchewan
stakeholders in international teaching, learning and research.
5.
Receiving an annual report on matters relating to international student, faculty and
alumni activities from the International Coordinating Committee.
Committee Membership
Council Members
Gap Soo Chang (Chair)
William Albritton
Hongming Cheng
Physics & Engineering Physics
Microbiology & Immunology
Sociology
2017
2016
2017
General Academic Assembly Members
Abraham Akkerman
Jian Yang
Michael Cottrell (co vice-chair)
Angela Kalinowski
Mabood Qureshi(co vice-chair)
Geography and Planning
Pharmacy and Nutrition
Educational Administration
History
Pathology
2017
2017
2015
2015
2015
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Other members
Patti McDougall
Diane Martz
Jack Saddleback
Rahwa Osman
Alison Pickrell
[Provost designate] Vice-Provost Teaching and Learning (ex officio)
[designate for Vice-President Research] Director, International Research and
Partnerships
[USSU designate] VP Student Affairs, USSU
[GSA designate] VP External, GSA
Director of Enrolment Services
Resource members
Derek Tannis
Penny Skilnik
Manager, International Student and Study Abroad Centre (ISSAC)
Director of Special Projects, College of Graduate Studies and Research
Secretary:
Amanda Storey; Committee Coordinator, Office of the University Secretary
Issues and discussions
Monthly Updates
Each meeting, the International Activities Committee (IAC) received monthly updates from
International Office, including lists of new international agreements. The committee also invites
members from the College of Graduate Studies and Research (CGSR), and Student and
Enrolment Services Division (SESD) to attend meetings and provide regular updates to the
committee on international activities in those units. Monthly updates, including lists of new
International Agreements, are available on the committee’s website:
www.usask.ca/secretariat/governing-bodies/council/committee/international/index.php
Subcommittee on International Metrics
Over the last two years, the International Activities Committee has discussed the importance of
identifying priority areas to measure and improve internationalization at the university. The
committee agrees that establishing such metrics will allow us to determine whether we are
meeting University goals for international activity, and will provide direction to the University
on actions that can be taken to improve how we are perceived internationally. A subcommittee
was struck this year to identify metrics. Members of the subcommittee are as follows:
From the IAC: Michael Cottrell (Chair), Gap Soo Chang, Diane Martz,
Alison Pickrell, Penny Skilnik
From the Research, Scholarly, and Artistic Works Committee: Rainer Dick
From the Office of the VP, Research: David Harris, Darcy Marciniuk
From Institutional Planning and Assessment:Troy Harkot
Administrative Support: Amanda Storey
The subcommittee met on November 5, 2014, January 27, March 5, March 19, and May 22,
2015. The committee will continue its work in the 2015/16 year, working in step with the Office
of the Vice President Research as they develop a blueprint for action on internationalization.
Reports received
Internationalization in various colleges
In the first term of 2014/15 academic year, the committee heard from the College of Arts and
Science, the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the College of Engineering about
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internationalization initiatives. Ms. Andrea Wasylow-Ducasse explained the efforts of the
College of Arts and Science to enhance internationalization, noting that they have struggled a bit
in meeting their international targets because of a lack of institutional authority for
internationalization with the current configuration of vice deans in the college, but that with the
restructuring of the vice dean portfolios, this should be remedied. Once responsibility for
internationalization is clearly identified, the college’s goals revolve around developing standard
processes and procedures for considering MOUs with other countries.
In November 2014, Dr. Murray Drew attended from the College of Agriculture and Bioresources
and discussed their international enrolment success, with 10% of their overall student body and
53% of their graduate students being international. He noted that the college has been building
relationships with institutions in Japan to deliver a 3+1 program and has been building
relationships with institutions in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
In February 2015, Dr. Reza Fotouhi of the College of Engineering attended and outlined the
opportunities that the college has been pursuing to increase internationalization, both with
international students attending here, but also with local students participating in international
exchange programs. He outlined agreements that are currently in place with Ecuador, China,
India, and France. He noted that the College of Engineering has a high level of
internationalization in its faculty, with at least 50% being foreign born and trained. This has
aided in the college’s ability to establish partnerships overseas, as many partnerships are a result
of personal connections and interests.
The IAC will continue their review of internationalization initiatives in the colleges in 2015/16
academic year, with the aim of bringing a report to Council for information.
Graduate Pathways Certificate and CCDE Bridging Program
In March 2015, the committee received a presentation from David Parkinson and Lisa Krol
outlining innovative approaches to international student retention through the University
Learning Centre. The bridging program allows for students to participate in English language
classes alongside a 100-level humanities or social science class, in order to encourage deeper
comprehension of the subject matter, apply their fledgling English skills in an academic context,
and learn about the academic culture at a Canadian institution. It has been a very successful
program with a low failure rate. The Graduate Pathways Certificate is an intensive program that
allows for academically gifted international students to accelerate their language learning and
commence their graduate program.
Other activities
Confucius Institute
The committee first discussed the Confucius Institute in November 2014, when the Coordinating
Committee of Council tasked the IAC to review the Centres Policy as well as the agreements that
lead to the establishment of the Confucius institute. This request was in response to concerns
raised about having strong ties with countries known to have oppressive regimes. The committee
replied to the Coordinating Committee by memo in December 2014, noting that no concern was
raised about political issues in the review of the MOU signed to establish the Confucius Institute
as a type-B centre.
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Following lively discussion of the Confucius Institute at the January 2015 meeting of University
Council, the IAC invited Dr. Len Findlay, Dr. David Parkinson, and Dr. Li Zong to attend a
meeting of the committee to outline their positions regarding the Confucius Institute. The
committee heard all parties, asked questions, and provided a memo to the Confucius Institute
Working Group, outlining their concerns. The committee was concerned about possibly
endangering our relationship with the Beijing Institute of Technology and the impact on student
mobility that might arise if the university ended their agreement with the Confucius Institute.
Conversely, the committee questioned how the Confucius Institute, in offering non-credit
language instruction and cultural programming, fits with the academic mission of the university.
The committee also expressed the desire to see a strong management team at the university to
steer our involvement with the Confucius Institute and to tackle these difficult issues.
Visibility of International Information
The committee discussed in January and again in May 2015 how to ensure that information on
international activities is effectively communicated to students and university community
members. There are many pages on the university website having information that would be
useful both for international students studying at the university and local students looking for
international study opportunities, but they are not jointly linked or managed. The committee
noted that the primary communication tool with international students is the website and it would
be useful to pull pertinent information together under a single tab, preferably on the usask.ca
front page. Ivan Muzychka and Jeff Drake of Advancement and Community Engagement
attended the May IAC meeting to discuss possible options with the committee and eased
concerns about the availability of information on usask.ca for international visitors. They noted
that analytics are showing that international users are successful in locating the information they
look for. A suggestion that arose was to have specific pages of the university website translated
into the languages of our common applicants—perhaps the homepage, the “apply now” page,
and information about tuition and scholarships.
Acknowledgements
On behalf of the Committee, I wish to thank Mabood Qureshi who acted as Vice-Chair of the
committee this year and the various members of the University Secretary’s office who supported the
committee this year. I also thank all the members of the Committee for their thoughtful participation
in the Committee’s work.
Respectfully submitted,
Gap Soo Chang, International Activities Committee of Council
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