Global Education

Global Education and the Strategic Plan

Digest of International and Global Dimensions of The Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2008-2017 submitted by Eric Fingerhut, Chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents

The Chancellor's Strategic Plan for Higher Education contains nearly 30 references to international issues, and enumerates numerous goals related to international education for Ohio institutions of higher education. Below are excerpts from the report that concern international education.

Download Digest of International and Global Dimensions of The Strategic Plan for Higher Education

Executive Summary (pages 10-11)

The University System of Ohio will end the counter-productive competition among institutions for scarce resources. The historic strengths and traditions of our individual universities will be drawn upon to create distinctive missions for each, leading to the establishment of nationally and internationally-recognized Centers of Excellence that will be drivers of both the regional and state economies and that will complement the comprehensive, quality education available at each institution. Each institution will delineate these Centers of Excellence, together with specific goals and measurements by which the goals can be evaluated…

In recognition of the clear need of business and industry for a diverse workforce, a center will be established to study factors leading to success for African-American males and to implement best practices across the state. To promote Ohio colleges and universities internationally and draw talent here, the University System of Ohio will work with the state’s private schools to promote higher education in Ohio to a global audience and share the costs of recruiting international students…

University System of Ohio: Structure

Mission Differentiation (page 37)

… This plan calls for attracting more students to our campuses, graduating more people, and keeping them here after they graduate. Reducing the size of the system would work against these objectives. The focus should not, therefore, be on the number of institutions, but on whether they are performing at the level that the state needs Across the system, there are programs of national and even international, significance. Several Ohio schools, and many individual programs, regularly show up on widely accepted measures of research quality and scholarship. Many students are choosing Ohio schools over better known competitors. Nevertheless, Ohio’s public institutions have not, on the whole, distinguished themselves on national and international benchmarks of quality.

Research and Innovation (pages 38-39)

The development of Centers of Excellence is the basic building block of universities as drivers of innovation and entrepreneurial activity. Nationally recognized programs in key areas of academic study serve as the platform for worldclass centers of research, which in turn are the home to remarkable collections of intellectual talent and attract public and private investment. Research centers attract private capital looking for inventions to build into businesses, creating jobs and economic prosperity. These activities fuel the exciting, entrepreneurial environments that attract and retain the young people that every state is seeking. The University System of Ohio will be a leader in this form of economic development. The key to success is the willingness of university leaders to focus their academic and research activities so as to achieve true prominence in a particular area. Web sites, billboards and annual reports claiming national or international stature will not attract the researchers and investors who will create the jobs of the future, only true excellence will. And with so many colleges and universities seeking this talent and investment, those that succeed do so by understanding their core expertise clearly and focusing relentlessly on being better than anyone else in the field….An early model for such efforts was the Ohio Eminent Scholars Program, first established in 1983. Over the years, this program funded 51 faculty positions on a competitive basis. In recent years, however, the cost of recruiting such faculty members has increased, while the funds available diminished, leaving the program ineffective. Another model is the Third Frontier Commission. The commission established a pattern of releasing requests for proposals that were clear about the economic goals of the program and encouraged collaboration between multiple partners to develop the highest quality responses. These responses were then submitted to a rigorous review process measuring the proposals against national and international standards by recognized, unbiased experts.

Graduate and Professional Education (page 42)

Successful graduate programs are, as noted, most often associated with academic Centers of Excellence. Accordingly, an important component of each university’s response to the development of Centers of Excellence will be the potential of those Centers of Excellence to include graduate programs with a sufficient national and international reputation to attract top students and faculty.

Marketing Higher Education in Ohio (page 90)

Broad initiatives aimed at increasing enrollment by 230,000 students and positioning colleges and universities as drivers of the economy will require an aggressive higher education access campaign that includes a strategic marketing and advertising component. Ohio must compete as a system to keep students from leaving the state to attend college, to recruit national and international students into specialized fields of study, and to brand its system as high-quality and affordable.

Promoting Ohio Colleges and Universities Across the Globe (page 94)

KEY STRATEGY: The University System of Ohio and Ohio’s private colleges and universities will work together to promote higher education in Ohio across the globe and share the costs of recruiting international students. At no time in history has global competence been as important as it is for today’s students. The University System of Ohio must create opportunities for students to obtain the knowledge and experience needed to be productive citizens in this new landscape. The University System of Ohio will have an aggressive international strategy involving several overlapping components:

The University System of Ohio will encourage foreign language learning and will promote the teaching of less commonly taught languages critical to support the state's international trade linkages (such as the languages of Ohio's top 20 trade partners) and the country’s national security interests.
The University System of Ohio and the Partnership for Continued Learning will work with the K-12 system to encourage the study of foreign languages as early as possible.
The University System of Ohio will work with Ohio's private colleges and universities to develop shared programs for study abroad that are more affordable to Ohio students.
The University System of Ohio will work with Ohio's private institutions and the Ohio Department of Development to jointly market and promote Ohio's higher education offerings across the globe and to share the costs of recruiting international students.
The Board of Regents will encourage Ohio institutions to measure the satisfaction of international students with the services provided at Ohio campuses and to compare them to key competitors in the United States and abroad in order to improve services.
The Board of Regents will work with the Ohio Department of Development to identify Ohio companies that have a significant global presence to develop internship opportunities for Ohio students, provide these businesses with higher education resources to support their work in other countries, and to help solve overseas shortages of skilled manpower through sponsored training and recruitment of foreign nationals to Ohio’s institutions.
The Board of Regents will collect, through the Higher Education Information system, international educational data concerning students, scholars, international educational opportunities, and research activities.

Accountability Measures

Globalization measure: (page 108)

Total international students/Ohio students studying abroad annually Current: 13,538 / 6,328 Goal: 35,134 / 16,413

Total international students and Ohio students studying abroad: The University System of Ohio must be a globalized system attracting students from other countries and encouraging our students to study abroad. Our students must be prepared for the demands and challenges of today’s globalized economy. 2017 TARGET: International students to be 5 percent of total enrollment. Study abroad to increase 10 percent per year. (Source: International Students: HEI. Current level is from July 06 – June 07. Study Abroad: Open Doors FY 2006)

The Ohio College Portrait: Universities (page 110)

Adopting the Ohio College Portrait will allow University System of Ohio member institutions to:

Improve performances by carefully and rigorously measuring teaching, learning, and student engagement in educationally purposeful activities, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine fields.
Demonstrate aspirations to national and international recognition.
Identify effective educational practices by measuring educational outcomes.
Demonstrate efficient, cost-conscious stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
Demonstrate national leadership in working to improve the quality, innovation, access and cost of undergraduate educational programs.
Demonstrate achievement in institutional missions and preserving diversity.

The Ohio College Portrait will report information on student success and progress rates, institutional characteristics, and various costs in a way that clearly demonstrates greater institutional accountability for student learning and development. Stakeholders will be able to see the contributions made by higher education to the communities in which institutions are located and the state’s economy as a whole.

Ohio's private colleges and universities (page 113)

Ohio’s private colleges and universities have indicated individually and through their association, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio, a desire to contribute to the public good in the state and to support the goals described in this strategic plan. Private institutions bring longstanding traditions of service and nimble innovation, such as developing the state's first broad-scale articulation agreements, leading the state's academic and enrollment internationalization, and serving as the economic and cultural anchors of dozens of Ohio communities. Through all of these actions, Ohio private colleges are significant contributors to the economic prosperity of the state and the quality of life of its citizens.