Speaker says global education is critical to USU
Utah State University needs to do more to prepare students to recognize the importance of internationalization, a speaker said Thursday as part of International Education Week.
Edward Reeve, a USU engineering and technology education professor, described the goal of “internationalization” as integrating more international and multicultural perspectives into higher education learning.
However, despite current programs and the creation of the International Academic Advisory Board, USU’s progress toward internationalization has slowed over the past few years, Reeve said, until recently with more support from USU President Kermit L. Hall.
The main reason Reeve gave for the need to internationalize more is that “USU is not the real world.” Reeve used headlines and ads from The Utah Statesman from Nov. 15 issue. Headlines such as “Parking on streets overnight prohibited,” or “Poisonous Plant Lab to be dedicated,” represent Logan, but not the real world, he said. However, stories such as “Iran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment,” and “Namibia sees end of era as founder steps down,” represent what’s going on in the “real world,” he said.
“This is what we need to be preparing our students for. We have it, but need to build upon it more,” Reeve said.
Other reasons to internationalize included the fact that Utah is becoming more diverse and that all schools have the responsibility to expand the understanding of other people, their languages and cultures, he said.
Reeve had numerous suggestions as to how USU could mover toward internationalization.
First, USU needs to make a commitment on the administration level to better internationalize the school with full-time positions to overlook the process and seek external funding to strengthen international programs, he said.
The university also needs to increase encouragement of students and faculty to become involved in study abroad programs, he said. Reeve also used his experience while working at Michigan State University as an example, saying faculty members led study abroad programs and were provided incentives to participate in overseas projects or programs.
Other ways USU could improve its internationalization are to increase the number of international students and visibility of all international happenings on campus, he said, as well as utilize the large population of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints returned missionaries who speak other languages. Reeve also said he hopes to see more international subjects discussed in USU classrooms and expand the international studies major and minor.
One aspect that USU does seem to excel at is that of international students, he said. USU has 265 students from India, 193 from China, 117 from Korea and 81 from Japan, as well as students from Taiwan, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Canada, Armenia, Poland, Malaysia and Russia, Reeve said. A female Japanese student attending the forum said the biggest shock for her upon coming to Logan was the difference in religion.
“For schools of our size, we do reasonably well. We have about 1,000 international students which is a little over 6 percent of our student body,” Chris Fawson, vice provost for Academic and International Affairs said.
Internationalizing USU, and in turn Logan, would help students, the university and strengthen the community and the nation as a whole, Reeve said. On the other side, if USU fails to internationalize, it runs the risk of being out-of-touch with major social, political and economic revolutions, he said.
-hilaryi@cc.usu.edu