Moving Mountains: International Educators Chart a New Course

It may not have the same global recognition as Silicon Valley, but “Rubber City” could be the key to breathing new life into international education at the University of Akron.

The Ohio city’s industrial-era moniker, dating back to the tire factories that once made Akron the nation’s fastest-growing municipality, lives on in the university’s polymer sciences program. And as the domestic enrollment cliff looms ever nearer for U.S. institutions, international leaders at the university are eyeing new kinds of partnerships in countries with economies focused on plastics and petrochemicals, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“I see it as an opportunity to stretch my legs a bit,” says Marty Bennett, director of international recruitment and engagement. “There are some mountains to move, but it’s certainly a good challenge to have.”

Challenges abound in the field of late. Shifting student preferences and immigration challenges—such as new visa bond requirements for visitors from many African nations and elsewhere—are reshaping the mobility equation. Beyond the international office, declines in domestic enrollments, government actions against higher education, and questions about the value of higher education itself are posing existential threats to colleges and universities.

“I see it as an opportunity to stretch my legs a bit. There are some mountains to move, but it’s certainly a good challenge to have.” —Marty Bennett

“We’ve got to keep our eye on the ever-changing terrain,” says Akil Kokayi Khalfani, director of the Center for Global Education and Experiences at Essex County College (Essex) in Newark, New Jersey.

To that end, international education leaders must rethink longstanding policies and practices, adopt new approaches to address changing circumstances, and encourage their peers to think—and act—boldly. What follows are strategies leaders can follow to rewrite the playbook for their offices, institutions, and the students they serve.

“The challenges we face are significant—visa delays, shifting regulations, geopolitical uncertainties,” NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Fanta Aw wrote this past August. “But so too is the resolve to innovate not at the margins, but at the core.”

Fostering Internal Alignment

The first step to shifting practice is to gauge the institutional appetite for change—and its commitment to internationalization. “If you are on other task forces and committees, you can get a sense of that,” says Machelle Allman, manager of international recruitment at the University of Washington-Bothell. Other indicators of openness: if the institution is constantly introducing new initiatives, programs, or partnerships in other areas and if administrative practices or hiring happen quickly.

The good news? At some institutions, shifting circumstances reinforce the need for change and a redoubled embrace of internationalization. At the University of Akron, for example, leadership has embraced the looming domestic enrollment cliff as an opportunity to “be receptive to new ideas,” Bennett shares. At other institutions, international education leaders are finding new ways to demonstrate the value of their work.

“Developing a strategic plan with particular measures in alignment with what the administration is doing is a better way for them to understand and value what we’re working on.” —Akil Kokayi Khalfani

When Essex was recently selected to participate in the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs) Consortium for Education Abroad Initiative, a capacity-building program led by the Forum on Education Abroad, it became an important proof point for the value of international programs at the New Jersey community college, according to Khalfani. The 18-month program demonstrates to college administrators that “we’re pushing the envelope to see how we can continue to improve"—efforts which, in turn, could lead to "ideas that we can support in other ways,” he says.

Seeking alignment with the institution’s strategic plan is an oft-cited piece of advice for international educators, but Khalfani makes a case for also considering the reverse approach.

At Essex, capacity-building through the CIBERs initiative will be used to develop a new strategic plan for the college’s center for global education. “Developing a strategic plan with particular measures in alignment with what the administration is doing is a better way for them to understand and value what we’re working on,” he explains.

Relationship-building is another commonly recommended—and essential—component of building alignment, but rapid shifts in the landscape make it even more important. Allman describes her the role of international office leaders as “partially being a squeaky wheel, partially being an information source, and partially taking time to be aware of what’s happening on campus so one can speak up when needed.”

“If those relationships haven’t been built already, now is the next best time.” —Machelle Allman

In the current environment, information is a particularly valuable asset for senior administrators, especially if international leaders have been communicating about changing conditions all along. “They’ve already been educated, [they] know our office’s expertise, and what’s in our control and what isn’t, so they have that context,” Allman says. “With that [foundation], you could kind of skip to the middle. If those relationships haven’t been built already, now is the next best time.”

Embracing Entrepreneurship

An entrepreneurial mindset is also critical to forging new partnerships and taking advantage of emerging opportunities. Some institutions may have a head start.

By and large, community college international programs have always been seen as entrepreneurial, given that their programs are largely self-funded. Many community colleges also began offering online programs long before their four-year counterparts—giving them a skill set that became an asset during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s when Shoreline Community College in Washington State first began offering online programming to international students, building a foundation for further innovation.

At Essex, the entrepreneurial approach shows up in ways both large and small. Fees paid by local vendors participating in an African marketplace sponsored by the college’s Africana Institute and a celebration dinner celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary will support study abroad scholarships and other international initiatives. The college is also testing the waters for virtual exchange opportunities; it's considering entering a one-year memoranda of understanding with partners. “When you haven’t done something [before], at least do a pilot to see if it’s going to meet your needs,” Khalfani advises.

“A certain level of entrepreneurial willingness to take some risks.” —Marty Bennett

Transnational education (TNE) has emerged as a common focal point for entrepreneurial thinking. Representing a wide range of models including online education, branch campuses, joint degrees, and more, TNE provides new opportunities for students regardless of their location—helpful before, and now vital given visa issues and geopolitical uncertainties. That’s how institutions like Webster University can say they are “decentering our U.S.-dependent delivery model,” as Assistant Vice President Samrat Ray Chaudhuri said during a NAFSA webinar last summer. “We are shifting from a 'bring students to the United States' mindset to a 'take U.S. education to the world' approach,” he added.

The most dramatic institutional approaches run the gamut from universities with branch campuses on multiple continents to academic partnerships that deliver curriculum to place-bound students across the globe. For institutions that don't already have a longstanding global footprint, international leaders need “a certain level of entrepreneurial willingness to take some risks,” Bennett says.

The University of Akron is leveraging its polymer sciences program to explore new kinds of partnerships, from government-funded faculty exchanges to 3+2 agreements. For example, the Indonesian government is funding faculty from an Indonesian university to receive PhDs in the discipline, an opportunity which Bennett describes as “truly bilateral.”

“That [Indonesian] institution is looking to be a regional hub for international students as well,” he says. “Partnerships like this have to be mutually beneficial.”

In similar fashion, purely online opportunities—ranging from virtual exchange and microcredentialing to full degree programs—represent another entrepreneurial opportunity. They can also become a differentiating factor. “A lot of jobs are going to become virtual and digital, not restricted to your global boundaries,” Chaudhuri said during the webinar. “So, you’ve got to start thinking about the value proposition of how you can impart skills for that individual to come out as a global talent and be able to work anywhere in the world.”

Driving Changes in Policy and Practice

Making changes to longstanding policies can be just as difficult as standing up new programs. But this strategy can provide opportunities for growth in the face of chaos.

For example, rolling admissions and alternative starting times are valuable options in an era of visa uncertainty. “Let’s face it, a student is not going to wait for that long to come to the United States once they have [their] visa. That’s just not the mindset of how we deal with students in this uncertainty,” Chaudhuri said during the NAFSA webinar.

“What stakeholders are you bringing in? We talk about cultural informants when we go to another country, but who are they on [your] campus?” —Machelle Allman

Institutional context must inform which changes are made, but leaders can fall back on the best practices of change management as a starting point. These include benchmarking with peer institutions, learning from the experiences of others through NAFSA and other peer networks, and bringing together key decision-makers on campus to drive innovation.

“What stakeholders are you bringing in?” Allman asks. “We talk about cultural informants when we go to another country, but who are they on [your] campus, and what’s the best possible way in [your institution's] culture to best propose a change?”

Sometimes, starting from scratch is the best way to map out more incremental changes. Thinking back to a contentious rethinking of international programming earlier in her career, Chrissie Faupel recalls the provost bringing the discussion to a stop with a simple question: If we were starting from scratch, what would we want international programs to look like?

“We get so caught up in culture and institutional barriers. That drives so much of what we do,” says Faupel, now director of international programs at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. “A manager can be helpful by saying to their team, ‘let’s remove the barriers and think about what we want to build from there.’”

Supporting Staff—and Self—In Changing Times

When it comes to effectively responding to uncertainty and challenge, another important component is a leader's ability to bolster their team. International office staff need support to navigate changing times, and one of the best ways for leaders to do that is to bring staff together—even if it’s just to vent for a few minutes at the beginning of a meeting.

“It’s a community activity, and we need to do something together,” Allman says. “Where we lose hope and feel overwhelmed is when we’re feeling alone.”

Faupel, who is a trainer in NAFSA’s Management Development Program, focuses on responsive leadership, which emphasizes adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness to staff needs as they change. Responsive leadership also implies risk taking and a willingness to balance new approaches against the needs of the organization and those who work in it. “As a manager, you can never really rest on your laurels,” she encourages. “You adjust your leadership style to the needs of your team.”

“A manager can be helpful by saying to their team, ‘let’s remove the barriers and think about what we want to build from there.’” —Chrissie Faulpel

It’s also important to invest in capacity building and other support for staff members, particularly since many offices are short-staffed or have brought in less-experienced people following pandemic-era layoffs or hiring freezes, Bennett argues. “You can’t rebuild if you don’t have the skill sets,” he says.

And leaders also must take care of themselves, which can involve “zooming in and out,” Allman urges, focusing on both individual success stories and the broader mission of international education. While it’s important to be apprised of changing situations, don’t fall down rabbit holes, Allman stresses. “I’m doing the old grad school skim and getting the salient points—what’s important, what do I need to know about a law, a regulator, or a policy, and not do the deep dive and wallow into things that get me worked up emotionally,” she says.

Maintaining the Vision

Ironically, change management can also be a fundamental skill in ensuring that the essential goals of internationalization don’t erode during turbulent times. During the pandemic, for example, the abrupt end of mobility led to unprecedented levels of innovation—and continued international programming when doing so initially seemed impossible. “We have to exemplify those COVID types of thinking during these times,” Khalfani says.

Faupel recalls a challenging leadership transition at another institution. “People felt lost . . . but looking back, we had a lot of certainty. We knew [who] we were [and] what the work was. There was just the perception of uncertainty. And the opposite can be true—there can be certainty in the face of uncertainty . . . We know our values and what we want to hold dear. Those values can be a North Star for us.”   •