December 2010 newsletter
share this pageEducational exchanges with China prove fruitful
Most Americans know that Chinese companies have become major players
in the worldwide economy. The corporate world, however, isn’t the only
area in which China’s ambition and global interest are making waves — a
recent report revealed that China is now the number one source for
international students studying in the U.S. And with 29 million students
enrolled in higher education in China, the opportunities for
international collaboration will likely only grow.
Minnesota private colleges are no strangers to Chinese colleges and universities, with some institutions forging new partnerships and others building on decades-old relationships. Below are examples from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University and a multi-institution partnership with United International College.
Designing global partnerships
For Jay Coogan,
president of Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), China’s
emergence as a collaborator in higher education endeavors is no
surprise. Though he’s been president at MCAD for slightly more than a
year, he spent his last eight years at the Rhode Island School of Design
building international relationships, he said; those experiences made
him prioritize developing similar partnerships at MCAD.
A recent trip to China this October was especially fruitful for Coogan, as it yielded three new collaboration agreements between MCAD and Chinese art and design schools. The Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing is one new collaborator. Coogan attended and spoke at a conference there on the future of art education and design, along with representatives from ten other institutions from Asia and Europe. The conference ended with the institutions signing an accord documenting an intention to work together.
Other schools with which MCAD signed agreements were the Luxun Academy of Fine Art (with campuses in Shengyang and Dalian) and the Shanghai College of Art.
Finally, MCAD is exploring collaboration with the Shang Yuan Art Museum and Artists Residency Program, located outside Beijing. The group sent three emerging artists to speak at MCAD this fall, Coogan said; in the future, he sees MCAD faculty and graduates possibly spending time there.
In China, there is a strong demand for pre-professional design programs. "Design is definitely something that many people want to study there. They are proud of their heritage, their thousands of years of artistry, and they see creativity as important economically," he said.
Consider the example of a Chinese art school where 64,000 applicants recently applied for 2,000 openings. "The number of students seeking degrees is enormous, which is potentially beneficial because you have a huge surplus of phenomenally qualified students who could study in the U.S. if they wanted," he said.
There are four students from China (and Taiwan) currently studying to receive MCAD degrees. In the future, Coogan would like to bring Chinese art and design professors to MCAD to teach; he is also planning an opportunity for an MCAD faculty member and students to study art and design in China.
"It’s important that our students experience Chinese culture, and see what Chinese art and design students are doing, because they are creating some fantastic work," he said. "I suppose you could see them as a formidable opponent, but I’d like to see them as wonderful partners."
The chemistry of international friendships
For
College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University (CSB/SJU) chemistry
professor Henry Jakubowski, an interest in the history of science and
medicine led him to China. After a faculty development program gave him
the chance to visit the country in 1997, Jakubowski began considering
ways his science students, who were rarely able to fit study abroad into
their tight schedules, could make such a trip.
"The germ of an idea developed in my mind that it would be great if we could set up some sort of exchange that would also involve research," he said. Jakubowski said the combination of research and studying abroad interested him because those experiences are often cited by students as the most meaningful aspects of their undergraduate career.
In 2004, Jakubowski again went to China to lead CSB/SJU’s fall study abroad program at Southwest University (SWU) in Beibei, an institution with which CSB/SJU had had a partnership since 1985. He started planning the Summer Science Exchange Program at that time; it began in 2006.
The program is designed to take five to 10 students to SWU in mid-May, where they partner with Chinese students and do research for six weeks, under the supervision of a SWU professor. Then, the students and their Chinese partners come to Minnesota for another six weeks of research.
Though the research aspect is novel, especially for undergraduates in China, Jakubowski said the program also has other benefits. "This program offers the chance for interpersonal relationships in a way that is quite unique," he said. "It’s an opportunity for students to mentor other students while they are in their home country and to learn a new culture when they’re abroad. I’ve had students say the program changed their lives."
Jakubowski had always wanted the program to expand beyond the sciences, and in recent years, it has, encompassing arts, humanities and social sciences. In May 2010, while visiting China, he was surprised when the vice chancellor of Southwest University decided to give him a special honor — the title of visiting professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at SWU. Jakubowski was honored by the gesture and will likely return to China to teach. Meanwhile, his Summer Exchange Program is being replicated by other colleges; at CSB/SJU, a grant will allow the program to one day be replicated in India and Japan.
Focusing on liberal arts in China
This November,
12 representatives from the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC)
member institutions returned from the fourth annual MPCC-United
International College (UIC) Presidential Lecture Series and the
Sino-American Conference on Liberal Arts Education. The group traveled
to Hong Kong and Zhuhai, a coastal city in southern China, where UIC is
located.
Representatives from four MPCC institutions — Augsburg College, Concordia College, Gustavus Adolphus College and Bethany Lutheran College — were in attendance; the College of St. Scholastica and Hamline University are also members of the consortium. In addition, Concordia University, St. Paul is exploring the UIC consortium and sent a representative on the trip. The UIC collaboration involves students from both countries studying abroad, faculty from MPCC institution visiting and teaching at UIC and MPCC graduates traveling to UIC to serve as teaching assistants.
Gustavus Adolphus College President Jack Ohle and Bethany Lutheran College President Dan Bruss each gave lectures at the event, which focused on liberal arts education. Ohle’s lecture was titled "The Importance of Internationalism in the Liberal Arts" while Bruss spoke about "Faculty and Student Professional Development in the Liberal Arts." MPCC President Paul Cerkvenik gave opening remarks at the conference.
The partnership with UIC represents many firsts, Cerkvenik noted. UIC is the first fully-sanctioned liberal arts college to be created in China in more than 50 years, and the agreement reached with MPCC is the first UIC reached with any American college or group of colleges. "What I saw at UIC is a very serious interest in bringing a true liberal arts curriculum into higher education in China. It is a ground-breaking development for them," he said. "It is also clear that the relationship with MPCC schools is a high priority for them."
The economic boom in China combined with the one child policy has created a middle class that is willing and able to pay for their children’s higher education, Cerkvenik noted. Families value both education and international study opportunities for their children. In addition, the country is investing greatly in its universities, and emphasizing internationalism. As American students also seek opportunities to study abroad in China, there is a natural opportunity to collaborate.
"The combination of these factors leads me to believe that MPCC schools have a significant opportunity in higher education in China, especially in the formation of a liberal arts curriculum there," he said.
Budget shortfall means challenges for higher education
The fact that Minnesota’s state budget looks challenging will affect
our legislative efforts in 2011. Last week, the Minnesota Office of
Management and Budget released its latest economic forecast for the
remainder of this biennium as well as for the next biennium. The good
news: Minnesota looks to be in the black for the remainder of this
biennium, which ends on June 30, 2011. The bad news: Minnesota faces a
projected $6.2 billion shortfall in the state’s general fund for the
2012 and 2013 fiscal years (July 2011 to June 2013). With spending
projected at $38.6 billion and revenues forecasted at $32 billion, the
projected deficit represents a 16% shortfall.
With the Republican takeover of both the Minnesota House and Senate in last month’s election, legislators will focus on reducing spending to bring it in line with available funds. The two largest expenses are K-12 education (41% of state spending) and health and human services (31%). Higher education is the next largest expense — 8% of total state spending. Since these three areas make up 80% of the budget, it is likely that the Legislature will propose reductions in all three (plus most or all other budget areas) to balance the budget.
Senator Mark Dayton, Minnesota’s next governor, campaigned on raising revenues as a partial means of addressing the deficit. That means that the executive branch will want to rely more heavily on revenue increases than the House and Senate. How the two sides resolve their differences will only become clear as the session progresses.
Ideas about changing schools, defining racial equity in education and
closing the achievement gap were in the forefront at the Minnesota
Minority Education Partnership (MMEP) November conference, "Frontiers in Racial Equity."
Tim King, the event’s keynote speaker, was just one of the presenters
who raised real world examples of how that work is happening. King is
the founder and CEO of Chicago-based Urban Prep Academies, which
operates charter boys’ schools; most of its African-American students
are low-income. All 107 members of the Urban Prep charter school’s first
graduating class were accepted into a four-year college this year. "All
of this boils down to making college real and tangible," King
explained. "It is tough to do what you cannot see." He also clarified
that his goal isn’t to get his students into college — it is to ensure
they finish college.
The Minnesota Private College Council is a member of MMEP, which includes representatives from higher education, K-12 education and communities of color. The annual conference is one of the ways the partnership works to increase the success of students of color and American Indian students in Minnesota schools, colleges and universities.
Below are summaries of what private college staff or faculty addressed in four breakout sessions at the conference.
Planning for the Twin Cities Teacher Collaborative
Sally
Baas, professor and program director, Concordia University; Linda
Distad, professor, St. Catherine University; Frank Hernandez, assistant
professor and center director, Hamline University; Vicki Olson,
associate professor, Augsburg College; Doug Warring, professor and
chair, University of St. Thomas; and Louise Wilson, chair, Bethel
University
What do you get when you combine two urban school districts, many community organizations and six education departments at institutions of higher education? Typically, you’d end up with a hodgepodge of visions and seemingly little common ground. The Twin Cities Teacher Collaborative (TC2) aims to defy that image, while changing the reality of teacher preparation. Through deliberate partnerships and a commitment to facing educational inequities head-on, the collaborative wants to transform teacher education in the metro area. It’s an idea that sounds common sense but is unprecedented in Minnesota. In turn, they say, this will increase achievement among all students, students of color in particular.
As the presenters attested, they are still in the project’s planning stages. The program, funded by the Bush Foundation, consists of six metro-area teacher preparation programs at private universities, the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public School Districts and other community organizations. Its mission is to recruit diverse teacher candidates, partner potential/new teachers with experienced mentor teachers, provide a year-long residency program (instead of the usual semester) and support new teachers for three years. In addition, new teachers must participate in ongoing assessment and evaluation; if they don’t make the grade, they’ll be sent back to their preparation program for more training or dismissal.
Only time, test scores and the teachers themselves will tell if the program can create a new breed of educator, one who stays in the field and increases student achievement. The collaborative effort aims high; the targets are to eliminate the achievement gap and ensure every student has an experienced, high-quality teacher.
Research with Somali adolescents
Letitia Basford, assistant professor, Hamline University
In her presentation, Letitia Basford described her experiences while researching students in a charter school designed to serve Somali youth. Basford provided insight into the legal challenges of maintaining a public charter school for a population of students whose culture is closely intertwined with their religious beliefs.
In addition, Basford’s in-depth analysis of the perceptions of students and teachers in this unique educational environment provided workshop participants with an opportunity to examine their own perceptions and knowledge of Somali culture as well as their school administrations’ policies regarding the education of Somali students.
Martha Bigelow, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, also described her experiences while researching Somali youth; however, she focused on the manner in which her research project led to other community advocacy efforts. For example, Bigelow’s research was instrumental in opening a dialogue between Somali youth and law enforcement representatives where cultural misunderstandings were discussed and policies changed. Bigelow and Basford were also forthcoming in describing the risks they encountered in their dual roles as researcher and advocate. Both presented dilemmas that developed within their research projects and the lessons they learned in solving them.
College access with St. Olaf’s programs
Emily
Bartholomew, academic advisor, TRiO ETS and GEAR UP; Kia Thao, academic
advisor, Upward Bound; Erik Torgerson, academic advisor, GEAR UP; Mai
Tong Vang, academic advisor, GEAR UP; Betty Yang, academic advisor, GEAR
UP
With a strong track record of helping students apply for and enter college, several federally funded programs target low-income students who need some extra support. Speakers from three programs sponsored by St. Olaf College spoke about their work in the Twin Cities, detailing how their efforts make a difference. TRiO Upward Bound, for example, involves weekly contact and then a six-week residential summer program, held at St. Olaf.
TRiO Education Talent Search starts earlier, in middle school, and includes pairing students with St. Olaf College student mentor. And GEAR UP includes outreach to parents and teachers, along with weekly contact with students. Targeted schools include Humboldt, Harding and Central in St. Paul and Washburn in Minneapolis. Several of the speakers were former program participants; they framed their role in working with students as being a coach and cajoler, complementing what is already going on within schools. They said that one of the biggest challenges for students can be to set goals and have a plan for how to get there; program staff members are there to check-in with students and prompt the necessary follow-up.
Support for college completion in Northfield
Adrienne Falcon, director of academic civic engagement, Carleton College
Northfield has a high school graduation rate of more than 91%, with more than 85% of graduates enrolling in postsecondary institutions. Unfortunately, Northfield’s Latino children have not experienced this same success. From 2001-2004, only 15 Latino students graduated from Northfield Public Schools, while 27 dropped out — a graduation rate of 36%. During that time, fewer than five of the Latino graduates pursued postsecondary options after high school.
TORCH, which stands for "Tackling obstacles raising college hopes," began as a collaborative initiative to address this gap — and the results have been strong. Targeting low-income students, activities include tutoring, evening homework help, college exposure outings, financial aid assistance, family events and leadership opportunities. Carleton College’s Adrienne Falcon was joined at the session by partners from Northfield Public Schools and nearby Riverland Community College. Students from Carleton and St. Olaf serve as tutors and mentors during study halls, English-language learner classes and after school. The colleges also coordinate TORCH evaluation projects as well as workshops with TORCH students. Addressing increasing demand has been one of the program’s biggest challenges.
Fact you can use
In Minnesota and the U.S., 41% of the population aged 25 and older have an associate or greater degree. The U.S. ranks third after Canada (49%) and Japan (43%).
Campus news
- University of St. Thomas professor John Abraham has gained international attention for his stance on climate change. He is responsible for pulling together a climate science "rapid response team" to help curb the spread of misinformation by groups citing non-scientific sources that deny climate change exists. See the media coverage.
- Gustavus Adolphus College and Harvard University were both awarded a Hildeman Grant by the Swedish Fulbright Commission for the 2011-12 academic year. The award will bring a Swedish scholar to Gustavus to teach an upper-level course in the Scandinavian Studies Department during the 2011 fall semester.
- St. Catherine University premiered the first of three videos on its initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), including the National Center for STEM Elementary Education. The center provides a variety of STEM programs for teachers and school districts.
- The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) launched a new website and visual identity this month. The redesigned logo was created by MCAD DesignWorks Director J. Zachary Keenan ’05, Little & Company. The Minneapolis-based consultancy founded by Monica Little ’78 designed the new site.
- St. Olaf College's student-run Cooking Club recently gathered to learn holiday cooking tips presented by the college’s executive and pastry chefs. The demonstrations ranged from showing the best way to slice an onion, to explaining how to brine a turkey, to making pastry dough. Watch the video.
- It's been 20 years since the six members of the international trans-Antarctica expedition team packed out their gear at Hamline University to set off on their adventure. This month, the team members reunite to discuss how that journey impacted science education and exploration. One result was Hamline's Center for Global Environmental Education.
- The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University were ranked number one nationally among baccalaureate institutions with students who participate in mid-length study abroad programs, according to Open Doors 2010, the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education.
