Session IX. A Learner-Centred Future: Colleges for TomorrowCo-chair: Gail Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College Title: Partnerships for Lifelong Learning Rapporteur: Glen Rogers, U.S.A.I.D. (grogers@usaid.gov ) Note-Taker: Saharah Moon Chapotin, AAAS Science Policy Fellow, U.S.A.I.D. (schapotin@usaid.gov ) Summary The breakout session entitled “A learner-centered future: colleges for tomorrow” focused on the role of two-year- and professional colleges in preparing youth for a competitive global economy. The session highlighted the experiences of two colleges, Bronx Community College and Bentley College, in the United States that have made global learning an integral part of the faculty and student experience. The community college system was highlighted as a successful model that could be transferred to other countries to meet the needs of a diverse student body. The speakers emphasized the role of two-year and professional colleges in workforce training, continuing education and student preparation for further studies. They also described successful programs to engage the students and faculty in international programs and how these contributed to the development of a workforce with a global outlook able to meet the diverse challenges faced in the global economy. Key needs, opportunities and recommendations Need: Foster a better understanding of the diverse governance and approaches contained within the US community college system and professional colleges so that educators in the US and overseas can adopt successful elements of these models. Opportunity: The community college model of open access can be harnessed to dramatically increase tertiary education for large portions of the population. The open admission model provides the opportunity for broad community participation and a pathway to overcome economic, cultural and language barriers to education. Opportunity: Community and professional colleges can be linked to service sector training to meet emerging needs in health, education, and other social services in the US and overseas. Community colleges can be strengthened by linking concepts of local service and social responsibility with international engagement and partnerships. Recommendation: Adapt the community college model to enhance workforce development in developing and transitional countries in innovative ways. This will require fostering a better understanding of community and professional colleges overseas. Introduction Dr. Gail Mellow, co-chair and President of La Guardia Community College, began the session by providing a brief introduction to the community college system. She noted that in the United States, the community college system is not well understood, and overseas it is even less so. She suggested that the introduction of a community college system in developing countries could be analogous to how mobile phone have been adopted; many countries bypassed the hurdles associated with installing infrastructure-heavy landlines by going straight to mobile phone technology. Dr. Mellow described how community colleges in the U.S. are focused on the first two years of education and typically accept all students that have completed secondary education. They provide vocational training, help prepare students for further education and offer two year terminal degrees in fields such as nursing, emergency medical technicians. Many community colleges also focus their training to be relevant to the local workforce needs, offering different courses of study in engineering, community education, language training for immigrants, and high tech training. In the U.S., Dr. Mellow stated, community colleges provide an education to one fourth of all people who will eventually receive Bachelor’s degrees. She enthusiastically recommended the transfer of the community college model to developing countries, noting that although it was relatively new in this country, it has proven to be quite successful. Bentley College Dr. Mellow introduced Dr. Nader Asgary, an engineer and Associate Provost for International Relations at Bentley College in Waltham, MA, who then provided an introduction to Bentley College, a professional college focused exclusively on business programs. Bentley was originally a two-year college when it was founded over 80 years ago, but it has since become a four-year college and will soon become a university. With a student body of almost 4000, Bentley offers degrees through the Ph.D. level in four focal areas: global commerce and culture, arts and science, business and information technology, and business ethics and social responsibility. Over 95% of students are placed in professional positions or further education upon graduating. Dr. Asgary described how Bentley College places an emphasis on experiential learning, with over half of the students going abroad for study or internship opportunities, and also aims to prepare global business leaders to have a strong sense of social and ethical responsibility. Bentley leadership recognized that achieving these education goals meant that there had to be a strong emphasis on faculty development and made a strategic decision to train their faculty to introduce international issues into the classroom. Bentley College has developed a number of innovative initiatives to enhance student and faculty participation in overseas programs and has received several grants to support these activities. One new program that Dr. Asgary described is a Global Educator Workshop, which serves to improve faculty awareness of global issues and their ability to bring international issues into the classroom. Bentley College has also received FIPSE grants from the U.S. Department of Education. These have allowed faculty to establish long-term, curriculum-based, student-centered programs in global business education, with a focus on curricular cooperation and student exchange with partner universities overseas and a broad community outreach focus. One example is a dual degree program that is under development with the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil. Another is the Afro-Brazilian business incubator through which Bentley students are engaging in accounting, IT, design and marketing activities in an international setting. Dr. Asgary concluded by emphasizing the need for the college leadership to be convinced of the importance of global issues to the curriculum and student experience. Equally vital, he stated, is the need to get the faculty on board with the international goals. In some cases this will require additional motivations and incentives to keep faculty involved. At the end of the day, the goal is to train an international workforce that can be creative and innovative, that will obtain jobs and be entrepreneurial in both developed and developing nations. This will be the measure of success. Bronx Community College Dr. Makgova, co-chair and Vice-Chancellor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, introduced Dr. Carolyn Williams, President of Bronx Community College (BCC) in Bronx, New York. Dr. Williams spoke about the experience of BCC, part of the City University of New York system. She said that the BCC, like Bentley College, aims to provide a global perspective to the Bronx campus. The Ford Foundation provided funding for initial work in this area through the National Center for Urban Transfer Opportunities Program. This successful program involves 16 urban cities charged with developing partnerships among educational, business and other community organizations to improve student attainment throughout the educational spectrum. The Ford foundation asked BCC to replicate the partnership model in the international sphere, a request which formed the basis for college’s international work. Bronx Community College is an urban college, with 9200 students in degree seeking programs and a greater number in professional and continuing education. The student body is economically poor with many single working parents, many first generation college students and many students for whom English is a second language. Hailing from 112 different countries and speaking 86 different languages, the student body is quite diverse. In 2000 BCC created a plan to enhance visibility, engage diverse staff in international initiatives and broaden perspective among students. The college facilitates student and faculty participation in global initiatives (Fulbright, UN programs, exchanges) and provides grants for international study and travel; it supports these activities through overhead collected on grants that faculty receive. The BCC vision demonstrates support for global focus by stating that “BCC will graduate students who are prepared to live within, profit from, and contribute to a 21st centure global environment marked by diversity, change and expanded opportunities for learning and growth”. Additionally, BCC has the goal that all students should have at least one international experience before graduation. In order to support this aim, continued dialogue with staff leaders and faculty is needed to ensure strong engagement. The college must also seek strategic international activities and provide for information dissemination and follow up about ongoing programs Dr. Williams stressed that the college must provide opportunities for engaging faculty and staff in global activities and that it is important to recognize and reward faculty and staff for their participation, for example by providing special grants for learning and traveling. At BCC, faculty must do research and publish. Many faculty members conduct their research abroad and include students in these activities. BCC made a strategic decision to support faculty and students in their international engagements. Discussion The participants engaged in a lively discussion during which questions were asked of the two presenters, and a variety of needs, opportunities and recommendations were identified. One question focused on what benefits accrue to a college from a high level of diversity among the faculty and students, especially with respect to the curriculum. Dr. Williams suggested that a diverse faculty with a high level of exposure to international issues will be better at understanding the students and placing their education in the appropriate context. Dr. Asgary pointed out that after more international experiences, the faculty themselves become advocates for international engagement. The discussion also centered on how to address the fact that students tend to have diverse academic backgrounds. It was suggested that the best way to meet varying student needs is by assuring a high level of faculty preparedness, and to ensure that sufficient emphasis is placed on teaching and the maintenance of high standards. This is difficult in the US when community colleges educate half of U.S. students, but only receive 20% of public funding. Highly trained faculty will be able to teach to the student, recognizing that they start at different places, and engage each one on an individual basis. One participant commented that all the university and college presidents present at the Higher Education Summit were ready for change, but asked whether the faculty themselves, often a conservative group, were ready to also engage in change. One suggestion was to ensure the faculty understands what the success rates are for different groups of students. When they are shown real data about student achievement, they will want to improve their teaching approach, to ensure that the needs of different student groups are met. Another issue is that much of the funding for community college in the U.S. is from local taxpayers, and it is difficult to convince people that sending students outside of their county or state is important. It is necessary educate faculty and communities that if they want students to stay and contribute to community, they will need to see the broader world. Needs:
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