Gerald W. Fry

Study abroad for global engagement: the long‐term impact of mobility experiences

This paper reports on the preliminary results of a research project ‘Beyond immediate impact: Study abroad for global engagement (SAGE)’, which examines the long‐term impact of study abroad on various forms of global engagement. The study employs a retrospective tracer study and mixed methods research design. Survey results from 6391 study‐abroad participants reveal that study abroad has had an impact on five dimensions of global engagement (civic engagement, knowledge production, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and voluntary simplicity) as well as on subsequent educational and career choices. Sixty‐three interviews were also conducted to provide more detailed life stories about the role of study abroad on global engagement, education and career paths. Three of these case studies are presented. Data were also gathered concerning study‐abroad program characteristics and participant characteristics. In future analyses, the relationships among these variables will be examined. Ovaj članak izvještava o rezultatima istraživačkog projekta Poslije Neposrednog Uticaja: Studiranje u Inozemstvu za Globalno Angažovanje (Beyond immediate impact: Study abroad for global engagement – SAGE) koji proučava dugotrajan uticaj studiranja u inozemstvu na različite oblike globalnog angažovanja. Projekat je koristio retrospektivno istraživanje, kao i dizajn mješovitih metoda. Rezultati ankete sa 6391 sudionika studija u inozemstvu su otkrili uticaj tog studija na pet dimenzija globalnog angažovanja (građansko angažovanje, stvaranje znanja, filantropija, socijalno poduzetništvo, i dobrovoljna jednostavnost života), kao i na izbor obrazovanja i karijere nakon studija. Dodatno je obavljeno 63 intervjua koji su pružili detaljnije životne priče o ulozi studija u inozemstvu na globalno angažovanje, obrazovanje, i tok karijere. Članak uključuje analize tri takva slučaja. Podaci su takođe prikupljeni o sudionicima i karakteristikama programa u inozemstvu. Odnosi između ovih varijabli će biti istraženi u buduim analizama.

Ranking the International Dimension of Top Research Universities in the United States

This study presents an analysis of the relative internationalization of 77 research universities in the United States. Institutions enrolling undergraduate students were selected from the 2003 national report, The Top American Research Universities . Data were collected from publicly available sources for 19 indicators of internationalization pertaining to student characteristics, scholar characteristics, research orientation, curricular content, and organizational support. Data were standardized, weighted by a panel of experts, and summed to yield an overall internationalization index score for each institution. Index scores were then used to rank the 77 institutions. A sensitivity analysis yielded a significant positive correlation (.97, p < .001) between the ranking based on the weighted indicators and a ranking derived from unweighted indicators.

The evolution of educational reform in Thailand: The Thai educational paradox

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze critically the evolution of educational reform in Thailand. Three major phases are identified. The special focus of the paper is an assessment of the third reform which began with the passage of the Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC) (2002).Design/methodology/approach – The methodology for the study is mixed methods including document analysis, direct participant observation, and compilation of major statistical performance indicators from diverse sources.Findings – The success of the most recent reform has been clearly mixed. Major structural and legal changes have occurred but overall system performance remains disappointingly low, despite large Thai educational expenditures as a percent of national budget and the presence of much impressive educational leadership talent. The paper identifies what is called the “Thai educational paradox”. The essence of the paradox is Thailand’s failure to achieve its educational potential. The paper iden...

The Emergence of Private Higher Education in Vietnam: Challenges and Opportunities

In 1986, the government of Vietnam introduced a policy termed “doi moi,” resulting in profound changes to shift the country from being a centrally planned economy to a market economy. With dramatic changes in Vietnams economic structure resulting from doi moi, it was also essential to carry out reforms in education. One such reform was to allow for privatization to occur in education at all levels. The focus of this paper is the emergence of private higher education in Vietnam in the period following the introduction of doi moi with a special emphasis on the most recent developments in private higher education.

Higher Education in Vietnam

“Whether the Vietnamese mountains and rivers will attain glory and whether the Vietnamese land will gloriously stand on an equal footing with the powers in the five continents, this depends to a great extent on your studies.” Special letter written to Vietnamese pupils by President Ho Chi Minh on September 3, 1945, the day after the declaration of Independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Phạm 1998: 13)

The interface between experiential learning and the Internet: Ways for improving learning productivity

This paper addresses the persisting problem of stagnant productivity in the education sector and its contribution to escalating costs. An approach to improving learning productivity is proposed which emphasizes the integration of ICT, service learning, experiential learning, and cooperative learning. Thus, the fundamental theme of this paper is to link these four learning domains as a basic strategy to improve the quality and productivity of education and at the same time to reduce costs or limit cost increases. The advances in ICT and the concomitant “death of distance” greatly strengthen the potential for teachers to become facilitators to organize creative autonomous learning in diverse settings. Concrete examples are described from diverse cultural settings such as South Africa, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Chile, Japan, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Oregon. The paper concludes by offering a number of specific recommendations to improve learning productivity.

Re-Imagining Internet Scholarship: Academic Uses and Abuses of the Influential Internet Social Network, Facebook

Since its inception at Harvard in 2004, the social network, Facebook, has grown dramatically and spread across the globe. It will soon have 1 billion users and is now operative in over 75 languages. A large percentage of undergraduates are now active on Facebook. Much of the recent literature on Facebook focuses on business applications and how it can contribute to growing profits and market share. Little attention has been directed to the academic implications of Facebook. The focus of this article is to assess critically the scholarly uses and abuses of Facebook. The article draws on several theoretical frameworks such as those of Ivan Illich (conviviality of technologies), Denis Goulet (technology as a two-edged sword), and Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (optimal human experience and flow). Many scholarly uses of Facebook are presented documenting its potential for enhancing academic work. That is followed by a discussion of negative aspects of the technology and potential adverse effects on humans in terms of their productivity and capabilities. If used critically and creatively, these new networks can enhance in valuable ways human, intellectual, social, and cultural capital. In a networked knowledge society, students now have extraordinary new tools to help them realize their intellectual, cultural, and social potential.

Understanding study abroad participants’ career decisions and perspectives in US higher education

ABSTRACT This study explores how American study abroad participants make educational and career choices after their return, drawing on career identity development as a theoretical lens. With 37 individual interviews from the SAGE project, the findings show that study abroad participants developed their career identity, and thereby made relevant decisions regarding their education and career paths. They developed a clear understanding about themselves, their goals and interests for further education and future careers. This helped them choose the work environment that they want and believe fits best for them. In many cases, they chose internationally oriented careers. In addition, from the better understanding of themselves and experiences of the specific contexts in the destination countries, participants developed work value toward the public good and community impact. The findings suggest the importance of understanding the meaning of study abroad experiences and how learning occurs based on the relevant theory.

Cultural democracy in an era of internationalism and subnationalism: a new model for effective cultural integration in Korea

The context for this paper is the rapid globalization and international migration occurring across the globe. An insightful metaphor for this era is “the death of distance”. The influx of new migrants into countries such as Korea, Japan, Thailand, and the United States presents many challenges for those societies. In Minnesota, people of Karen culture from Myanmar (Burma) are arriving daily and the state currently has over 100,000 individuals of Hmong ethnicity. With its incredibly low fertility rate (lowest among OECD countries), Korea is necessarily needing to import large numbers of workers from diverse countries of the Asia-Pacific region such as Vietnam and the Philippines which presents many challenges for Korean educators and policy-makers. In the first part of the paper as background, the different genres of people moving across national borders are carefully differentiated. Among the major groups are so-called gastarbeiter (guest workers) and those working in another country for a defined period, actual migrants (legal and illegal), and various kinds of refugees and/or those seeking political asylum. In this paper, the focus is on permanent migrants. In the early 1970s, Ramírez and Castañeda developed the important construct of cultural democracy which unfortunately was largely ignored. The US government’s focus, for example, has been on fostering political, not cultural democracy with many adverse effects. The concept of cultural democracy is far more relevant today than when it was developed. Cultural democracy is a key theoretical construct used in this paper. Other key theoretical constructs used are social contact theory developed by Allport and subsequently researched extensively by Thomas Pettigrew; the Protean individual developed by the political scientist, psychologist Lifton; and the important construct of intercultural competency. Drawing upon these four important theoretical frameworks, a model for effectively integrating new migrants in Korea is proposed for consideration and review.

Anatomy of a crisis : education, development, and the state in Cambodia, 1953-1998

This work challenges the widespread belief that Cambodias education crisis is part of the dreadful legacy of the Khmer Rouge holocaust in which thousands of students, teachers and intellectuals perished. It draws on an extensive range of sources.