Academic Globalization: The Growth of International

Collaboration in Education and Research Projects

Stuart A. Umpleby

The George Washington University

Washington, DC

Dramatic changes are occurring in universities

• Universities have existed in most countries for many years

• Some travel by students and faculty has been common for many years

• But several trends, occurring at the same time, are having a dramatic effect on the way universities operate

Current Trends

Trends that are creating a global network of universities

• The internet• The Bologna Process is standardizing university

course credits, degrees, and procedures• More international experience for faculty and

students• A change in the “global game”• Increased competition among universities• Widespread use of the English language

Universities are striving to

• Improve contacts with other universities• Find new sources of funding• Promote faculty development• Improve university infrastructure• Encourage research and service in addition

to education• Increase faculty oversight of university

administration

Competition among universities

Sources of competition

• New private universities

• Branches of Western universities in other countries, for example Westminster University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

• Distance education courses and degrees

• Corporate universities

less than1 year

1-2 years

3-5 years

6-10years

11-15years

16-20years

more than20 years

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Percentage of Universities

Age

Source:Corporate University Xchange 5th Annual BenchMarking Report 2002

Many new corporate universities

Consequences of competition

• Universities compete for faculty by offering higher salaries

• Faculty, who have more choices in where to work, want oversight of administrative decisions

• Tuition-paying students demand quality instruction

• Higher salaries will mean less corruption, such as professors selling grades to students

Cooperation among universities

Aid for developing new degree programs

• Some governments, such as the U.S., U.K. and Germany provide grants for establishing new degree programs (e.g., an MBA program in Sarajevo, Bosnia)

• For a few years students receive degrees from both universities to help establish the program

• Faculty members in both countries learn about the other country

More student and faculty exchanges

• Increasing numbers of students now travel abroad for a semester, a summer or short study tours

• Faculty frequently attend international conferences

• Faculty learn how other universities work and take ideas home

Visiting scholars at GWU

• At The George Washington University we have been hosting young faculty members since 1994 under a State Department program

• Most have come from the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia

Visiting scholars by year

Russia

Ukraine

What the visiting scholars do

• Revise their course materials

• Learn more participatory teaching methods

• Make contacts with U.S. scholars in their fields

• Prepare papers for conferences and journals

• When they return, keep in touch via email

• Occasionally meet at conferences

Encouraging service learning abroad

• In addition to their usual work on research and revising curricula, we explain service learning and introduce them to group facilitation methods

• Service learning is a new idea in many countries

Growth of Campus Compact Since 1985

305

575

975

935924

868

748

689650

548

475380

260

235202

13398

113

4

520

512

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Years

Nu

mb

er

of

Me

mb

ers

Some obstacles to implementing service learning abroad

• Low faculty salaries leave little time to experiment• Service Learning is sometimes confused with forced

labor• The curriculum (from the Ministry of Education)

prescribes teaching methods• The way courses are taught limits teaching methods

(students decide to enroll at the end of the course)

Recommendations for removing the obstacles

• Adopt service as a mission in addition to education and research

• Offer training programs to explain SL• Create incentives and rewards for faculty • Create a positive image of faculty engaged

in SL • Modify the curriculum and requirements

when necessary to enable SL

The Internet

Regions and Countries

Regions Countries

Africa Congo, Nigeria, South Africa

China

East Asia Japan, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Europe Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK

Latin America Brazil, Columbia, Mexico

Middle East Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Turkey

North America Canada, United States

Oceania Australia, Indonesia, Philippines

South Asia Bangladesh, India, Pakistan

Number of PC Users

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

Afr

ica

Sou

th A

sia

Mid

dle

Eas

t

Oce

ania

Latin

Am

eric

a

Chi

na

Eas

t A

sia

Eur

ope

Nor

th A

mer

ica

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Total PCs in Millions

Year

Region

Africa

South Asia

Middle East

Oceania

Latin America

China

East Asia

Europe

North America

SOURCE: Yearbook of Statistics, Telecommunication Services, Chronological Time Series 1990-1999, International Telecommunication Union

Total Internet Users

The rate of increase has

been phenomenal after

1994

North America, Europe and East Asia are the top three

China, Oceania, Latin America

and South Asia also have a

high growth rateAn increase in every region

But the rate is lower and it

started late

The graph begins from 1990

1990

1993

1996

1999

Mid

dle

Ea

st

Afr

ica

So

uth

Asi

a

La

tin

Am

eri

ca

Oce

an

iaC

hin

aE

ast

Asi

aE

uro

pe

No

rth

Am

eri

ca

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Total Internet Users in Millions

Year

Region

Middle East

Africa

South Asia

Latin America

Oceania

China

East Asia

Europe

North America

SOURCE: Yearbook of Statistics, Telecommunication Services, Chronological Time Series 1990-1999, International Telecommunication Union

What the internet makes possible

• Much easier access to information via the world wide web

• Easier administrative cooperation for conferences, journals, professional societies

• Distance education where students and professors can be located anywhere in the world

Implications of the internetfor research

• The possibility to work with scholars anywhere in the world almost as easily as with colleagues at the same university

• Co-authoring of papers by researchers in two or more countries

• Great new opportunities for social science research

New Sources of Funds

New sources of funds for universities

• Charge tuition

• Begin an endowment

• Develop contacts with corporations so they will support university research

• Submit more proposals for research grants

• Sell objects that use the university name – T-shirts, coffee mugs, caps

New sources of incomefor faculty members

• Higher salaries due to competition among universities for faculty members

• Consulting income from corporations which must compete with international firms

• Work as a teacher or assistant in distance learning courses offered by foreign universities

Reasons to outsource teaching to foreign professors

• Expand the number of potential instructors• Lower costs by hiring instructors who are

willing to work for less than Western professors

• Hire professors who know both English and the home country language

• Increase the number of students who enroll for courses

Examples of outsourcing teaching

• A faculty member at the Siberian-American Faculty of Management in Irkutsk, Russia, has been teaching for the University of Maryland University College via the internet

• The same faculty member has been teaching for the University of Southern Queensland in Australia

Strengthening the global network of universities

• Improve specific universities using quality improvement methods

• Improve service to the local community through service learning

• Strengthen cooperation among universities using the internet

Likely benefits from strengthening universities

• More scientific advances created by more scientists

• More rapid economic development

• A more skilled labor force

• More educated citizens to create stable democracies

• Improved international understanding

Implications of academic globalization

• Universities will pay more attention to research and service in addition to education

• Those interested in promoting “development” may pay more attention to education in addition to economics and politics

An experiment in academic globalization

• We can use these conferences in Orlando to advance academic globalization

• During this conference we shall meet to develop plans for cooperative activities

• In the coming year we shall work to implement these plans

• Next year we shall reflect on what we have learned and then develop new plans

A keynote address prepared for the

World Multi-Conference on

Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics

Orlando, Florida

July 8-11, 2007

Contact Information

Prof. Stuart A. UmplebyDepartment of ManagementThe George Washington UniversityWashington, DC 20052, USA

Phone: 202-994-1642E-Mail: umpleby@gwu.edu

http://www.gwu.edu/~umpleby