Globalization has precipitated a degree of dynamism and disruption in American higher education never before witnessed in its history. While much of the strategic and orchestrated efforts around internationalization has occurred at four-year and teaching institutions, much less has occurred at research universities. Yet it is research universities, as one sector of the academy, that are the primary engines of discovery and innovation, and that have the resources and infrastructure to be most effective at pushing the boundaries of knowledge the farthest, and finding solutions to the most pressing challenges confronting humanity. Recognizing that scholarship is increasingly an international endeavor, and acknowledging the imperative to prepare graduate students for careers that will be profoundly international, why then are so many research universities not engaged in explicitly and intentionally internationalizing their campuses?
Lessons Learned or Insights for Senior International Officers
- It is necessary to examine and learn from the experiences of other countries regarding internationalization
- Approximately 75% of research and development occurs outside N. America, providing an important opening for faculty to collaborate with colleagues abroad and benefit from such funding
- Graduate students should be encouraged to engage with scientists and networks of scholars around the world as a way of boosting their own scholarship. Dual degrees at the graduate level present the perfect opportunity for students to have such engagements. Research has shown that such international collaborations persists even after graduate students have been awarded their degrees.
- In the aggregate, and viewed internationally, institutions that are highly ranked tend to be more deeply engaged in internationalization.
