Education is Global.

Here are some numbers:

  • In the 2010/11 school year, there were 723,277 International students studying in the U.S. (IIE)
  • In 2009/10 school year, there were 270,604 U.S. students studying abroad for credit. (IIE)
  • More than 200 million children in China are studying English, a compulsory subject for all Chinese primary school students. By comparison, only about 24,000 of approximately 54 million elementary and secondary school children in the United States are studying Chinese. (US Dept of State)
  • International Students and their families contribute $20.23 Billion Dollars to the U.S. economy in the 2010/11 academic year. (NAFSA)

.

The world is more connected than it has ever been.

Whether it is through the technology that binds us together or the modernization and globalization of our society. The global nature of our society is ever present.

In the U.S. we are no longer just thinking of how does our educational system stack up against other districts or states, but how are we as a society educating our youth against the world.

International Education is not just studying abroad, or foreign exchange students, but what happens for those students that introduce them to foreign cultures and many other foreign endeavors.

Global/International Education is not going away.  It will continue to grow and expand as society and our world as a whole continues to connect in a continually diverse fashion.

It’s a global marketplace of ideas, students, faculty and research that connects us and will ultimately drive our future.

.

This blog will focus a great amount on International Education.  This is what I do for a living.  Working with International Students, but with my limited expertise and the combined expertise of others and their research I will hopefully give you a better glimpse of International Education and the emerging trends.

.

for further reading:

Altbach, P.G., & Teichler, U. (2001). Internationalization and exchanges in a globalised university. Journal of studies in international education, 5(1), 5-25.

Bevis, T.B., & Lucas, C.J. (2007). International students in american colleges and universities: a history. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillian.

Altbach, P.G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3/4), 290-305.

Rajka, B. (Ed.). (2011). Open doors 2010: report on international educational exchange. New York, NY: Institute of International Education

Schoorman, D. (1999). The pedagogical implications of diverse conceptualizations of internationalization: a u.s. based case study. Journal of Studies in International Education, 3(2), 19-46.