Bobcats without Borders

Globalization

Bobcats without Borders

Internationalization/Global Awareness

Presented by Heather Galloway, Kelly Gourluck, Dan Perry, and Alex White

Brief Description

Though Texas State’s increasing size, scope, student diversity, and faculty research have been accompanied by a broadening of global interests and perspectives, this has been largely a collateral effect and not through focused effort. Only through a concentration on infusing international knowledge, experience and thinking throughout the undergraduate experience will the university become a global-based institution. Campus internationalization will empower Texas State, and all institutions of higher education, to strategically plan and effectively engage the global environment in which students will live, study and work. Effectively internationalizing Texas State means providing students with extra-curricular and curricular educational experiences that connect them with the world beyond campus and nation. The varied menu of learning opportunities described here will ensure that global sensitivity and awareness become part of the overall “value added” by a Texas State degree, and that Texas State graduates will be able to collaborate, work, and thrive across and beyond borders.

Goals

  • Increased cultural awareness and cultural competency with an international focus
  • Increased understanding of global/international current events
  • Students better prepared for global projects
  • Increased interactions with people of other nations
  • Increased exposure of students to alternate perspectives through a comparative analysis of other countries’ viewpoints

Strategies for Implementation

  • Facilitate opportunities for Study Abroad and mitigate obstacles to them
  • Expand the variety of Study Abroad opportunities
  • Increase international student recruitment and student exchange with other countries
  • Use technology to create direct connections with international students and faculty (i.e. Skype)
  • Increase international faculty exchanges
  • Integrate international topics across the curriculum
  • Expand cultural information in language classes
  • Expand foreign language instruction
  • Embed global topics into the general education core curriculum
  • Label global content of courses
  • Increase focus on international student organizations

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Students analyze and interpret global and intercultural issues.
  • Students identify, describe, and explain global and intercultural conditions and interdependencies.
  • Students communicate and interact effectively with members of other cultures.
  • Students will demonstrate competency in foreign languages through participation in modern language courses or other instructional practices.

Justification of the Topic

In this increasingly competitive environment for higher education, expanded global engagement is crucial for the continued success of our students and faculty, for the quality of our academic and extra-curricular programing, for the health and vibrancy of our campus and extended community, and for the strengthening of our institutional reputation and ranking in the U.S. and abroad.

Research has shown that globalization increases opportunities for students and the institution. In addition, study abroad contributes to improved student retention, higher GPA’s and higher graduation rates.

Benefits to the Institution and Students

Students and faculty at Texas State will be better prepared for participating in the global economy. In addition to the academic benefits described above, in particular, our student body comprises significant numbers of first-generation students who are less likely to be able to afford global travel. At the same time, we seek to increase our recruitment of international students and raising our profile among foreign students.

Evaluation and Assessment Strategies

  • Implement some portion of the QEP through the Common Experience and US 1100. Choose literature and readings associated with globalization and intercultural relations. Assign reading/writing assignments associated with the theme. Two (Pre = early in semester / Post = late in semester) assignments for each of 6 aspects of Global Learning Value Rubric. Use the rubric to assess Global Learning according to the rubric. Compare Pre and Post scores to evaluate student learning.
  • Where appropriate administer exit surveys at events associated with Common Experience. Use results on exit surveys to assess what students “got out of the event”.
  • Other evaluation strategies:
    • Track, over time, the number of students enrolled in foreign language courses.  Assess student performance in those classes using grade distribution or current learning outcomes measured as part of the existing assessment regime.
    • Identify courses in the catalog as international/global (much like we do writing-intensive, multicultural, etc.). Track, over time, the number of students enrolled in those courses. Assess student performance in those classes using grade distribution or current learning outcomes measured as part of the existing assessment regime. In this case, by comparing the existing outcomes and methods for all the designated courses (or categories of the courses) there could be a way to analyze some or all of the existing outcomes as a whole.
    • Track the number and diversity of study abroad opportunities. Track the number of students who participate in study abroad over time.
    • Track the number and diversity of faculty exchange programs (Fulbright, etc.). Track the number of faculty who participate over time. Perhaps, survey faculty who have completed these exchange programs to determine how exchange impacts the way they teach their courses.
    • Track the number of international students and faculty over time.

Description of How the Selection Criteria, as well as the University Mission and Goals, will be Met

Texas State University’s Mission as detailed in its 2017-2023 Strategic Plan includes embracing “a diversity of people and ideas” and preparing graduates “to participate fully and freely as citizens of Texas, the nation, and the world.” The associated Shared Values list “a global perspective” as one of the essential conditions for campus life.

A QEP on Internationalization and Global Awareness directly addresses “Goal I, Promoting the success of all students” in Texas State’s 2017-2023 University Plan. Specifically, this QEP theme addresses initiative, “1.7 preparing all students to achieve their career goals and make positive and meaningful contributions as they interact in a diverse and increasingly global society through an inclusive program of learning and engagement, rich with diverse perspectives” by engaging students in international and global learning activities. By infusing the curricular and college experience in general with international opportunities, this Quality Enhancement Plan will ensure that global awareness is an integral ingredient of a Texas State degree.