Collegial Conversations, March and April 2007

Through these conversations NAFSA hopes to target the best practices and experiences of some of international education's preeminent leaders. Every month the International Education Leader Development Network will ask one of its subscribers to answer the following three questions. Over the coming year we hope to see many unique and thought-provoking answers.

David Larsen, Ph.D.

Dr. Larsen is a veteran international educator. A former faculty member (American literature), he served as executive director of the Fulbright Foundation in Greece in the 1970's. In the 1980's he directed an administrative division of IIE in New York, and was director of the Center for International Education at the University of Tennessee. Since 1988, he has been vice president of Arcadia University (in Pennsylvania) and executive director of its Center for Education Abroad. Arcadia University won a 2006 Paul Simon Award.

Dr. Larsen is responsible for a large and highly regarded campus-based study abroad organization that serves undergraduates from throughout the United States in some 90 programs around the world. During the past year he has chaired the Alliance for Global Education. Dr. Larsen has written on a variety of topics including university reform in Greece; health, safety and security issues in education abroad; multicultural program management and emergency preparedness. He holds an AB in economics, an MA in English and a PhD in philosophy.

During March and April, David answered questions and offered gems of wisdom. View the Archived Disucssion!

What do you wish you had known 10 years ago that you know now?

From the multitude of possibilities, I would identify: a) the pace of the evolution of technology; b) the focus on attracting foreign students by other Anglophone countries; and, c) the image of the United States in the world today as three varied but extremely important items. Had I seen these coming in 1997, I would have: a) become more technically savvy myself and made better decisions about acquiring and implementing tools professionally; b) been a more effective advocate for policies and programs designed to keep students and scholars coming to the United States; and c) worked harder to encourage thoughtful Americans to consider the consequences of, in Fulbright's phrase, "the arrogance of power."

What are current concerns and trends that you see as critical from your view of the
international education field?

Not all concerns are trends; not all trends are concerns. A lot of what's going on is very exciting.

• I think about the increasing involvement of American faculty in the formulation of international educational policy. This seems to be related to faculty interest in the curricular integration of their students' education abroad experiences, to faculty desire to enroll well-qualified students from all countries and cultures in U.S. programs, and to faculty concerns that the best and the brightest from throughout the world continue to be involved in higher education in the United States. I am encouraged to see this increase in faculty involvement. Their serious participation is indicative of the growing recognition of the importance of international education throughout the academic community.
  
  
• I think about whether (and, if so, how) international education fits under the huge umbrella of Global Workforce Development. Individuals who participate in international education are very likely to acquire insights and skills as well as communication capabilities and certain attitudes (e.g. patience, tolerance of difference, understanding) that equip them well for careers that will involve working with or for or among people from other cultures. The challenge is to become comfortable thinking about international education in these terms and to help participants differentiate between this sophisticated level of global learning and more basic vocational training.
  
  
• I think about the sharply increasing costs of higher education throughout the world. Ironically, as it has become relatively less expensive to travel from one country to another during the past decade, it has become more expensive for people to live and to study overseas.
  
  The high cost of postsecondary education in the United States is one example. It is difficult to imagine what colleges and universities – both private and public – will cost, and will look like, after another decade of tuition increases that far out-pace inflation. Will international students and scholars find sufficient support and welcome here, or will America continue to lose its competitive advantage in attracting intellectual capital from throughout the world?
  
  As institutions overseas increase in cost and complexity, we see the development of programs for American undergraduates that involve U.S. faculty teaching U.S. students in some foreign locale. We also see an increasing number of host country institutions offering courses taught in English primarily for international students. International education should be broader than this. We also see U.S. institutions opening campuses in other countries. Those are, no doubt, good places for local students to earn American credits. Is this what we intend being "internationally educated" to mean?
  
  
• I think about today's undergraduate students and the very close communication links that many of them have to family and friends. Frequent e-mail and cell phone contact continues throughout an education abroad experience. Frequently, stories are illustrated or further documented through blogs and by other means. (The days of the flimsy blue aerogramme and the long queues at the local phone booth are long gone.) To an unprecedented degree, today's international educators are challenged to help students get their minds (as well as their bodies) out of their hometown and home country comfort zones and into meaningful contact with their new surroundings.
  
  Congruent with this lingering connectedness is parental involvement functioning as it always has – helping smooth the way and resolve problems for their children. I was taught that effective learning takes place when individuals undergo new first-hand experiences and discover, by themselves, how to deal with them. These days we seem to be involving whole families in the international educational process – some vicariously. Working with the learner and his/her real time entourage is a significant challenge.

 

What are resources that you utilize to keep abreast professionally?

The best way to keep abreast of today's students is to teach. The best way to keep abreast of today's academic trends is to conduct research and to publish. As Josef Mestenhauser told me some three decades ago, teaching and publishing also happen to be the activities that faculty respect.

Beyond those things and beyond the usual professional literature and the daily news (an increasing amount of which arrives electronically), I try to participate in conferences and to read broadly. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is an example of a book that contains history, insights into character and examples of dealing with managerial challenges. I have been privileged to have known, to have worked with and to have learned from many extraordinary internationalists, J. William Fulbright and Cassandra Pyle among them. Even brief interactions with outstanding people provide hugely valuable lessons. My involvement in campus committees and in professional organizations brings me into regular contact with people who share my interests and concerns. Their thoughts and ideas are often very helpful. Over the years, students have kept me focused, inspired and busy. Finally, my involvement with my family, friends and the local community provides a healthy reminder that the world is full of good people with different priorities, ideas and points of view – even about international education.