The Ascent of Global Learning

Every college and university today wants to prepare students who are global citizens. The aim is spelled out in mission statements and carried out in action plans that engage faculty, administrators, staff, and students inside and outside the classroom in a common purpose. Some global learning initiatives expand upon efforts that have been underway for years. This takes place at large research universities already with an immense global reach and thousands of international students, and small liberal arts campuses with few education abroad offerings and a paucity of students from other countries. It is reality, not rhetoric, based upon the understanding that globalization touches everyone’s life, from smartphones in our purses and pockets to welling concerns about climate changes to watching a refugee crisis in one war-torn country spill across a continent. So, too, does the presence of nearly 1 million international students on U.S. campuses and the hunger that incoming U.S. students and their parents exhibit at orientation sessions for study and work abroad opportunities. But those opportunities, no matter how much they expand students’ horizons, occupy only a portion of their college career and often reach only a minority, which explains why so many global education initiatives emphasize globalizing the instruction delivered across the home campus and helping students recognize and respond to the global dimensions of everyday life in their own backyards. A new survey by the Association of American Colleges & Universities found that 70 percent of chief academic officers say their general education program includes