Responding to the explosive growth in the internationalization of colleges and universities around the world, the Center for International Higher Education is hosting summer workshops for delegations of administrators from universities in Russia, Mexico, and Asia.
It is estimated by organizations such as British Council and IDP Education Australia that there will be eight million internationally mobile students by 2025. More and more universities are undertaking initiatives to meet the demands of this growing market.
The center, in conjunction with BC鈥檚 Global Leadership Institute, this month provided professional development for 23 international student recruitment and services officers from select Russian universities in support of the 5-100 Russian Academic Excellence Project, a drive in that country to move five institutions into the 100 top-ranked universities in the world.
Next month, the center and the institute will also provide a three-week training session for university administrators from institutions that are part of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. Also in July, senior administrators from the University of Guadalajara will attend a daylong seminar.
This week, the center and World Education Services are partnering to provide an interactive seminar for higher education professionals who oversee international operations and recruitment services at their institutions.
The increasing internationalization of universities outside of Europe and North America is testing the capacity of institutions under pressure to compete for students beyond traditional boundaries, said Hans de Wit, the director of the Center for International Higher Education at BC鈥檚 Lynch School of Education.
鈥淢ore universities want to attract students from abroad鈥攖hey cannot rely just on students from the U.S., because the pool is shrinking, and they realize that international students bring in funding,鈥� said de Wit, who recently wrote about in University World News. 鈥淭hey see internationalization as source for income, but they are also responding to the larger markets like China, India and Russia. But they also underestimate the risks and ethical dimensions of such an approach.鈥�
Increasingly, universities are turning to outside agents for a range of services to aid in the recruitment and enrollment of international students, which , as de Wit wrote in a recent article for Inside Higher Ed.
The summer workshops are intended, in part, to help universities remain true to their missions and values while branching out into new markets, said de Wit. Speakers include Boston College faculty and administrators, as well as faculty from other institutions.
鈥淲e want to help these senior university leaders understand what is happening in the U.S. and the rest of the world,鈥� said de Wit. 鈥淭he real strength of the center is a broad understanding of the higher education landscape beyond the U.S.鈥�
鈥擡d Hayward | News & Public Affairs