12 February 2009
College Wins Award for Innovative Global Classroom Linkages
Champlain College makes campus internationalization a priority
Washington — In the last year, students at Champlain College in Vermont discussed the universality of human rights with students from India.
They discussed with Jordanian students not only the religious and cultural issues surrounding the hijab worn by Muslim women but also the difficulties American women have faced in their efforts to achieve equal pay with men in the workplace.
With students from the United Arab Emirates they explored ecology, carbon footprints and cultural differences. With students from Ghana they discussed domestic violence, with students from Sweden medical ethics and health care, with students from Spain immigration, with students from Australia the portrayal of Arabs in film, and with students from Kenya the use of African poetry to examine cultural and family roles.
Champlain College, with about 2,000 students, recently won a prestigious award for developing programs like these as part of its internationalization efforts.
The award, one of the Institute of International Education’s Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education, will be presented March 19 at the United Nations.
“Champlain College is dedicated to the goal of providing an international experience for every one of its students,” says Elizabeth Beaulieu, dean of the Core Division of Champlain College.
The most innovative aspect of Champlain’s approach is its Global Modules program. Launched in 2003, the program offers four-week, intensive online projects linking more than 3,000 students at 14 colleges and universities in 12 countries. Professors choose the topics to be discussed with the aim of encouraging inquiry and cultural sensitivity.
“It’s a very simple and flexible approach, but one that we have spread across the Champlain College curriculum, which allows us to give our students the opportunity to talk to students from different parts of the world again and again throughout the university experience,” said Gary Scudder, Champlain’s assistant dean for global engagement and the creator of the program. It’s “a very simple, direct, and in many ways fiscally conservative approach to providing an international education, which increases the chance that it will be sustainable,” he said.
Scudder said Champlain has focused on building a strong foundation in the Middle East and Africa, “which gives our students a very different viewpoint.”
“One of my chief goals in the Global Module project is to make our students better international citizens, to allow them to make more informed decisions, to get beyond preconceptions,” he said. “If we can learn to discuss issues such as globalization or ecological degradation or human rights without rancor on a personal level, then we have taken a very important first step in potentially creating a richer, more lasting relationship on an international level.”
“Less than 2 percent of American university students study abroad,” Scudder said. “With this approach we’re able to give every Champlain student the opportunity to talk to the rest of the world, which will, hopefully, then increase their desire to study abroad later in their academic career.”
The biggest challenge in getting the program going was to build the international network that would provide the opportunity for dialogue. “I’ve been very fortunate in finding kindred spirits at universities such as Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, Kenyatta University in Kenya, the University of Pretoria in South Africa, Corvinus University in Hungary, and the University of Jordan who shared a similar vision,” Scudder said.
Champlain has created an Institute for Global Engagement, which Scudder now heads and which has developed student and faculty programs designed to make the college’s curriculum more international.
The Faculty Internationalization Initiative offers stipends for summer travel and course development. Last year, for example, 14 Champlain College professors were provided with funds to travel to the Middle East to gather the information and course materials with which to develop courses for the 2009–2010 school year. A similar number of faculty members will receive funds to travel to China and the Middle East this coming summer to develop course materials for the following year.
The visiting scholar-in-residence program for international faculty brings international scholars to Champlain to teach, lead seminars and interact with students and faculty. For 2008–2009, Congolese playwright Pierre Mujomba is the scholar in residence.
“On both an educational and personal level, these programs make a world of difference for our students,” said David Finney, the president of Champlain College, when the award was announced. “They’ll never view the world the same way again after experiencing studying abroad, meeting a man like Pierre Mujomba or connecting with students on the other side of the globe through our programs.”
“Champlain’s goal is solely to create dialogue between our students and their counterparts from around the world,” Scudder said. “We enter into every discussion with prospective international universities as equal partners — that is, we want to hear what they have to say and what topics they would like to discuss and what limitations they are under. We do not impose topics or readings. We are interested in dialogue, in opening the eyes of our students to a bigger world — plain and simple.”
“So, if any professor or administrator or student from an international university is interested in this type discussion, then they should always feel free to contact me directly at scudder@champlain.edu and we’ll begin the dialogue.”
