Global Collaboration in the Service of International and Multicultural

I NTERNATIONALISM ,

M ULTICULTURALISM , AND G LOBAL

C OLLABORATION IN 21 ST -C ENTURY

H IGHER E DUCATION

H. Stephen Straight, Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics and

Senior Adviser for International Initiatives, Binghamton University

Tenth Annual Fall Research and Creativity Forum

Buffalo State College, 29 October 2009

1905-1995

J. W ILLIAM F ULBRIGHT



We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,

J. W ILLIAM F ULBRIGHT



We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,



and there is no way of doing that except through education.

O UTLINE OF T ODAY ’ S T ALK





Part One: The Global Context for Higher

Education in the 21 st Century





Global Megatrends

Critical Issues



Global Trends in Higher Education

Part Two: Internationalization, Multiculturalism, and Global Collaboration in 21 st -Century Higher

Education



Is Internationalism the Enemy of Multiculturalism?





Language as a Key Variable in Curricular

Internationalization

Internationalization and Collaboration as Key

Ingredients in 21 st Century Higher Education

T HE G LOBAL C ONTEXT FOR H IGHER

E DUCATION IN THE 21 ST C ENTURY



Global Megatrends

and Associated

Student Learning Outcomes



Critical Issues

and Associated





and U.S. Institutional Responses

T

HE

R

ECOGNIZED

I

MPERATIVE



“It is important that our country prepare our young people for the challenges of competing in an increasingly globalized marketplace.

America will be served well by taking steps to ensure our students – the future leaders of our nation – have a higher level of foreign language proficiency and international and cultural knowledge .”



Roger Wicker (R-MS), co-sponsor (with Dick Durbin, D-IL) of the

Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act

 http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=308696

T HE R ISE OF A SIA

G LOBAL M EGATRENDS AND A SSOCIATED

S TUDENT L EARNING O UTCOMES



Rise of Asia*





Acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding

Chinese, Indian, and other cultures and languages of

Pan-Asia (including Russia and Turkey), while also broadening and strengthening study of all of the world’s cultures and languages.



Newly confirmed Under Secretary of State for Public

Diplomacy Judith McHale has already stated that we need to go “beyond traditional government-to-government diplomacy and seek innovative ways to communicate and engage directly with foreign publics”.



* Titles in red correspond to items drawn from a November 2008 presentation by Dr. JoAnn McCarthy, noted international educator, to which I responded with the points herein.

T HE I MPACT OF G LOBALIZATION







Rise of Asia



Acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding Chinese,

Indian, and other cultures and languages of Pan-Asia while also broadening and strengthening study of all of the world’s cultures and languages.

Impact of globalization









Explore the ecological and sociocultural as well as economic effects of a fully globalized world, which is

“spiky” (Richard Florida)—with peaks, hills, and valleys,

“Post-American” (Fareed Zakaria), and

“hot, flat, crowded” (Thomas Friedman).

C HALLENGES TO G OVERNANCE









Rise of Asia



Acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding Chinese, Indian, and other cultures and languages of Asia.




Explore the ecological and sociocultural as well as economic effects of the new “spiky” (Florida), “Post-American” (Zakaria), “hot, flat, crowded” (Friedman) world.

Challenges to governance





Understand the role of nation-states of varied political types (democracies, monarchies, plutocracies, theocracies) in creating world problems and the role of transnational movements to counteract

(or sometimes exacerbate) their inadequacies and abuses.











Rise of Asia







Explore the ecological and sociocultural as well as economic effects of the new “spiky”

(Florida), “Post-American” (Zakaria), “hot, flat, crowded” (Friedman) world.




Understand the role of nation-states of varied political types in creating world problems and the role of transnational movements to counteract (or sometimes exacerbate) their inadequacies and abuses.

Pervasive economic, political, and cultural insecurity





… exacerbated by global disparities in income and access

Study







 the history of industrial development and its transformation in the age of multinational corporations and worldwide technological transfer along with unstoppable and growing global interdependencies.













Rise of Asia







Explore the ecological and sociocultural as well as economic effects of the new

“spiky” (Florida), “Post-American” (Zakaria), “hot, flat, crowded” (Friedman) world.




Understand the role of nation-states of varied political types in creating world problems and the role of transnational movements to counteract (or sometimes exacerbate) their inadequacies and abuses.

Pervasive economic, political, and cultural insecurity exacerbated by global disparities in income and access



Study industrial development and worldwide technological transfer

 along with unstoppable and growing global interdependencies.

The global knowledge-based economy



Analyze the shift toward science and technology – and intercultural understanding – (i.e. “knowledge”) as the primary “products” of human labor.

C RITICAL I SSUES

C RITICAL I SSUES AND A SSOCIATED




Environmental degradation



Study the causes and possible treatments of same.





Consider adopting Friedman’s “Code Green” solution.

“Armageddon was yesterday—today we have a serious problem.”














Rapid urbanization and the need for infrastructure



Survey this global crisis and ways to overcome it.




















Literacy and access to education



Enhance, sometimes by means of service-learning (highlighted in

NAFSA’s March 2009 position statement), this essential ingredient to deal with many of the other issues at hand.

























Enhance, sometimes by means of service-learning (highli.ghted in NAFSA’s

March 2009 position statement), this essential ingredient to deal with many of the other issues at hand.

Aging populations



Explore ways to keep economic advances from leading inexorably to the enslavement and impoverishment of the young by the old.



























Enhance, sometimes by means of service-learning (highlighted in NAFSA’s March 2009 position statement), this essential ingredient to deal with many of the other issues at hand.

Aging populations



Explore ways to keep economic advances from leading inexorably to the enslavement and impoverishment of the young by the old.

Global health issues



Identify ways in which preventive health care and improved nutrition can complement treatment and quarantine in the interest of global health.



An example – wipe out malaria before 2012!

G LOBAL T RENDS IN H IGHER E DUCATION

AND U.S. I NSTITUTIONAL R ESPONSES



Shifting Demand and Capacity







Recruit international students, engage in exchange and study abroad, and establish international joint- and dual-degree programs.





On 20 May 2009 the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal

Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410), which includes



 establishment of the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation and a major increase to the Peace Corps budget to support President

Obama’s goal of doubling the number of Peace Corps volunteers.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her commencement address at NYU, said that “study abroad is like spring training for this century.”











Widening Gap Between Developing and

Developed Nations



Seek ways to support students and faculty from developing nations:



First by means of ubiquitous Internet connectivity and then by means of F2F collaboration.



Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s NYU commencement speech included mention of a “Virtual Student Foreign Service”—details to follow.













Widening Gap Between Developing and Developed Nations





Seek ways to support students and faculty from developing nations


Explosion of Knowledge





Move toward e-publication and away from

(expensive, slow-moving) print.

Make scholarship available everywhere and at low cost, and redefine its contents.

























Move toward e-publication and away from (expensive, slow-moving) print.




Lifelong Learning



See above two items.































Lifelong Learning




Anglicization





Let English become a world possession, with full acceptance that native speakers no longer control it (TOEFL beware!).

Support study and use of national and indigenous languages to benefit from the world’s diverse cultural traditions.

































Lifelong Learning




Anglicization







Americanization



Make this a multi-connective, interactive process, as it has historically been, and we may all benefit.



Americans may be forced to live up to their professed ideals.



































Lifelong Learning




Anglicization







Americanization



Make this a multi-connective, interactive process, as it has historically been, and we may all benefit.



Americans may be forced to live up to their professed ideals.

Multinationalization, Privatization, and For-Profit

Enterprises



Fine, as long as the plebians fare as well as the plutocrats



Enlightened self-interest has yet to realize its full potential among the wealthy elites. (Read: Currently, Greed Rules!)

P ART O NE :

W HAT I’ VE T ALKED A BOUT S O F AR



Global Megatrends

and Associated




Critical Issues

and Associated





and U.S. Institutional Responses

P ART T WO : I NTERNATIONALISM ,

M ULTICULTURALISM , C OLLABORATION



Is Internationalism the Enemy of

Multiculturalism?







Internationalization and Collaboration as

Key Ingredients in 21 st Century Higher

Education

I S I NTERNATIONALISM THE E NEMY OF

M ULTICULTURALISM ?



Complaint:





Curricular internationalization can lead some to view white bourgeois monocultural identity as the norm for the U.S. in contrast to the (often equally monoculturally defined) identities of the inhabitants of the other nations of the world.





Globalization is sometimes viewed as an unalloyed good.

Internationalization is sometimes seen primarily through the plutocratic and militaristic lenses of “economic competitiveness” and “international security”.

These complaints have spurred the American Council on Education to give increasingly close attention to the potential divide between internationalism and multiculturalism.





The “Bridging the Gap Symposium” in 2008 and

The “At Home in the World Institute” in 2009.

I S I NTERNATIONALISM THE E NEMY OF

M ULTICULTURALISM ?



Solution:









Recognize that multiculturalism is global (and ubiquitous) and that internationalism is local (and enriching).

Multicultural societies are in fact common around the world; they typically include:





Dispossessed indigenous people and

Oppressed ethnic and racial minorities (or even majorities!).

Global multicultural diversity results in the need for:





Close study of past, present, and future global migration and international relations, and

Shared international struggle for social and economic justice in multicultural societies.

Internationalism can thus be an ally and even a beneficiary rather than an enemy of multiculturalism.

P ART T WO




Multiculturalism?



Answer: Not at all!







The Global Rise of English





Language Study in U.S. Higher

Education

Cultures and Languages Across the

Curriculum (CLAC)

F AREED Z AKARIA , A UTHOR OF “T HE P OST -

A MERICAN W ORLD ” (2008)

T HE G LOBAL R ISE OF E NGLISH :

H EGEMONIC OR P RAGMATIC ?



This year an estimated 200 million Chinese will be studying English in school, but only 50,000

Americans will be studying Chinese.



At the rate they’re going in 20 years there will be more second-language speakers of English in China than first-language speakers in the rest of the world—a situation that is already true in India.

B UT E NGLISH O NLY WON ’ T DO !



“Universities don’t think globally – it’s not ingrained in their philosophy and curriculum to create the global worker.”



– Respondent to RAND Corporation Survey



“We had terrific situational awareness; what we lacked was cultural awareness.”



– General David Petraeus



“CED recommends that international content be taught across the curriculum and at all levels of learning…”



– Committee for Economic Development report, 2006

U.S. LANGUAGE SKILLS LARGELY LACKING





A recent RAND Corporation survey of sixteen of the world’s largest global corporations found most of them to be highly critical of U.S. college graduates’ skills in languages other than

English.



One marketing manager referred to them as

“linguistically deprived.”

The Committee for Economic Development estimates that U.S. companies lose $2 billion a year because of employees’ “inadequate language skills and poor cultural competence.”

CED, 2006



CED believes that the international studies and foreign language of all of our students must be strengthened to prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s global leaders.



— Committee for Economic Development, 2006

PAUCITY OF LANGUAGE STUDY AND USE

IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION







Little diversity in languages offered







Decline of “The Big Two” (French and German)

Hegemony of “The Big One” (Spanish)

Rise of “LCTLs” (Less Commonly Taught Languages)

Low enrollments (esp. in LOTS: languages other than Spanish)



Upshot: American college graduates typically possess less skill in a LOTE than they did when they were admitted.

Limited variety of specialized disciplinary expertise in LOTEs, even at graduate level

C ULTURES AND L ANGUAGES A CROSS

THE C URRICULUM (CLAC)







Emphasizes cultural content even in supposedly

“universal” disciplines (i.e., disciplines allegedly free of cultural content, such as sciences & engineering).



Helps students identify cultural content within all disciplines and develop essential cross-cultural interpretive skills.

Instills appreciation of differing cultural perspectives, interdependencies among all nations and regions, and issues of long-term sustainability of proposed solutions.



Fosters commitment to responsible global citizenship.

Introduces flexible cross-cultural navigation strategies.



“First, seek to understand; then, seek to be understood”

(Stephen Covey).

CLAC: G ENERAL P RINCIPLES







Focus on communication, not grammar.





Emphasize meaningful use, not language instruction.

Gauge language advances via proficiency, not seat time.

Use language as a tool for intellectual integration.





Synthesize knowledge produced in multiple languages and cultures.

Develop high-level critical thinking skills.

Challenge faculty to empower students to employ their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge.





Provide heritage learners with the tools they need to bridge the gap between work/school and home.

Provide non-heritage learners with the tools they need to bridge the gaps between work/school, home, and the FL classroom and/or study abroad experience.

P ART T WO




Multiculturalism?



Answer: Not at all!









Education

I NTERNATIONALIZATION AS A K EY I NGREDIENT

IN 21 ST C ENTURY H IGHER E DUCATION







The 21 st century requires education that opens the peoples of the world up to each other, research that sees both the local and the global aspects of every research question, and problem-solving that expands across artificial national and regional boundaries.

The world’s peoples need to enjoy using each other’s languages, experiencing each other’s cultures, and solving their shared problems, regardless of national or other identity.



Global Anglicization and Americanization are myths.

Scholarship can and should include:





The theories, methods, and findings of all of the world’s intellectual traditions, and

Recent and current work by all the world’s scholars, researchers, and creative artists.

C OLLABORATION AS A K EY I NGREDIENT IN

21 ST C ENTURY H IGHER E DUCATION







Enlightened national (and other group-focused) interests demand compassionate assistance and cooperation rather than competition.



The peoples of the world will either rise or fall, together.

To serve the aforementioned purposes, the world’s colleges and universities need to partner with each other.





Every IHE has resources and strengths of value to global partners.

Partnering can and should serve the full gamut of the partners’ research, service, and teaching missions.

Information technology can make this partnering efficient and effective.

W HAT I T ALKED A BOUT IN P ART T WO




Multiculturalism?



Answer: Not at all!









Education

O UTLINE OF T ODAY ’ S T ALK





Part One: The Global Context for Higher

Education in the 21 st Century





Global Megatrends

Critical Issues




Part Two: Internationalization, Multiculturalism, and Global Collaboration in 21 st -Century Higher

Education



Is Internationalism the Enemy of Multiculturalism?







Internationalization and Collaboration as Key

Ingredients in 21 st Century Higher Education

J. W

ILLIAM

F

ULBRIGHT



Education is a slow-moving but powerful force.

J. W

ILLIAM

F

ULBRIGHT






It may not be fast enough or strong enough to save us from catastrophe, but it is the strongest force available for that purpose.

J. W

ILLIAM

F

ULBRIGHT






It may not be fast enough or strong enough to save us from catastrophe, but it is the strongest force available for that purpose

 and in its proper place, therefore, is not at the periphery, but at the center of international relations.

I NTERNATIONALISM ,

M ULTICULTURALISM , AND G LOBAL

C OLLABORATION IN 21 ST -C ENTURY

H IGHER E DUCATION

H. Stephen Straight, Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics and

Senior Adviser for International Initiatives, Binghamton University

Tenth Annual Fall Research and Creativity Forum

Buffalo State College, 29 October 2009

Global Collaboration in the Service of International and Multicultural

We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,

We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,

and there is no way of doing that except through education.

Global Megatrends

Critical Issues

Global Trends in Higher Education

HE

ECOGNIZED

MPERATIVE

Lifelong Learning

Global Megatrends

Critical Issues

Global Trends in Higher Education

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

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Support

Global Collaboration in the Service of International and Multicultural

We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,

We must try and expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception,

and there is no way of doing that except through education.

Global Megatrends

Critical Issues

Global Trends in Higher Education

HE

ECOGNIZED

MPERATIVE

Lifelong Learning

Global Megatrends

Critical Issues

Global Trends in Higher Education

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

ILLIAM

ULBRIGHT

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