From Land-Grant to a “World-Grant” University
As a university president, I believe that universities should prepare students for a global knowledge economy and expect faculty to be globally engaged. The breadth of local and global interdependencies requires that we accept responsibilities to shape these interdependencies positively for both local and global benefit. Although local prosperity depends increasingly on global prosperity, some see “local” and “global” as a zero sum game when allocating scarce resources. Others recognize our codependencies. For example, in state-wide public opinion surveys commissioned by Michigan State University (MSU), we found that the people of the State of Michigan are broadly cognizant of these interdependencies and the need to prepare students for a global economy.
Today, we, as higher education leaders, are called upon to establish a new twenty-first century framework for knowledge access: talent and idea development without borders. For a land-grant institution such as MSU, “internationalization” means extending our traditional values of inclusiveness, quality, and connectivity to a “world-grant” or global frame.
Dramatic shifts in economies, communications, systems of trade, and research compel us to move well beyond piecemeal and peripheral international engagement toward comprehensive engagement. As my colleague and NAFSA Senior Scholar for Internationalization John Hudzik writes, “Comprehensive internationalization is a commitment, confirmed through action, to infuse international and comparative perspectives throughout the teaching, research, and service missions of higher education. It shapes institutional ethos and values, and touches the entire higher education enterprise.”
Sustained Commitment
Comprehensive internationalization is not something accomplished in the short term; it requires a long-term, sustained commitment
