Around the globe, the demand for higher education is on the rise.
Higher education is in a period of significant transformation globally, with universities influenced by market forces and everywhere asked to be responsive to demands from students, the society, and the state. Academic institutions are expected to conduct themselves in more competitive ways and to develop goals and strategies that take advantage of emerging opportunities in the academic marketplace. As David Kirp has noted, the "bottom line" is increasingly important.
Demand for higher education around the world is escalating rapidly and, as a consequence, education has become one of the "growth industries" of the 21st century. Higher education is a point of strength for developed and developing countries alike - necessary for providing the personnel needed for complex post-industrial economies in the North and for economic development in the South. Research, much of it produced in universities, is an essential component of the development equation. Higher education also provides a key means for social mobility - providing opportunities for advancement for individuals and groups. In short, institutions of higher education are central to a country's national as well as international aspirations.
Much of the debate about higher education has focused on the impact of market forces and the global dynamics of expansion. Higher education is recognized as a growing international force - more than two million students are studying outside their own countries, and there is a growing number of universities with branch campuses overseas. Research, always international in scope, flows beyond national borders, and nations as well as academic institutions increasingly have international strategies. In most cases, these strategies are intended to earn income from the growing cross-border international trade or to help internationalize the academic experiences of students.
This article examines a neglected element of higher education worldwide - the potential and reality of its contribution to the "soft power" of nations. How does higher education relate to the image, the influence, as well as the "bottom line" of nations? Do countries think about the contribution universities might make to their foreign policy objectives and diplomacy or to their overall role in the world? Do higher education institutions or government policy makers pay attention to this contribution of higher education? We look at these issues by focusing on the United States - the role of American higher education worldwide and the policies and programs of US institutions and the federal government in international higher education.
Invented and expounded by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. , the idea of "soft power" encompasses the nexus of influences in world affairs that relate to culture, science, technology, and other subtle forces.
Political activists Mahatma Ghandi and Sun Yat-sen were influenced as students by the Western soft power of liberal ideas, overcoming foreign and monarchial rulers.
Nye explores the interaction of soft power with "hard power" in trade treaties such as the World Trade Organization, military alliances, and direct involvement by one country in the affairs of another. Discussions in US government circles about America's public diplomacy around the world frequently refer to the strength and attractiveness of the country's higher education system and the effectiveness of educational exchange as a way of explaining American values to the rest of the world - themes emphasized by Joseph Nye in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.
Not every benefit can be shown in numbers: Education cannot be divided by inches and feet.
In 1963, the faculty and administration at the University of California at Berkeley strongly objected when the campus' radical student newspaper, the Cal Reporter, took the initiative to publish student evaluations of their courses and professors.1 Despite this initial resistance, student evaluations have steadily become part and parcel of many universities' internal accountability mechanisms, not only in the US but in a growing number of countries around the world. Today there are even web sites where any student can post a rating of his/her professors, no matter where in the world. More generally, over the past 20 years, universities that had traditionally enjoyed considerable autonomy are now being challenged to become more accountable for their performance and the use of public resources. Demands for increased accountability on the part of tertiary education institutions have come not only from the students, but also from other stakeholders such as governments wary of rising costs, employers in need of competent graduates, and the public at large eager for information about the quality of education and labor market prospects.
Accreditation, cyclical reviews, external evaluation by peers, inspection, audits, performance contracts based on predetermined indicators, benchmarking, and research assessments are among the most common forms of achieving accountability. Some are initiated by the institutions themselves; some are imposed on tertiary education institutions by external funding bodies, quality assurance agencies, committees of presidents and vice chancellors, as well as stakeholders at large. One example of the latter is institutional rankings by "league tables." At this point, there are no fewer than 45 noteworthy rankings, ranging from broad rankings of national universities, such as Maclean's and US News & World Report, to comprehensive international rankings, such as the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), to others that research specific rankings, such as those of New Zealand and the UK. There are even idiosyncratic rankings such as those that claim to identify the most wired or most politically active campuses; and these do not even include the countless MBA and other professional school rankings that exist all over the world.
The United States' system of graduate education has served as a national asset, attracting talented students from our own nation as well as drawing the best and brightest from other countries around the globe. It has been argued that, in the knowledge economy, a graduate degree will become the new bachelor's degree, the minimal education credential that high-skills employers require. If that is true, then the United States needs to redouble its efforts to sustain a strong competitive position, essential for ensuring a prosperous economy and quality of life for its people.
In order to explore the role of graduate education in developing highly skilled talent and to examine areas of vulnerability facing the system, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) jointly established the Commission on the Future of Graduate Education in the United States last year. The 18-member Commission on the Future of Graduate Education includes university presidents and chancellors, graduate deans, provosts, industry leaders, and higher education scholars. The Commission studied how graduate education can meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Together with research staff from ETS and CGS, the Commission produced a landmark report, The Path Forward: the Future of Graduate Education in the United States, which confirms the necessity of a graduate-level workforce to maintain US competitiveness and innovation. However, the report warns that the country must adopt a national strategy to increase degree completion and broaden participation in graduate education, or risk losing its position as the world leader in cutting-edge research and innovation.
Current Trends in Graduate Education
There is increasing demand for people with graduate degrees. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that, between 2008 and 2018, about 2.5 million additional jobs will require an advanced degree. While many master's degree programs are geared toward the needs of the workplace and prepare students for careers in the business, government, and nonprofit sectors, this is not necessarily true at the doctoral level. The expected career path for doctoral recipients is less straightforward than for master's graduates.
International migration will account for more than half the US population growth by the year 2015, according to US Census bureau estimates. More first-generation college students will emerge from this pool, and many are likely to require additional educational preparation.
Universities will need to adapt to the "nontraditional" student. These students, who tend to be older and have more professional experience, are often returning to graduate school after spending time in the workforce. The current economy contributes to this trend: A growing number of "career changers" are looking to graduate education in hope that an advanced degree will ensure continued employability and/or career advancement. These changes point to the need to reconsider how graduate students are financially supported, as well as what kinds of additional resources they may need to succeed in graduate study. The changing demographics may also require reconsideration of traditional time-to-degree expectations and career pathway opportunities.
Areas of vulnerability
Many undergraduate degree holders who have the ability to obtain a graduate degree never enroll in a graduate program, and many who do enroll leave without a degree. The demographics of tomorrow's domestic population eligible for graduate study will look very different from today's, with potential implications for how graduate study is structured, supported, and evaluated. Other nations are moving decisively to build strong graduate programs to attract the world's best students, whose interest the US has long taken for granted.
Current degree completion rates are one area of vulnerability. Despite the rigorous selection processes used for admissions into US graduate schools and the high achievement level of those pursuing a graduate degree, some studies indicate that the attrition rate in doctoral education is as high as 40 to 50 percent. At the doctoral level, factors affecting completion include a change in family status, full- or part-time enrollment status, job/military commitments, needing to work, or dissatisfaction with the particular program.
The Fulbright Program is one of the most widely known and prestigious international exchange and scholarship grant programs. In the last decade, the program began carving out a special space for outstanding international students in S&T fields, and thus was born the International Fulbright Science & Technology Award (Fulbright S&T).
The US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) sponsors Fulbright S&T. The purpose is to provide excellent foreign students with an opportunity to pursue Ph.D. studies at high-level US universities. Fulbright S&T is intended to demonstrate that the United States is committed to welcoming first-rate future researchers and leaders to pursue serious scientific study and research at US institutions. Fellows receive three years of funding from ECA, followed by support from their US host institution until they complete their Ph.D. studies.
Every year, 45 Fulbright S&T fellows are selected from around the globe. Fulbright Science and Technology Grants are available to more than 140 countries worldwide. So far, Fulbright S&T has accepted 155 students from 69 countries.
Jonathan Rameseder
The Fulbright Program between Austria and the United States celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and continues to recognize and support outstanding students and scholars. And, Jonathan Rameseder, the first Austrian Fulbright S&T fellow, is no exception. After receiving the Fulbright S&T award in 2008, he began his graduate studies in computational and systems biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ), his Fulbright S&T host institution. At MIT, Rameseder is investigating the complex signaling networks that determine the outcome of stem and cancer cells.
bridges talked with Rameseder about his path to MIT and his Fulbright S&T experience thus far:
Rameseder: My concentration in high school was computer science since I was interested in IT, especially video games, early on in my life. However, I had quite a rocky start and even had to repeat the second grade.
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics interested me because there are many unanswered questions in the field. In addition, I was very attracted to the challenge of dealing with the diversity and richness of biological data.
The purpose of the Fulbright Program is to promote "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries." Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Senator J. William Fulbright from Arkansas, the Fulbright Program currently operates in 140 countries,
including 51 countries with binational Fulbright commissions such as the Austrian-American Educational Commission . Since its inception, over 250,000 students, teachers, academics, and professionals have participated in the Fulbright Program, including 5,000 citizens of Austria and the US who are alumni of the Austrian-American program.
Funded primarily by direct contributions from the governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Austria, the Fulbright Program provides grants for US citizens who are recent graduates and graduate students, or scholars and professionals, to study, teach, or pursue research in Austria, and for Austrian citizens to engage in similar activities in the US.
In an interview with Austrian Information, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, executive director of the Austrian Fulbright Commission, spoke about current developments in the field of Austrian-American student exchange.
Austrian Information: During early years of the Fulbright program,
life in post-war Austria was fraught with economic hardship and
political uncertainty compared to Austria today - now a member of the
European Union and a country with social stability and strong economic
growth. Based on very different periods in history, have the
expectations of American students wishing to study in Austria over the
past 60 years changed in any way? And vice versa, for Austrian students
wishing to study in America?
Lonnie Johnson: The first generation of Austrian Fulbright grantees
grew up during the Third Reich, and they were leaving a recently
liberated, war-torn, economically depressed, and occupied country to
spend a year in the peaceful and prosperous United States. In
countries with totalitarian pasts - like Germany and Austria - part of
the idea was to show young people how democracies with functioning
market economies work. Conversely, the American grantees were leaving
the comforts of post-World War II America to study or teach in an
occupied country, which was quite an adventure. I once asked Willy
Schlag, the founding executive secretary of the Fulbright Commission in
Vienna, about the biggest problems American students had in the 1950s
in Austria and he said: "No refrigerators; no orange juice." Today,
American grantees are impressed by the high quality of life in Austria.
The 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Austria: 1950 - 2010: Seeing the World as Others See It
bridges vol. 26, July 2010 / Feature Articles
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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Austria. More than any other academic or cultural exchange program, it has contributed to promoting mutual understanding between the people of Austria and the United States and has become an irreplaceable network promoting Austro-American relations. Since its inception on June 6, 1950, the Austrian-American Educational Commission,
The first Austrian Fulbright Scholars arriving in New York City aboard the "Constitution" in 1951.
better known as the Fulbright Commission, has overseen some 5,400 students, teachers, scholars, and professionals from both countries who have participated in bilateral educational exchange. Since the 1960s, an additional 2,650 American university graduates have also served as teaching assistants at schools in communities large and small throughout Austria. New innovative programs like the Distinguished Fulbright Chairs at six Austrian universities and joint grants with institutions outside of pure academia have been added in recent years.
Senator J. William Fulbright
The Fulbright Educational Exchange Program owes its origins to Senator J. William Fulbright, who in 1946 created an institution based on a vision of peace through dialogue with other cultures by way of international educational exchange. The Fulbright program takes on a special Austrian dimension because of Fulbright's special and close personal relationship to Austria. In late 1928, at the age of 23, J. William Fulbright spent half a year in post-WW I Vienna. Through journalist friends, Fulbright learned of the tensions rising in advance of the threatening political turmoil in Central Europe, the fallout from the Treaty of Versailles. His previous studies as a Rhodes Scholar from 1925 to 1928 had taken him to England's Oxford University, where he was introduced to the enrichment of differing world views. These two experiences - Vienna and the world of international politics together with Oxford, the world of international education - formed a synthesis, which enormously impacted his life, redirecting his horizons from a parochial background in a small Arkansas town to the world at large. These were formative years that would shape his later vision of the need for dialogue between cultures, based on overcoming the limitations of one's cultural roots while accepting other versions of reality ... "to see the world as others see it," as he so often claimed.
Ten years after returning home to the United States, Fulbright became president of the University of Arkansas and from there went on to become a member of the US House of Representatives. The Second World War had ended, but the implications of the carnage evoked by the war and the advent of nuclear weapons elicited in him a fear - one that forged a connection between the prospect of nuclear destruction and Albert Einstein's admonition that "we must acquire a new manner of thinking about mankind, if mankind is to survive."
Within this historical context, it was Fulbright's internationalist stance, together with his relative
US Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, Senator J. William Fulbright, and Austrian Plenipotentiary Ludwig Kleinwächter signing the original Fulbright Exchange Agreement in Washington, DC, on June 6, 1950.
disillusionment with the United Nations after years
of struggle between nations unwilling to sacrifice national interests for the greater good, that fostered his vision: A transformation of the way nations viewed each other would not occur in the rarefied atmosphere of international relations, nor among the wealthy or the elite, but rather through young people experiencing a diversity of world views through international exchange. Among those participating would be future leaders who would learn other perspectives from their experiences abroad, leaders who would eventually come to shape "policies based on tolerance and national restraint."
