Global Career Compass
Leveraging Education Abroad for Student Career Development & Employability
Macroeconomics, Inequality & Study Abroad
I’ll be addressing this theme at the upcoming NAFSA international conference in Boston with Dr. Fanta Aw of American University and Dr. Richard Murnane of Harvard. The sesson is on “Economic Inequality and the Growing Gap in Access to International Education. If any followers are at the conference next week, it’s at 9:30am on Friday, May 29.
How do these come together? I’ve been thinking about this due to the surprising popularity of a new book by Thomas Pinketty called “Capital in the Twenty-first Century.” While I have not read it, I’ve heard him speak about it and read reviews —bottom line, we are a nation of growing economic inequality and it’s not going away. It’s a structural problem. We also know about the increasing concern about massive student debt – upwards of 1 trillion dollars; and the struggles of institutions to stem the upward turn of tuition (you gotta pay for fancy dorms and new eating spaces somehow…).
What’s this got to do with study abroad and the cyclical effort to increase numbers of students (e.g.: the new IIE Generation Abroad initiative). I fear that the economic realities we face will exacerbate the “employability gap” between those who go to college and have the opportunity to…
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WHAT DOES RESEARCH HAVE TO DO WITH BUILDING CAREERS IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION?
Michael is a longtime colleague whose views on the role and function of research not only make sense but seem compelling to me – MJT
Guest blog By Michael Smithee
President, SmitheeAssociates
Website: http://smitheeassociates.com/
Research rather than opinion
Twenty years ago, advancing knowledge in the field of international education was in a nascent stage. There were very few journals and books that spoke to issues embedded in the field of international education. Internationalization was a term that often drew quizzical looks from administrators. At that time, if one asked if their institution was internationalized, it would depend greatly on who was asked. At that time, it was difficult for practitioners to be acknowledged that they had something to say; that they should be accorded a place at the table in the discussions about the focus of university’s international dimensions.
Today, no matter where you work in the field of international education, you will find many people making decisions based on personal experience, gut feelings, so called experts, and consultants. This covers a wide range of supportive decision-making. Yet, what has been lost is the necessity for decisions to be evidentiary and based upon the best researchable evidence. This evidentiary basis for decision-making is rooted in good research. It is the collecting of data or a measurement or a process based upon what you want to accomplish; rather than simply using someone’s opinion. It’s easy to look at statistical studies (which can be biased) and repeat or report them because it is easy to do so. Without investigating the assumptions made as the basis for collecting the data, one may be repeating inaccurate information.
Research can advance careers
If you are just starting out in your search for a job, or if you have a job and find the need to transition, then heed this: research is a basic component of the role of the international educator.
Because the mobility of students around the world has continually increased over the past 10 years and, because U.S. and institutions abroad have invested resources in making the international component/dimension of their institution more visible, critics, thinkers, and practitioners in the field are now considering research as an important part of the internationalization process (but perhaps not in the ways they think). For example, faculty conducting research in their disciplines cross borders to do so and contribute important global scholarship to their institutions. On the other side of the coin are policy-makers and practitioners who need to collaborate more on the research basis for decisions made on behalf of their institution’s international dimensions (See Rumbley, University World News, #364).
You will likely not find research in the job descriptions you read. Still, you should prepare yourself to establish that you have the ability to conduct, support, engage in research that answers questions
Nepal Earthquake: How Can I Help?
I know the work of Accountability Lab and urge you to share these invaluable insights.
This blog post was originally published by The Center for High Impact Philanthropy.
On Saturday, April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, with additional tremors continuing throughout the last three days. Nearly 5,000 are already confirmed dead, with many thousands more injured and/or without adequate food, water, or shelter. At times like this, the first question for many is, “How can I help?” For those who want to help, here’s what you need to know now.
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The World Needs More International Higher Education – University World News
Appearing in the April 24, 2015 Global Edition of University World News, this essay offers a solid framework and rationale for all campuses around the world. Perhaps a bit overly optimistic when the author states “no country…is immune from the process of globalization…” I can think of many.
Yet, I do like the reference to the “virtuous cycle” of internationalization and globalization. I have not read the book, Democratizing Higher Education, where research “shows that international higher education has been an important vehicle…to serve as a positive force for democratizing societies..” But would there not need to be a foundation of liberal institutions and some pre-existing democratic institutions already in place for this linkage to occur?
The world needs more international higher education – University World News.
Closing the Expectation Gap Between Students & Employers
On the NAFSA: Association of International Educators blog page, I wrote: http://blog.nafsa.org/2015/04/24/closing-the-expectation-gap-between-students-employers/
Overview of results from a January 2015 survey by the Association of American Colleges & Universities pointing to need for all campuses to creatively innovate and create a campus culture fully integrating career development with curricular offerings and with co-curricular opportunities – like study abroad and international internships. Read More
A Global Kumbaya Moment: “We’ve Got the Whole World at University…Is It Worth It?
Leave it to those UK editors at The Economist! The special report in the March 28 issue: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21646985-american-model-higher-education-spreading-it-good-producing-excellence is an excellent overview , on a global scale, of the impact of massification of the higher education industry.
While crediting the U.S. and our research university system for launching the globalization of higher ed, they ask the $64,000 question: is it – or has it been – worth the investment of resources? Yes, the “return” on this investment is relatively greater in poorer nations, but, as we know, there is much doubt of late in Europe & North America. I love that they dug up this quote, from an Arthur Miller play, produced in 1946: “Everybody’s gettin so goddam educated in this country they’ll be nobody around to take away the garbage…You stand on the street today and spit, you’re gonna hit a college man [remember , it’s 1946].”
As to the real ROI, the report graphs out that the highest return, per average increase in earnings for every additional year of college is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa – better than 20% (whereas it is more than 10% in high income nations).
Among the notable quotes in this essay is this one, by Jefferson, who, in proposing to reform the curriculum at William & Mary College, said: it [the curriculum] should nurture “those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated.” This is a wonderful lead to the section which, needless to say, suggests that our higher education system, to date, has failed at boosting the chances of our disadvantaged citizens to reap the benefits in an equal way with others in our society…
Do you not agree with the judgment that, “America’s universities are failing to deliver equity. People are prepared to pay through the nose to buy advantage for their children, so top institutions charge ever higher prices and acquire ever more resources, while those [colleges and universities] at the bottom get less.”
As Kurt Vonnegut used to say, “And so it goes…”
Graduating “Employable” Students
The mismatch between the high expectations youths have when going to college and the reality that their educational experience does not adequately prepare them for available jobs in their local or regional economies is a disappointment to all actors: the student, the university and to potential employers.
I’ve just completed a new book chapter with Dr. Cheryl Matherly from the University of Tulsa, titled “Higher Education and the Employability Agenda.” It will come out in a textbook sometime this year (Palgrave) on Higher Education Policy and Governance. We spent many months conducting quite a bit of background research on this topic and looked at material from both North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. If you’re interested at all in reading about youth unemployment – sometimes a euphemism for the un or under-employment of university grads – I’d urge you to see my twitter posts!
The first fact which is a bit hard to get your head around is that there are, according to the International Labor Organization, an estimated 75 million “youths” who are unemployed –whether they are university graduates or not, this is a huge part of the global population which is not contributing to the…
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Lifetime Employment “vs.” Lifetime Employability
The devils’ bargain between employers and employees…students need to understand and clearly see the reality of the workforce they’re getting ready to enter.
I’ve been a longtime user of LinkedIn and consulted on its effective use as a tool in the job search process. The site is universally – across national borders – seen as an indispensable tool for any professional (whether employed or job seeking). And so this article reporting an interview with the site’s founder, Reid Hoffman, was intriguing:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304168904580031461652986300.
Hoffman has a way with metaphors and I liked his statement that [private sector] employers, to remain in tune with the rapidity of change in the marketplace, will need to hire increasingly more “adaptive” employees. However, he points out that employees also are changing how they view their loyalty and commitment to their current employer. Thus, they are always on the lookout for their next job never feeling secure in their current assignment. And so the new contract between the two parties is more of an open “alliance.” One…
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The Art of Being Human & “Value” of a College Education
This essay is a time-out for me. I’ve been speaking about the need for students to become more savvy about how to link their international education experiences to their aspirations for employment for a long time. Titles in this blog reflect that quite clearly. And I know that many of my colleagues are very concerned about the need for their campuses to do a better job about preparing their students to enter the workforce. In the times we’re in, this is, needless to say, obvious. And then I read this essay by Prof. Lisa Dolling who teaches Philosophy at Stevens Institute of Technology, http://chronicle.com/article/To-Help-Students-Succeed/228281/?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=e
She says: “…in the end it is not only a matter of what you do, it’s how and why you do it; and the knowledge that that this requires above all is knowledge of oneself.” She writes out of her concern that the debate surrounding the purpose/meaning/value of a degree has created false dichotomies…”Either you believe the purpose of going to college is to be able to secure a job, or you think there is something more intrinsically valuable to be gained from the years spent earning a degree.”
Prof. Dolling writes with great eloquence and clarity. And I do agree with her that we’ve placed ourselves between a rock and a very hard place on this question about ROI & value of getting a degree. She longs for a more perfect economic world when families saw sending their child to college was, in and of itself, of great value to their personal maturation and intellectual growth. When a kid – like me back in my day – did not spend every week and month worrying whether or not this or that course would build my career portfolio and lead me on to that first job. There was a sense that it was, without question, the right stepping stone; that the degree (or a graduate degree that would follow) would surely GET me a job.
And now we’re back in this moment – in 2015. And we know that other critical factors impede viewing entering and leaving college in such simple terms. Yet, I want to wholeheartedly believe her when she says, “Education is first and foremost about learning; about developing the intellectual capacities needed to succeed as professionals and human beings.”
Right on to that.
Black Students Studying Abroad & “The Next Great Migration”
This may be the most controversial title & theme I’ve ever written about. But it is not my idea, rather, it is the title of an op-ed in the Sunday New York Times of March 1, 2015, by Thomas Chatterton Williams: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/the-next-great-migration.html?_r=0
Williams is an African-American ex-pat who writes from Paris. The gist of his essay has to do with his outrage over “the extrajudicial police killings of black men and women across America.” And he asks why more black Americans are not considering migrating to a life abroad with less racism (for him) and perhaps more justice and economic opportunity abroad (not necessarily in France).
He writes: “…at a time when middle-class blacks remain unemployed at twice the rate of whites, and black college graduates have the same chance of being hired as high school-educated whites, the economic case for staying put is not airtight.”
And then comes his surprise “solution” : study abroad! Yes, he makes a serious case – in a way that my academic colleagues would not – that because black students rely more heavily (he says, according to reporting by Bloomberg) on student loans and are less likely to pay off these debts after graduation, studying abroad is a better bargain, at a far lower price. And that the experience has the potential to open new doors to careers. He also states (I checked these statistics for their accuracy with IIE Open Doors) “…even though 15 percent of American postsecondary students are black, we account for only about 5 percent of those who study abroad. This is a shame.”
Williams cites a conversation with a friend who had moved to a new job in London who told him,”The race situation back home occupies so much space in your mind, even just safety-wise, I actually never fully understood what it meant to be American, and all the advantages that come with it, until now.”
Does study abroad for black students offer a chance to live, if only for a few months or a year, the life of a “postnational” citizen? This is how Williams closes his essay.
There has been little movement in the overall number of African-American students choosing to study abroad for a long time; would Williams’ idea challenge black students to re-consider their options? I have no idea. But this essay made me think about the issue of diversifying participation in study abroad programs in a different light.
Global Career Compass 