International Education: The Neglected Dimension of Public Diplomacy
Read advance praise for International Education: The Neglected Dimension of Public Diplomacy Internationalizing U.S. Education
For the effective conduct of public diplomacy, the United States must have a citizenry that is better informed about and more prepared to engage the world. The current paucity of international content in U.S. education generally must be addressed. Curricula must be internationalized at all levels so that everyone who graduates from college in the United States receives an international education. We must bolster specialized study to produce the high-level, advanced international and foreign-
language expertise that is required today in government, business, education, the media, and other fields. And study abroad must become the norm, not the exception, for American college students.
Curricular responsibilities in the area of internationalization will of course remain the responsibility of the institutions, school districts, and states, as they should. Our colleague associations—the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the American Council on Education—have done a great deal of useful work on the internationalization of the campus. But America's lack of international competence is a national security liability, and there is no substitute for an overarching national policy, articulated from the president's bully pulpit and backed by federal funding where appropriate. Such a policy should:
- Set an objective that international education become an integral component of U.S. undergraduate education so that, in 10 years' time, every student will graduate from college with proficiency in a foreign language and a basic understanding of at least one world area.
- Promote cultural and foreign-language study in primary and secondary schools so that entering college students will have greater proficiency in these areas.
- Through graduate and professional training and research, enhance the nation's capacity to produce the international, regional, international-business, and foreign-language expertise required for U.S. global leadership and security.
- Encourage international institutional partnerships that will facilitate internationalized curricula, collaborative research, and faculty and student mobility.
Establishing Study Abroad as an Integral Component of Undergraduate Education
The most important role for the U.S. government, however, is to enact a comprehensive national program to establish study abroad as an integral component of U.S. undergraduate education.
Far too few American college students—about 1 percent—study abroad each year, and study abroad participants are primarily white, female, and concentrated in certain majors and a handful of popular destinations. Study abroad opportunities are often beyond the reach of nontraditional students and students of limited financial means. At the same time, polls by the American Council on Education show that most students, when they enter college, have both the desire and the intention to study abroad.
In a recent op-ed in the
Christian Science Monitor, 9/11 Commission leaders Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton note the critical importance of study abroad. They write: "The U.S. cannot conduct itself effectively in a competitive international environment when our most educated citizens lack minimal exposure to, and understanding of, the world beyond U.S. borders. If we lack the ability to see ourselves as others see us – a skill imparted through the direct experience of living and studying abroad – then we diminish our ability to influence and persuade foreign governments and world opinion." Kean and Hamilton go on to warn that "ignorance of the world is a national liability" and urge Congress to pass the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, which is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate.
The Simon Act would create an independent entity to administer a national study abroad program with the following mandate: that at least 1 million U.S. undergraduate students will study abroad annually in 10 years' time, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world. In addition to providing a pool of direct scholarships, the program would encourage higher education institutions to address the on-campus factors that most heavily impact study abroad participation—curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, programming—by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite for access to federal funds.
The legislation has resounding bipartisan support in Congress. It was recommended by a bipartisan commission whose members were appointed by the joint congressional leadership and the president. The commission was established at the behest of the late Senator Paul Simon, a Democrat, and was chaired by M. Peter McPherson, a Republican, who remains a leading supporter. Bipartisan legislative leadership to establish the program has been provided by Senators Dick Durbin and Norm Coleman, and by the late Representative Tom Lantos and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Inexplicably, the Bush administration has failed to embrace the program. The next administration must provide strong leadership for its implementation and funding and—should the legislation fail to be enacted this year—for a new legislative push in the next Congress.
Continue to the Attracting International Students and Scholars section
