Welcome

Welcome to the inaugural issue of International Post, the new quarterly global initiatives newsletter from UT System. The Post is intended to keep interested administrators, faculty, and staff up-to-date on the work and programs of the Global Initiative and current on news and information related to international issues. Please forward this on to anyone you believe may be interested.

Let us know what you think. We want to make this useful, informative, and engaging—and your feedback is vital.

Expanding Student Opportunities—Worldwide!

Campuses across the System have started to make their study-abroad programs available to students enrolled at any UT institution. Of the more than 400 international exchanges and faculty-led study-abroad programs available Systemwide, nearly 20 percent of them, or roughly 80 programs, are open to students at any campus. Many of these programs focus on traditionally underserved academic disciplines for study abroad such as the sciences and engineering.

This cooperation will benefit both the sending and receiving campuses, as well as the students. An expanded pool of students increases the likelihood that faculty-led programs will have sufficient enrollment to be financially viable, which will, in turn, increase opportunities for both students and faculty. In addition, more students in these programs should help bring down operating costs by enabling more programs to run with the optimal number of participants, spreading fixed costs over greater numbers. Finally, opening international exchanges to students from other UT campuses will help host campuses better balance their incoming and outgoing exchange numbers, while at the same time offering more selection to students at campuses with fewer exchange opportunities. With these shared benefits in mind, we hope to continue to increase the number of programs open to students from all UT campuses each year.

How Do Students Access These Programs?

The UT System Global Opportunities Database catalogues and provides information about the full range of international exchanges and faculty-led study-abroad programs offered Systemwide. Students can search the database for programs open to them and then talk with the academic and study-abroad advisors on their home campus about the whether the proposed program fits their course of study and academic goals. If the program is a good match academically, interested students can contact the international officer at the campus sponsoring the program, as listed in the database, to get details about cost and how to apply.

Beginning this year, UT Austin is welcoming applications from students at all UT campuses for a select number of its international exchanges. For these programs, applying is even easier. After consulting with the academic and study-abroad advisors on their home campus, students can download the application, complete it, and submit it. Not only has the application process been made easier for students interested in these international exchanges, but the cost of participation may be much less than what students might expect: Students pay only the approximate cost of their normal tuition at their home campus, plus their living expenses (room and board) abroad. Depending on where a student is studying, and the relative cost of living in the host city and country, it may be cheaper to study abroad on one of these international exchanges than it would be to study on campus for the same period. 

For more information visit the website or contact Steve DePaul, 512/499-4443.

 

Global Initiatives Workshop Launches National Discussion on Economics of Study Abroad

In late October, the Global Initiative helped to launch a national discussion about the potential implications of the global economic downturn on study-abroad participation. Several prominent experts from across the country traveled to the UT System offices in Austin to share strategies on funding and cost containment.

The workshop focused on strategies that could be implemented immediately by UT campuses to help ensure that participation in study abroad across the System continues to grow amidst the current financial challenges facing students, parents, and institutions. More than fifty faculty members, international officers, and campus leaders attended this first-ever UT System global workshop.

Dr. Brian Whalen, President of the Forum on Education Abroad, addressed the topic of sustainable study-abroad funding models employed by institutions with historically strong and robust study-abroad programs. Brian underscored several key characteristics and best practices of leading institutions:

• a strong belief among the highest levels of campus leadership in study abroad and the ways in which it is both tied to and advances the institutional mission;
• the ability of the study-abroad operation to retain some percentage of the course fees or tuition for courses taught abroad; and
• the development of a restricted endowment fund that supports study abroad, something which itself requires an institution-wide decision to pursue a fund-raising effort in support of study abroad. 

Dr. Margaret Heisel, Director of the National Center for Capacity Building in Study Abroad, and Dr. Michael Cowan, Executive Director of the University of California System’s Education Abroad Program, presented the findings of the University of California’s two-year study on sustainable institutional funding models for study abroad. UC’s shared model, with programs organized centrally at the UC System and costs spread across all UC campuses, has seen high participation since its inception in the early 1960s. But recent budget deficits have forced a re-examining of the current financial model and search for areas of cost savings. Among the most significant changes proposed in UC’s new plan, presently under consideration, is reduced participation by UC faculty and greater reliance on local in-country faculty for both cost and pedagogical reasons.

Dr. Rafael Hoyle and Mr. Bill Clabby of International Studies Abroad, a national third-party provider based in Texas, discussed ways in which campuses might build faculty-led programs with the logistical assistance of a third-party provider. In this model, the campus claims ownership of all academic and pedagogical aspects of the program and the provider uses its network of in-country resources and greater contractual leverage to design programs that will be more affordable to students and institutions, including limiting institutional liability and obviating problems associated with hiring program personnel in-country.

Nancy Stubbs, noted international educator and emeritus director of study abroad at the University of Colorado-Boulder, spoke about containing costs and increasing pricing predictability through foreign currency management, especially in circumstances in which an institution has several programs operating in the same country with considerable expenditures in the local currency of that country. Nancy also addressed strategies for negotiating U.S. dollar contracts with international partner institutions as a way of guarding against the unpredictability of significant currency fluctuations.

Jim Noffke, Executive Director for the Development Leadership and Consulting Program in the UT System Office of External Relations, presented strategies for forging stronger working relationships between campus international and development officers and explained the need for international officers to continue to sharpen the case for their programs and the ways in which they benefit their students and their institutions. Jim stressed the importance of international officers being able to explain the value of their programs in tangible and human terms that development officers could then call upon when meeting with prospective donors. Jim also discussed strategies for assessing interest and involving alumni based overseas or alumni whose lives and careers have benefited from a transformative experience abroad, emphasizing the need for positive involvement with the campus's international programs and mission as an essential initial step in the development of a relationship with a prospective donor.

After the Global Initiative workshop, both the Forum on Education Abroad and the National Center for Capacity Building in Study Abroad announced that they would be pursuing these discussions further in conjunction with their own annual meetings. Speaker biographies and PowerPoint presentations from the workshop have been posted on the Global Initiative website.