Report and recommendations of the task force on global education 22 may 2013 table of contents introductory Observations pp. 3-5 Student Programs Abroad

This section describes the various student services offered by CIE across six areas: admissions and documentation, housing assistance, orientation, academics, student activities, and general student support.

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  Provide one Responsible Officer (RO) and two ARO’s (Alternate Responsible Officers) for J-1 exchange visitors under U.S. Department of Justice.
  
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  Baylor Designated School Official (DSOs) and AROs are responsible for entering data concerning international students in the U.S. Homeland Security’s SEVIS program.
  
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  Keep international students informed on current immigration policies that affect their student status and the requirements for these students to maintain valid status.
  
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  Assist international students and scholars with immigration matters and issue (under Department of Homeland Security) federal documents so students/scholars can apply for the appropriate visas.
  
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  Assist new incoming international students with the complexities of initial visa processing and application.
  
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  Assist international students in other visa classes in matters concerning their specific visa and refer as appropriate.
  
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  Process applications for change of status.
  
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  Process documents for dependent family members of international students.
  
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  Assist new international students (as appropriate) to apply for Social security numbers by arranging Social Security representative to be in ISSS Office to facilitate application
  
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  Process and facilitate admission of international exchange student and Baylor foreign affiliations.
  
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  Submit in a timely manner all documents required by Department of Homeland Security for recertification and re-designation to allow Baylor to continue to accept international students and scholars
  
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  Meet with prospective students and parents as requested to discuss student visa issues and financial issues.
  
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  Communicate with incoming students & their home university advisors as needed for recruitment and admission.
  
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  Randy Penson serves as PDSO (Primary Designated School Official) and Lexi English, Treva Hall, Leslie Hicks, Alexine Burke and JJ Ilseng serve as DSO’s (Designated School Officials) for F-1 international students under U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of Baylor. 
  
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  Work with graduate program directors and academic advising to ensure that students remain in compliance (in status) with U.S. Customs and Immigration Service.
  

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  Monitor OPT and CPT employment/activities as required by U.S. government immigration regulations.
  
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  Update ISSS forms and website links to enable students’ ease in accessing information, forms and requests for benefits.
  
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  Issue various official letters:  Invitation letters, good standing letters,  enrollment letter, social security letters, CADIVI letters.
  
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  Process immigration documents for students transferring in or out of Baylor
  
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  Assist students with their federal income tax return preparation using of Windstar international student tax prep…communicate with them regarding availability of resources, deadlines and other important information
  
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  Work with Athletics Department to ensure international student-athletes remain in compliance of U.S. immigration regulations
  
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  Process ITIN applications as needed for those students who do not qualify for a SSN and therefore need an ITIN number to reduce the amount their scholarship is taxed.
  

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  Advise students on costs of tuition and living expenses (as required by Homeland Security).
  
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  Coordinate early move-in into residential halls.
  
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  Because international students face delays associated with the processing of their visas, they are disadvantaged in securing housing if they are not freshmen. We recommend reserving some spaces for international students, specifically in the Global Community Living-Learning Center.
  

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  Provide information on campus services and resources and activities, both generally and specifically to individual students as required.
  
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  Assist with planning and participating in mandatory new intentional student orientation and President’s welcome Dinner.
  
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  Work collectively to plan fall and spring orientation to welcome new international students and introduce them to campus community, immigration regulations, social/cultural, resources/events.
  
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  Participate by presenting a session in June freshman orientation (PAWS international partnership program for freshmen and their parents)
  
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  Speak at Graduate Student orientation to welcome and assist new international graduate students.
  
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  Plan “Welcoming Our World” CIE welcome events each semester for incoming international and exchange students
  
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  Travel to Boston for USSP “line camp” for new incoming USPP Kaplan students.
  
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  Work with study abroad advisor to welcome and assist exchange students
  
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  Maintain pre-arrival information for incoming students.
  

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  Monitor course enrollment to ensure students’ compliance with minimum enrollment requirement
  
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  Continuously meet with students concerning academic issues, employment issues and immigration issues; refer to appropriate off-campus agencies as needed
  
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  Facilitate “Popcorn & Culture” cultural discussion sessions with Baylor professors (5 per semester)
  
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  Arrange for administration of English Proficiency Exam each semester.
  
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  Provide information and process applications for OPT (Optional Practical Training) and CPT (Curricular Practica Training) for internships as appropriate.
  

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  Help facilitate special trips for international students (arrangement of transportation and accompanying staff).
  
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  Facilitate US student and family partnerships with intentional students with PAWS (People Around the World Sharing) program.
  
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  Plan tailgate activities for football games
  
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  Assist with Round Table International Thanksgiving Dinner and Roll Call of Nations and annual Christmas reception for international students and PAWS partnerships.
  
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  Coordinate Homecoming events and international flag parade
  
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  Facilitate International Student Spouses group with Bobo Spiritual Life
  
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  Continue 25 year old partnership with Adopt a School with Waco ISD at Tennyson Middle School, take students for cultural presentations
  
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  Weekly CIE newsletter to international students and campus community
  
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  Work with Journalism Department to create “Going Places” a CIE international student publication (each semester)
  
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  Member of IEW (International Education Week) committee to help plan Baylor campus international awareness activities each fall semester.
  
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  Provide a semester event for all exchange students (picnic, visit Austin, etc.)
  

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  Provide airport and bus pick up (ACT) upon students’ initial arrival to campus.  
  
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  Drive students individually as needed to banks, Social Security Office, Texas Dept. of Public Safety, doctor’s appointments.
  
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  Provide students with resources and references for insurance needs, housing and other services as needed for the duration of students’ studies.
  
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  Provide emotional support to students as needed and in times of crises; refer as appropriate.
  
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  Develop and design information brochures each semester giving students with helpful and necessary information to transition to university life
  
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  Member of Students of Concern Committee representing CIE
  
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  Work with study abroad advisor to welcome and assist exchange students
  
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  Arrange for transportation (vans and buses) for new international students to Robinson Tower, shopping for dorms/apartments.
  
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  Serve as liaison between international students and various departments and agencies:  Insurance and Health Center, academic advising, Campus housing, Financial Settlement, Judicial Affairs, General Counsel’s Office, Payroll Office, ICE, USCIS.
  
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  Process on-campus employment authorization
  
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  Counsel students with infractions of immigration regulations; report disciplinary measures as required into SEVIS
  

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  Work with Northeastern University to transition USPP Kaplan students to Baylor each fall semester.
  
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  United Board (UB) Scholars:   ISSS ARO’s serve as coordinators for this program.  We work with the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia to host two Asian scholars each semester selected by UB.  We pick up the scholars from the airport; arrange for living accommodations, issue immigration documents for visa application, take them to shop for their apartments, take them to lunch, help them integrate into campus (based on their individual needs), assist them with ID cards, bank accounts, cell phone services, apply for required health insurance coverage and include the in CIE’s activities.
  
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  Update information on website
  
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  The Graduate School has initiated a new program to assess and improve the language skills of international students serving as lab instructors or teachers of record. At peer institutions, including other Big 12 universities, such language support is located in a central office, and we recommend that the graduate student ESL program be housed in the new Center for Global Engagement.
  

It is important for Baylor to create an environment that promotes personal and academic success for our international students. We recommend that the new CGE leadership continue to evaluate the programs offered to ensure we are prioritizing our resources in a way that allows us to serve the students in the most productive ways possible. We should also create ways in our systems to identify students who, while technically are U.S. citizens, may identify more readily as international students due to an overseas upbringing. We should be prepared to offer those students the same levels of support through CGE.

One Global Education Task Force subcommittee examined the current structure and functions of the Center for International Education.¹ At the present time the Interim Director of CIE, who also holds the Jo Murphy Chair in International Education, is Naymond Keathley. He is directly assisted by an Associate Director (Randy Penson), a Budget Associate (Lynae Jordan), and an Office Manager (Jackie McClendon). All other staff (Alexine Burke, Treva Hall, Leslie Hicks and Delores Melendez in International Student and Scholar Services; International Student Relations Coordinator, Melanie Smith; and Lexi English, J.J. Ilseng, Melanie Smith, and Loren Warf in Study Abroad) report through the Associate Director, who is therefore responsible for overseeing two different operations. On one side, (1) International Student and Scholar Services is concerned with all aspects of institutional oversight and assistance for international students and faculty (“inbound”), while the other primary function of the Center is (2) to facilitate and support overseas travel for Baylor students and faculty, primarily through various types of study abroad programs (“outbound”).

The current administrative structures do not appear to be functioning very smoothly. Some of this is a matter of design, some of it is a matter of process, and some of it is a matter of personnel. Looking first at the Study Abroad side (the structure and functionality of the International Students and Scholars division was examined by another sub-committee and will be discussed below), there is a clear process for the creation of new programs involving Baylor faculty and students. The proposal must be submitted to the appropriate department chair and dean prior to submission to CIE. The budget is assessed by the Budget Associate and the Director of CIE consults with an advisory committee (currently composed of Garrett Cook, Steve Gardner, Jeff Hamilton, Michael Long, Joe McKinney, Linda McManness, Eric Rust, Lilly Souza-Fuertes, Lori Spies, Xin Wang, and Chuck Weaver) to consider the proposal’s merits. If approval is recommended the Director may also consult with the International Travel Committee (currently composed of Randy Penson, chair, Steve Gardner, Becky Kennedy, Wes Null, Sharon Stern, Warren Ricks, and Doug Welch) to assess risk and legal considerations involved in travel to this site. The Director then submits the proposal via Bearquest to the Provost’s Office for final approval. If the country to be visited is subject to a travel warning or restriction from the Department of State, the President of Baylor University must approve the trip. There is one overarching problem with the current process, and that is the lack of any criteria to evaluate how this new program would advance the mission of Baylor University or help achieve the goals articulated in Pro Futuris. The impact that Study Abroad programs will have on students’ cultural awareness and cultural competencies is not rigorously assessed either prior to student departure or following their return.

Program directors are self-selected in most cases, although directors of the semester programs in Maastricht and St. Andrews are exceptions, being selected by the Director of the Center for International Education. All new directors must attend a training session (and experienced directors must attend training every three years), but there are no established criteria designating necessary skills or experiences to qualify for a directorship. It is not clear, therefore, that we are providing the best possible faculty mentors to lead our students in transformational educational experiences.

Not all Baylor students who participate in Study Abroad enroll in Baylor programs. Baylor also has a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with other universities both to allow our students to study abroad and to allow international students to study here. Unlike Baylor programs, there seems to be no consultative group that advises CIE on the selection of these partners. For example, in 2012-13 Baylor entered into an agreement with a consortium of universities in Dublin, even though the core required “Irish Studies” course is unlikely to be accepted for credit by academic departments at Baylor. Both the process of selecting partners, and the clear definition, maintenance and strengthening of MOUs, are areas urgently needing to be addressed.

Members of the Administrative Structures subcommittee met with representatives from the many offices across campus that have regular interactions with the Center in order to discern the strengths of the unit and areas where further improvement was possible. Input was sought from the following offices: Admissions, Budget, Development, General Counsel, Global Missions, Internal Audit, Registrar, Risk Management, and Student Life. A recurring concern was voiced about unclear lines of communication, in many cases caused by high turnover of personnel in recent years. It was generally felt that adequate policies were in place as relates to the concerns of these various offices, but the processes for implementing these policies were not always followed in a timely fashion, perhaps because in many cases policies lacked enforcement mechanisms.

Some areas where specific concerns were raised include: the Beartracker system, which is not working smoothly in providing registration changes to the Registrar’s office or in providing Risk Management with locations of exchange students; budget information is not reaching the Budget Office in a timely and complete manner. Both students and faculty participating in Study Abroad programs must register through Bears Abroad. This is an adaptation of Studio Abroad, program management software developed by Terra Data. The Baylor version of this program has a number of areas where its functionality could be improved. This would address some of the communication problems that have already been noted. Dr Keathley reports that a team form CIE recently (April 2013) attended a workshop with Terra Data, so improvements to Bears Abroad may be forthcoming shortly.

Another concern noted in these interviews was the divested “ownership” of the Study Abroad programs. The faculty directors are responsible for all aspects of the program’s academic success as well as compliance with a vast number of financial and administrative policies and procedures. We recognize that by its very nature, travel abroad with students poses many risks to the University and someone (perhaps a group) must be tasked with managing them. However, it seems as though the faculty director should be able to rely more heavily on resources within CIE for assistance with these administrative items. The current structure and resources allocated do not allow for this and should be re-assessed in the new CIE structure. We also recommend that deans and department chairs be more actively involved in the evaluation and selection of Study Abroad programs to be sure that these programs align with strategic goals at the college and departmental levels.

This subcommittee also did extensive study of international education at nearly forty other universities in an attempt to identify effective organizational models and best practices that might be appropriate for Baylor.² Some models, such as that of Pepperdine University, were not feasible as they are predicated on overseas campuses owned and operated by the university. Other universities, such as the Ohio State University, have free-standing colleges of international studies. While this might be an attractive model for Baylor in the longer term, the resources to support such a model are not available at this time.

A more common model finds international education housed in a Center with a director (whether titled a vice-provost, vice-president, dean, or director) who reports directly to the provost. This model is most comparable to what currently exists at Baylor, and is appropriate for several reasons. It is important that the director of international education (however titled) stand above college or divisional boundaries and be able to lead conversations and integrate initiatives from different campus units. Within Centers for International Education the two broad areas of (1) international student services and (2) study abroad/student programs are sometimes combined and sometimes separate. At Baylor both of these areas are currently housed in the Center for International Education, and we would recommend that they remain so, although we would recommend that the day to day responsibility for oversight of each area by assigned to one of two assistant directors as discussed below.
Proposed Organizational Chart and New Director Position Description

An organizational chart is attached as an appendix to this document that proposes a restructuring of the Center for International Education, which we would suggest renaming the Center for Global Engagement. Although the terms “international” and “global” have slightly different meanings in the context of higher education and international generally seems to be preferred, global is also widely used, and may be more appropriate at Baylor than many other universities because of the nature of our mission as articulated in Pro Futuris. This is particularly true as our objective is twofold, both education and engagement.

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  Transform the Center for International Education into the Center for Global Engagement and enhance its presence across the university. (pp. 26-7)
  

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  Hire, through a national search, a Vice Provost for Global Engagement to oversee the Center for Global Education. (pp.33-4)
  
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    Hire a Director for Global Student Engagement. (p. 35)
    
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    Hire a Director for International Student and Scholar Services. (p. 36)
    

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  Increase in student participation rates in study abroad from 28% to 50% by 2018, while at the same time doubling the number of students participating in semester or year-long academic programs abroad from roughly 250 to 500 by 2018. (pp. 4-6)
  

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  Increase the number of students participating in Global Mission trips from roughly 400 to 800 per year by 2018. (pp. 6-7)
  

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  Develop hybrid courses in which an international experience (academic, discipline-specific, missional, or service) is a required component of these courses. This is dependent upon increased financial aid and scholarship support. (p. 7)
  

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  Engage in a strategic process to select global partners with emphasis on Africa, China/East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. (p. 7)
  
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    These partners should be selected on the basis of a clear and consistently applied set of criteria.
    

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  Support and encourage the continuing growth of student enrollment in strategic languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. (pp. 8-9)
  

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  Revise and refine current policies and procedures related to global education, taking into consideration input from stakeholders across campus. (pp. 9-11)
  

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  Introduce comprehensive assessment of study abroad and other global programs as a continuous process. (pp. 11-12)
  

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  Establish formal programs for students returning from international experiences. (p. 12)
  

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  Establish an endowed Center for Area Studies to be housed within the Center for Global Engagement. (pp. 13-18)
  
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    Support and develop programs in Area Studies:
    
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      African Studies.
      
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      Asian Studies
      
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      Latin American Studies
      
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      Middle East Studies
      
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      Slavic and East European Studies
      
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    Phase out the major and minor in International Studies in favor of Area Studies majors.
    
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      Encourage the Department of Political Science to consider the introduction of a major and minor in International Relations.
      

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  Relocate the Center for Global Engagement to a more visible and spacious location, perhaps within the current facilities of the Hankamer School of Business, at the earliest possible opportunity. (p. 27)
  

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  Create a Council on Global Engagement, chaired by the Provost for Global Engagement, to meet regularly to share and exchange information with other senior stakeholders in global initiatives.
  
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  A standing Faculty Advisory Committee on Global Engagement should be established, with membership selected by the Committee on Committees.
  

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  Increase resources for the recruitment of International Students in order to continue demonstrated success since Admissions Services took responsibility for this in 2010: (pp. 18-20)
  
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    True International Applications: have increased 39%
    
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    All Internationals (including US abroad): have increased 10%.
    

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  Designate internationalization as a QEP focus for reaccreditation purposes. Baylor University might consider this as an appropriate mechanism by which to inventory, adjust, and add to current course offerings that have international components, and build this competency into our degree plans. (pp. 29-39)
  
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    Students might demonstrate international cultural competency in variety of ways, such as:
    
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      Participating in a study abroad program
      
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      Participating in a global or urban missions trip
      
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      Studying a foreign language at the 3000 level or above
      
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      Completing a number (12 hours perhaps) of courses with an international focus.
      
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      Living in the Global Community Living and Learning Center.
      

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  Encourage Baylor sponsored alumni travel facilitated/hosted by Baylor faculty. (p. 29)