To:
SenEx
From:
International Affairs Committee
Re:
Final report
Last
year SenEx agreed to attempt to reconstitute this committee in a slightly
different format from previous years. As a result the major standing charge
(excluding reporting requirements) of the committee has become:
The
committee’s fall meeting led to the following statement for this year’s
direction:
a. To determine an exact role for this committee
which is viewed as helpful and time-efficient by the Office of International
programs, International Student and Scholar Services, the Office of Study
Abroad and the Applied English Center.
b. To identify a set of issues of concern for each
area that expresses an interest and to discuss these within the group.
c. To include in the report a statement of the
committee’s view of the value, if any, of this approach.
To accomplish these tasks a sub-groups were identified for each on-campus international entity as follows:
Office of International programs (OIP) – Hodgie
Brick, Eric Hanley, and
International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) –
Joe Potts, Cathy Shenoy, Angus Mugford
Office of Study Abroad (OSA) – Susan
Gronbeck-Tedesco and Tim Shaftel
Applied English Center (AEC) – Chuck Seibel, Mary
McGinnis, Flip Kissam, Luis Parreira
The
reports of the sub-groups are referred to in the attached minutes of the spring
meeting and in the attached reports. The report on AEC included the
recommendations for: 1) Expanded Academic Credit for Upper-Level AEC Courses;
2) An International Dormitory with Food Service all year; 3) Possible
Transcript Recognition for AEC conversation leaders and peer mentors; and, 4)
The AEC's Role in International Student Recruitment. The report from the OIP
sub-group suggested that the International Affairs Committee 1) could play an
important role by impressing upon SenEx in particular and KU faculty in general
the importance of these new INS reporting requirements; and, 2) could help in
the endeavor to give every KU student a significant international experience by
impressing upon SenEx the importance of this new initiative. This year ISSS has
been working hard to implement new INS regulations that were announced and
required with no feedback from US Universities. Consequently this sub-group did
not file a report. The sub-group on OSA deferred to the University’s Ad Hoc
Study Abroad Review committee of which some participants were also members.
That committee should be submitting reports to the University that would be viewed
as important input for OSA in future semesters. One final recommendation of
this subcommittee and the sub-committee of the Ad Hoc University Review
Committee was to strongly suggested that the various international entities on
campus should involve more of the faculty who are directly impacted by changes
to international rules such as study abroad program leaders and those program
directors who have numerous international students attending programs on the
Lawrence campus. Seemingly innocuous changes in admissions policies, required
pre and post departure meetings, incidental fees and other areas can have a
major consequence for many programs and need to be vetted in an open and
efficient manner with the individuals directly responsible for international
programs. This problem stems from many
administrative units – not just the international ones.
One aspect of the committee
that was not discussed in detail was whether this system worked. Attendance at
committee meetings is very difficult to attain. This particular chairman felt
it very important to have the program heads of the four international entities
at these meetings. Finding a time for all four, who all have significant travel
requirements, to attend virtually guaranteed that few other members could be
there. The use of sub-groups seemed to assuage this problem somewhat and since
the four areas reporting lines are similar the need for them to meet together
is not as great. The committee suggests that next year’s group be quickly
organized into sub-groups organized around the four international entities and
comprised of a small number of members who would meet separately and
communicate results electronically. The process of focusing on different issues
each year should be continued.
Meeting
of the International Affairs Committee as a Whole – 10/21/02
Present:
Shaftel, Bricke, Potts, Seibel, Shenoy, Kissam, Hanley, Parreira, Mugford,
McGinnis
Unable
to attend: Gronbeck-Tedessco, Osterman, Nunez, Keith, Ajayi, Ruble, Sheahan,
McKibbin
The
goal of the meeting was to determine a set of charges for this school year and
the best way to go about meeting them. The standing charges of the committee
are:
During
the meeting we discussed the purpose of the new format for this committee. It
was felt that the new charges represented a positive change for the committee
and that the new focus was on facilitating the activities of the four
international offices on campus. In many circumstances the International
Affairs Committee would serve to bring important issues to the attention of the
campus community. In other situations the committee may be used as a sounding
board for ideas within a specific office.
Each
area participant then discussed briefly some of the specific issues that they
felt were the timeliest for the coming year. After reviewing these issues it
was felt that sub-groups should meet with each of the areas to help discuss the
important issues and to determine the appropriate input from the committee as a
whole. A meeting of the committee as a whole would then be held early in
spring.
The
subgroups listed by international area are:
OIP
– Hodgie Brick, Eric Hanley, and
ISSS
– Joe Potts, Cathy Shenoy, Angus Mugford
OSA
– Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco and Tim Shaftel
AEC
– Chuck Seibel, Mary McGinnis, Flip Kissam, Luis Parreira
In
the case of OSA it was discussed that there was a major review committee at the
present time and that there was some overlap in committee members. As a result
Susan and Tim would be discussing the efficacy of having the International
Affairs Committee include any special charges for this year. This was one of
the basic ideas of the new format – that not all areas needed to have a
specific charge for any one year.
As
of this writing the AEC group has met and submitted a draft report to me and
the OSA group has met and agreed to the suggestion of the committee with the
condition that any important results from the Ad Hoc Study Abroad Committee
could possibly be discussed by the International Affairs committee if they are
known in time.
As
a result of this meeting this year’s additional charges will be:
a.
To determine an exact role for this committee which is viewed as helpful and
time-efficient by the Office of International programs, International Student
and Scholar Services, the Office of Study Abroad and the Applied English
Center.
b.
To identify a set of issues of concern for each area that expresses an interest
and to discuss these within the group.
c.
To include in the report a statement of the committee’s view of the value, if
any, of this approach.
Meeting
of the International Affairs Committee as a Whole – 2/12/03
Present:
Shaftel, Bricke, Keith, Kissam, McGinnis.
Unable
to attend: Gronbeck-Tedessco, Osterman, Nunez, Ajayi, Ruble, Sheahan, McKibbin,
Seibel, Shenoy, Hanley, Parreira, Mugford, Potts.
The
goal of the meeting was to hear and discuss reports from the various subgroups
created in the fall. These committees were:
OIP
– Hodgie Brick, Eric Hanley, and
ISSS
– Joe Potts, Cathy Shenoy, Angus Mugford
OSA
– Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco and Tim Shaftel
AEC
– Chuck Seibel, Mary McGinnis, Flip Kissam, Luis Parreira
Two
subgroup reports are attached. One from Flip Kissam regarding the AEC that
includes a discussion regarding four areas of interest:
#1 Expanded Academic Credit
for Upper-Level AEC Courses
#2 An International
Dormitory with Food Service all year
#3 Possible Transcript
Recognition for AEC conversation leaders and peer mentors
#4
The AEC's Role in International Student Recruitment
The
second report is from Eric Hanley who’s report on Office of International
Programs highlighted the difficulty of implementing the new INS rules and the
need to define “international experience” to be used to achieve the stated
University goal of having all students obtain a significant experience in this
area.
The
first topic of Eric’s report is of major interest to International Student and
Scholar Services headed by Joe Potts. The sub-group dealing with ISSS has not
had a chance to meet due, in large part, to the time commitment necessary this
year to implement the new procedures with very short lead-time.
Tim
Shaftel reported that the Office of Study Abroad University Ad hoc committees
have been moving forward and that a report is expected from Jim Juola who is
heading up the Study Abroad Review. Tim did report that the ad hoc group that
he chaired suggested that the various international entities on campus should
involve more of the faculty who are directly impacted by changes to
international rules such as study abroad program leaders and those program
leaders who have numerous international students attending programs on the
Lawrence campus. Seemingly innocuous changes in admissions policies, required
pre and post departure meetings, incidental fees and other areas can have a
major consequence for many programs and need to be vetted in an open and
efficient manner with the individuals directly responsible for international
programs.
OIP Sub-Group Report - Via Email from Eric Hanley:
Tim,
I just met with Hodgie Bricke and she believes that the
International Affairs Committee could help promote university-wide
understanding of two very important issues that the Office of International
Programs is currently addressing.
First, it is very important that faculty and administrators at KU
understand the implications of new INS rules as they pertain to international
students and scholars. Reporting
requirements are now much more severe than they were in the past. For example, if an international student or
scholar does not check in with the designated university officer within thirty
days of arrival, they will be deported.
Information regarding these new requirements will be sent out from the
Provost's office after the first of the year.
However, the International Affairs Committee could play an important
role by impressing upon SenEx in particular and KU faculty in general the
importance of these new INS reporting requirements.
Second, the Provost has announced that he would like
every student at KU to have an "international experience." The Office of International Programs
currently has a subcommittee that is meeting to define what would constitute
such experience. Study abroad clearly
meets this goal. However, because not
every student will be able to speak weeks or months abroad as part of an
academic program, the OIP subcommittee is considering other activities that may
also suffice such as work experience, community service of an international
nature, and participation in events with an international dimension. A survey of departments will be conducted to
generate ideas for and obtain feedback on this initiative. Nevertheless, for this initiative to be
successful, the Office of International Programs believes it is important that
it receive strong faculty support.
Again, the International Affairs Committee could help in this endeavor
by impressing upon SenEx the importance of this new initiative.
Let me know if there is anything else you require. I will see you in February.
Eric Hanley
AEC
Sub-Group Report - Via Email from
Philip Kissam:
Tim,
Luis and I met with Mary
McGuinness last Friday, and we talked about a list of recommendations that she
and Chuck has prepared. Here's my
write-up of the results:
Applied English Center
Recommendations
#1 Expanded Academic Credit for Upper-Level AEC Courses
The College, Business School and Architecture School
recognize up to 9 credit hours for Level 4 & 5 courses at the Applied
English Center. The basic principle for
this recognition is that Level 4 & 5 courses are equivalent to other
college-level foreign language courses.
The Engineering School and Fine Arts School do not,
however, offer such recognition even though they recognize other foreign
language credits towards their degrees.
Moreover, the College requires 16 credits of "foreign language
study" but only recognizes 9 credits of such study of English by
international students.
We recommend that the Engineering School and Fine Arts
School be encouraged to offer credit for Level 4 & 5 courses at the AEC
commensurate with their foreign language credits. We also recommend that the College and other schools be
encouraged to adjust upwards their recognition of Level 4 & 5 courses at
the AEC in order to make their recognition commensurate with other foreign
language credits. The rationale for
these recommendations is twofold: (1)
basic fairness or equality in the recognition of foreign language study, and
(2) improving the atmosphere and incentives for international students who may
come to KU, by allowing them more credit for their work in Level 4 & 5 AEC
courses.
#2 An International Dormitory with Food Service all year
International students at KU are often without food
service during vacations and other breaks in the academic year. Currently international students can
relocate to McCollum Hall at Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring vacation, but
there is no food service at those times, and there is no dormitory available
for the summer breaks between the academic year and summer school.
We recommend that the University's capital drive be
encouraged to solicit donations necessary to provide an international dormitory
with food service 12 months a year. The
University of California at Berkeley may offer a useful model for such a
dormitory.
#3 Possible Transcript Recognition for AEC conversation leaders and
peer mentors
The AEC offers its students small informal conversation
groups and peer mentors to help improve the English skills of international
students. The conversation leaders and
peer mentors are KU students who like talking with and getting to know
international students.
The Chancellor's recent Internationalization Task Force
proposed recognizing "international experiences" of KU students by
placing statements on their transcripts.
We recommend that if international experiences become
recognized on student transcripts, the AEC's conversation leaders and peer
mentors should be eligible to have their experiences at AEC recognized as
international experiences.
#4 The AEC's Role in International Student Recruitment
This issue, in my view at least (but not necessarily in
the view of others), is for discussion within the International Affairs
Committee perhaps but is probably not a topic for recommendation to the
University Senate.
The AEC is obviously an important aspect of KU's overall
package for recruiting international students.
Moreover, approximately 20% of AEC students come to Lawrence just for
AEC courses, although subsequently about 2/3 of these students are accepted by
a KU school.
The AEC understandably desires continued recognition and support for its recruiting efforts. It strikes me, however, that this is an internal issue for the International Programs administration. While the International Affairs Committee may want to recommend an increase in recruitment funds for international students, questions of specific allocation need not go to the University Senate and in fact might confuse or diminish the force of a general recommendation. [Of course, if the general recommendation would benefit from specification of how the money would be spent, then some reference to the AEC's efforts might be appropriate.]
Flip
Kissam