Executive Internationalization Leadership e-Institute I

Unit I. Leadership and Strategy for Comprehensive Internationalization (Q3 2021)

Leadership and Strategy for Comprehensive Internationalization is the first unit of NAFSA’s Executive Internationalization Leadership e-Institute. This unit will lay the groundwork for the rest of the program by providing a common understanding of key topics essential to strategic and successful leadership for comprehensive internationalization.

Participants will explore successful internationalization strategies, and will identify how key competencies of leadership, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement facilitate the success of such initiatives.

In collaboration with experts in the field, participants will discuss how the following areas contribute to and support leadership and strategy for comprehensive internationalization:

• Important ethical considerations;
• Integration and collaboration with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives;
• The role of staff development and team building; and
• Leveraging data and existing resources.

After completing Unit 1, participants will be able to:

• Identify and evaluate leadership skills and competencies that are needed to build effective teams to support campus internationalization;
• Articulate the value proposition of comprehensive internationalization strategies and global engagement; and
• Recognize the importance of key stakeholder engagement on campus and in the community.

Unit 2. Administration (Q4 2021)

Comprehensive internationalization strategies must be implemented to be successful. The key to successful implementation is effective administration. This unit will cover essential administrative considerations; including:

• Financial stewardship;
• Human resources;
• Management of physical space; and
• Risk management.

Participants will collaborate with experts to identify leadership practices in key areas that support comprehensive internationalization strategies. These include:

• Situationally appropriate leadership styles;
• Management of performance objectives for individuals, teams, programs, and institutions;
• Managing change in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) situations; and
• Increasing support for the various aspects of comprehensive internationalization initiatives.

This unit will provide opportunities for participants to investigate how key performance indicators may be tied to larger institutional goals and evaluation strategies and thus be leveraged to increase support for essential resources.

Unit 3. Academic Engagement & Integration (Q1 2022)

Academic Engagement & Integration are key to successful comprehensive internationalization initiatives. Unit 2 will highlight ways in which internationalization may be integrated into the curriculum so that access to global and intercultural learning opportunities is available to a diverse cross-section of students, and faculty.

Participants will collaborate with experts to consider three key aspects of academic engagement and integration:

• Internationalization at home (curricular and co-curricular);
• Curriculum and faculty development; and
• Engagement with academics and research.

After completing Unit 2, participants will be able to identify and articulate strategies to:

• Integrate internationalization efforts into curricular and co-curricular activities;
• Foster a global perspective among faculty, students, and staff across the institution; and
• Measure the impact of this work on broader comprehensive internationalization efforts.

This unit will also cover key considerations in developing strategies and tools to evaluate and measure progress towards strategic objectives. Leveraging data to advocate for stakeholder engagement and resources will be highlighted.

Unit 4. Partnerships & Outreach (Q2 2022)

Partnerships are essential to the success of comprehensive internationalization strategies. This unit will highlight how to develop, nurture, and evaluate:

• International partnerships;
• Partnerships necessary for strategic communication and advocacy; and
• Partnerships integral to sustaining comprehensive internationalization initiatives.

Participants will collaborate with experts to explore examples and develop strategies around these three areas.

Participants will gain an understanding of key elements of international partnerships and begin to apply these elements to their work:

• International partnership dynamics and types;
• Corporate, industry, and nongovernmental institutional partnership engagement;
• Global operations; and
• Partnership agreements, assessments, and other considerations.

Unit 4 will provide participants with the opportunity to develop and evaluate strategic communication and engagement plans with key partners – including internal and external stakeholders. Participants will also collaborate with experts to examine how to sustain their comprehensive internationalization efforts.

E-Institute Learning Outcomes

Throughout this 11-month program, participants will work closely with the e-Institute faculty, higher education, and other experts, and with members of their cohort to develop key leadership skills designed to aid executive level international education (IE) leaders.

By the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Enhance leadership skills to support innovation, advocacy, and capacity building;
• Evaluate strengths and identify skill gaps of the international office in order to introduce relevant training;
• Understand core principals of effective financial planning and stewardship of resources;
• Work with institutional leadership to plan, nurture, and grow the depth and breadth of internationalization supporting the ethics and values of their unique environment;
• Employ strategies to engage a mixture of stakeholders across the institution in order to provide diverse populations of students and scholars access to global learning opportunities;
• Stimulate the development and maintenance of key local and global partnerships;
• Devise a broad strategy and timeline to develop, monitor, evaluate, and sustain comprehensive internationalization strategies across their institution; and
• Develop relationships with peer IE leaders to expand their professional network.

Ethics should be considered in every step towards comprehensive internationalization. Strategic plans and goals must be grounded in the values of the institution, the community, and the profession of international education.

Comprehensive internationalization includes a mandate to bring in and listen to diverse perspectives. Relationships, partnerships, and opportunities must be premised on the inherent equality of all parties and efforts made to ensure equitable access to necessary resources to ensure this equality. Comprehensive internationalization seeks to include people and perspectives from different backgrounds, languages, regions, and nations. In order to be successful, comprehensive internationalization efforts must include those who might not necessarily be already at the table. Leaders should take care to intentionally reach out to and include those who might otherwise be left out. Leaders must also embrace the diversity of teams and the unique needs of individual team members – especially when team members are remote, speak different languages, and come from different sectors within higher education. Comprehensive internationalization also provides a powerful framework to remedy socially unjust situations and to provide all involved with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to create a more socially-just world.

Comprehensive internationalization involves actors and stakeholders across campus and throughout the community. The people who help refine and implement comprehensive internationalization strategies are key to the success of these strategies. Staff from disparate parts of an institution and from different parts of the world need to be brought together. Leaders must work with staff and other stakeholders to help develop a shared understanding of the vision, mission, values and goals. Support of individual staff members as professionals and as people is as critical as the development of a cohesive esprit de corps and sense of direction.

Developing and implementing comprehensive internationalization strategies requires a keen understanding of both the ultimate destination and the progress towards that destination. Leaders must know how success will be measured, and how progress towards success will be measured. Understanding, collecting, analyzing, and leveraging data is essential to the success of any strategic initiative. In times of resource scarcity, data collection and analysis may be strategically used to advocate for essential resources. Data is collected in abundance within classes, programs, and departments throughout institutions. Often, comprehensive internationalization strategies require that data to be collated and leveraged in new ways. Resources from disparate parts of an institution may also be brought together in support of comprehensive internationalization.