On April 11, 2019, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced in the Senate the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act (S. 1198/H.R. 455). It is a deep understanding, that Study Abroad is an essential academic component to developing leadership skills for today’s’ global society. However, it must be acknowledged that Study Abroad programs are not traditional programs, they are conducted, physically or online, outside of US territory. Therefore, lawful protection of participants may raise concerns of the ability to apply Congress legislation extraterritorially, including Title IX. This summary offers an overview of previous cases, addresses the language of Title IX, uncertainties and new regulations in order to draft recommendations to prevent and help with sexual abuse and discriminations during Study Abroad. Read more “Legal Summary Recommendations for preventing sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits in Study Abroad Programs”
Free College and Common Sense; what others do? Possibility of a free college model for Public Institutions in US, based on merit.
Free College makes the discourse at the center of political campaigns for this year’s presidential elections in US. The main argument is that tuition and debt have been increasing every year and that students and families feel skeptical of opportunities to transition to adulthood after graduation. However, the debt due to student loans in US is not a recent concern among college goers and their families, a global issue has just ascended. The clash of economic markets because of the new Coronavirus pandemic it is perceived to affect quality and costs related to higher education globally. Still, the scope of policies related to tertiary education should not shift from supporting high school graduates to have access to college education, as more than 65% of job markets require a degree higher than high school diploma. What would then be more convenient than having the opportunity to attend free college? As implementation of “free” college is easier said than done, a closer look to what others have done , could become an inspiration to the American policy makers. The model proposed therefore, is the German higher education system where public higher education is “free”. Read more “Free College and Common Sense; what others do? Possibility of a free college model for Public Institutions in US, based on merit. “
Unprecedented Challenges, Significant Possibilities in International Higher Education
One of the unprecedented challenges of International Higher Education is to promote social justice and offer graduates equal opportunities regardless of cultural background, linguistic abilities and/or geo-political belonging. This challenge is an outcome of Globalization which has turned into a one-sided process that allows the West to dictate the East how to conduct research, how to advance and use technology, and how cultural movements with a focus on English linguistic skills should influence social and political behavior. Globalization therefore, is nothing else than a modern form of colonization that promotes socio-economic, political and cultural inequality. In order to face this socially unjust process in a global context, a significant possibility for International Higher Education has arisen to institutionalize the internationalization of curriculum and social justice in education as one main tool for decolonization from globalization. It is wise therefore, to have a look at how internationalization of curriculum and social justice in education are addressed and linked to each other in higher education today. Read more “Unprecedented Challenges, Significant Possibilities in International Higher Education”
Internationalization at Home Through International Curriculum. Impact on 4 years colleges and universities in US; students’ responses
2017
Abstract
With the International Education Act of 1966, U.S. Government considered that higher education curriculum should have an international dimension to better prepare experts capable to respond to global political and economic transformations of the time (Smithee,2013). For the last 20 years, colleges and universities have adopted Internationalization into their mission statement due to more various motivations like: branding, economic advantages, international curriculum, research development, access to nontraditional places by providing education in countries that cannot support the learning systems on their own (Altbach and Knight, 2007). American and international scholars have addressed the advantages and the risks of Internationalization, they have constantly defined its rationale and components: academic mobility and Internationalization at Home.
Education Value of Internationalization at Home.
2018
The education value is an ongoing concern of both, students and post-secondary institutions. Students are concerned of their return on monetary and time investment in education. The institutions are concerned of providing the right return on students’ investment in education, in order to increase enrollment and graduation rates, keep or even improve their rankings, and nevertheless have alumni who enter the job markets right after graduation. Therefore, whether internationalization contributes to the value of higher education, has been a question addressed by higher education around the world which emphasized that internationalization needed a more specific approach that addresses the international dimensions of curriculum (de Wit, 2017; Beelen and Elspeth,2015).
Read more “Education Value of Internationalization at Home.”