UC Berkeley Blog: Biden Has Big Plans For International Education – Revisiting Some Recommendations

Berkeley CA

02 August, 2021

5:50 PM

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Press release from the UC Berkeley Blog: John Aubrey Douglass 2021-08-02 After decades of neglect, the Biden administration appears to be on the verge of developing a coherent federal strategy for promoting the international engagement of American higher education with the larger world. Thus far, and unlike many of our economic competitors, international engagement has largely been self-funded and pursued by individuals and by universities and colleges, with the exception of what is in reality a small-scale Fulbright program, and vacillating visa policies. Federal leadership and funding for supporting international students and collaborative research  has been unnecessarily timid — nothing on the scale of what the EU Horizon programs, for example, is attempting. At the same time, states have seen international education as a distraction that displaces native students and even faculty, and universities and colleges have increasingly become focused on international students for income generation as opposed to larger and more coherent goals that can meet national and regional needs. In a seeming moment of enlightenment, however, the U.S. Departments of State and Education issued a joint statement last week announcing big plans to strengthen international academic ties, including the exchange of students and collaborative teaching and research. Why? Because it is a crucial strategy for advancing American security, foreign policy, prosperity, and innovation. Back in 2009, Richard Edelstein and I wrote the paper "The Global Competition for Talent" published by our research center here at Berkeley. It reviewed the brain-gain policies of our economic competitors, and argued for a more coherent and concerted effort at promoting "international education" at the national and the state and institutional level, including a significant change in the mindset of universities. A version was published in Change Magazine. While the world has changed — COVID, regressive anti-globalist policies under the Trump administration, growing tension with China – and not all our recommendations align with the Biden administration's priorities, much of what we wrote is still relevant. For example, the US remains an underperformer in the percentage of undergraduates who are international students and faces increasing competition for talented graduate students and faculty. With a focus on the international exchange and market for talent, here is what we said back in 2009. General Recommendations – Change the Mindset National Strategic Goals and Policies State-Level Strategic Goals and Policies Institutional-Level Strategic Goals and Policies: Recommendations We also argued that the greatest capacity for the growth in the number of international students in quality programs lies in the public sector, and it is here that specific federal policies might be developed to work with states and accredited public colleges and universities. Building the capacity for attracting and enrolling international students, at the first degree and graduate level, will require a federal, state, and institutional partnership that can help target where investment might have the highest payoff economically and in quality. At the same time, and like the strategy employed in the UK, the US should attempt to more fully diversify its sources of international students, with an eye toward where the current and next large market for international students will emerge. At the federal level, a national marketing and recruitment strategy would better position US institutions in the face of the well-financed marketing schemes of other nations. This could include greater support for advising and recruiting centers located in American diplomatic missions abroad (EducationUSA advising centers). This State Department program serves as an important public relations and marketing tool that helps universities reach foreign students interested in studying in the US. Federal leadership should also include more targeted funding and encouragement for a broader institutional integration of an international dimension to study and research at higher education institutions. Strengthening recruitment of international students is enhanced by broader institutional efforts to build relationships, partnerships, and networks abroad at the institutional level. Creating an international context for learning is among the most significant challenges facing our colleges and universities in the 21st century. Finally, foreign language and cultural knowledge acquisition is also fundamental to building effective and competent graduates in a global context. Bringing more international students into our universities does not obviate the necessity of exposing American students to the rigors and complexities of functioning in the global economy. Foreign language study, cultural studies, and experience living abroad will increasingly become prerequisites for senior leaders in all sectors. See our 2009 CSHE research paper for more information. This press release was produced by the UC Berkeley Blog. The views expressed here are the author's own.