OIE >> Annual Report

Office of International Education Annual Report

August, 2005 – August, 2006

Office of International Education 

Part I: Departmental mission statement

“VISION, MISSION & VALUES

Vision Statement

The Office of International Education actively promotes the ideal of international harmony by facilitating the exchange of people and ideas. We provide opportunities that encourage understanding of and appreciation for all people and cultures of the world.

Mission Statement

The Office of International Education provides broad opportunities in international education for students and faculty by:

•  Serving as advocate and catalyst for international education through promoting international institutional development, providing assistance to faculty, administrators, and students through information, encouragement, coordination, and support as appropriate and available, and other activities as may be necessary.

•  Serving as host to students and faculty from abroad and encouraging their success here by maintaining programs of counseling, assistance, and logistical support for these foreign guests of the University.

•  Developing, operating and maintaining a comprehensive, cost-effective study abroad program and maintaining a central source of information about opportunities for other educational activities abroad for students and faculty.

Core Values

•  We value being a major contributor to the University's mission of fostering critical thought and responsible world citizenship.

•  We value students and their willingness to step beyond the safety of what they already know.

•  We value what international students and scholars bring to the University's learning environment.

•  We value education in all forms; growth experiences; students learning from students; personal development; transformation.

•  We value internationalism, intercultural awareness and communication, diversity and respect for other people and cultures.

•  We value tolerance, open-mindedness and forward-thinking; we value creating world peace one student at a time.

•  We value innovation, creativity and flexibility.

•  We value professionalism, competence and a strong work ethic.

•  We value teamwork, inclusiveness, mutual respect and community.

•  We value humor, fun and optimism.”

Note: The above statements are from the OIE Strategic Plan (2005) . This plan was published in early 2005 and was intended to be a three-year planning document which would be reviewed and renewed periodically. The unit recently held a planning meeting to review mission, activities, and progress toward long range goals. The full strategic plan is available on the OIE website and the minutes from the most recent review meeting will be posted there before September 1, 2006.

Part II: Statement of progress toward goals

“Long-Range Goals”

The following long-range goals were identified as fundamental to fulfilling OIE's vision and mission; and, to addressing critical strategic issues identified in the planning process.

•  To be among the top 20 AAU public universities in the number and percentage of undergraduate students who study abroad by the time of graduation.

•  To provide leadership and coordination in the development of a campus-wide plan for the recruitment of international students.

•  To assess how internationalized the CU Boulder campus is perceived to be and to clarify how internationalized CU's administration and faculty want the campus to be.

•  To partner with other internationally-related functions at CU Boulder to create an International Center that will keep CU Boulder among the top universities in the country for international education.

•  To enhance the Office of International Education's current infrastructure to support the implementation of this strategic plan.”

Note: These goals are from the OIE Strategic Plan (2005) . They and the full report are published on the OIE website.

Progress Report

Goal 1 It appears that this goal has been reached. Different AAU institutions report their study abroad numbers in different ways so the comparison is difficult to make accurately; however, we feel confident in saying that CU-Boulder is among the top 20 AAU publics in study abroad. The study abroad section of the office is in the process of recasting the goal in light of our findings. The emphasis will go from achieving the ranking to maintaining it as enrollment in study abroad programs increases at other AAU institutions.

The primary concern in this goal is the lack of space to add necessary staff. The office has begun the process of reviewing program offerings to see what programs can be cut and what services to students should be cut in order to compensate for the lack of staff caused by the continued lack of space. If new space is not available before the end of the year, this goal will have to be reconsidered and the office will need to begin to reduce program opportunities for students. (See additional material under Part III)

Goal 2 A great deal of work has been done in establishing a campus-wide recruitment plan for international students. Some of this work has been done by others with input from OIE:

•  the new tuition plan for graduate students on appointment has already had an impact on international student admissions (enrollments will not be known until mid-September);

•  although there is nothing concrete yet, some interesting ideas have been generated by the Task Force of International Graduate Education (OIE is represented on the committee);

•  another ad hoc group has been brought together to share information on recruitment on a broader level and that group is working on a campus-wide plan for recruitment (OIE convened this group);

•  the new Chancellor has expressed his concern over the low level of international enrollments on campus.

Goal 3 OIE has established a committee which is examining issues related to assessing the level of internationalization of the Boulder campus. They are examining survey instruments for use in measuring internationalization on campus and will be producing a report in the next few months which would include suggestions for action.

In addition, OIE staff have been working on projects that are intended to raise awareness of the process of internationalization. We are resurrecting a web-based, self-reporting instrument that will allow faculty and staff to list their level of international involvement and expertise so that better information sharing can occur. We will be submitting a request to include international activities and academic programs in departmental, divisional, and institutional mission statements.

Goal 4 A great deal of effort has been made over the past year to reach out to other units on campus and build alliances with offices that do similar or intersecting work. OIE is in the process of expanding a network of liaisons that would cover the campus and encourage cooperative programming. This is being done so that offices that may be concerned about “turf protection” will realize that our goal is cooperation, not hegemony.

OIE has a committee that is developing the notion of a “virtual international center”. This would be a network of electronically connected offices so that if a person has an interest in anything international, they could enter the site and find their answer through the site whether the answer came from OIE or from an affiliated office.

Goal 5 This is the goal where there has been the least progress. This is so because we do not control our own destiny on this goal. OIE needs more staff in order to adequately perform the functions it is assigned; however, despite having the financial resources to add needed staff we have no place for them to work. Our cubicles are all full (in fact, we currently have a staff member working in a hallway), and we have staff on rotation sharing space to handle some duties. This is unacceptable and is the cause of many problems within the office that must be resolved soon – or – OIE must change its vision and mission.

Part III: Significant accomplishments not listed in II above

•  OIE survived another year without adequate space

•  CU-Boulder had a record year for Fulbright scholarship awards

•  A procedures manual for F1 students was completed and published

•  Another annual increase in study abroad numbers (4.11%) has been achieved

•  ISSS has successfully transitioned to electronic notes for all student/scholar advising as a part of the movement to a “paperless office”

•  OIE successfully hired an IT Manager to replace support services that were withdrawn by ITS

•  StudioAbroad, a web-based application and advising system, is being launched. This will improve efficiency and reduce paperwork.

•  “J” procedures training has been completed for all ISSS advisors

•  SHIP produced an annual report that included some of the highlights of the previous years (a 10 th anniversary special edition ) and that report is attached here

•  “2006 The Year of Study Abroad” has been celebrated with a special web page, a reception during World Affairs Conference Week, the scheduling of a brown-bag lecture series, the YSA Question of the Month initiative for students, and an invitation for study abroad students to send a postcard to their senators thanking them (YSA was initiated by a US Senate resolution in November of 2005). Larry Bell also worked with the System Office of Government Relations to get the Colorado Legislature to pass a similar resolution.

•  SHIP is filled to capacity and a waitlist was begun in early March – a record for that program (see attached annual report)

•  The Peregrine alumni newsletter is being published after a 3-year break following feedback from alums and now will be published online annually.

•  The International Festival had a record attendance (2,400) This was preceded by a successful Team Building Exercise for the International Festival Committee, which is composed entirely of students

•  Despite a troubled world environment, there were no major problems or accidents abroad. OIE is doing an outstanding job helping students choose the appropriate program and preparing them to go abroad.

•  A very successful first Summer BBQ for international students and scholars was held, with an attendance of approximately 150.

•  The 10 Best-kept Secrets, a marketing effort to highlight excellent programs that get small enrollments, is being promoted to CU students. It has helped meet the goal of a diversification of location for students abroad.

•  International student and scholar programming has been improved, increasing their involvement with the rest of the campus

•  OIE is actively participating in campus preparations for a pandemic. Existing OIE emergency plans were reviewed, information from partner institutions has been gathered and used to guide the planning. New information has been prepared and given to outgoing students about pandemics and sensible preventative measures.

•  A new Conversation Group for int'l students/scholars and spouses has been started in cooperation with the UMC

•  The OIE Peer Mentors officially became a university student group

•  ISSS advisors are all trained and actively filing H cases at this time, although still need training in the advising end of things

Part IV: Statement of departmental assessment efforts

As a part of the work of the ongoing OIE strategic planning process, OIE recently formed an Outcomes Assessment Committee. This committee is in the process of improving and expanding the type of assessment that is already done in OIE. The committee Co-Chairs will be attending the Student Affairs workshop with Student Voice in order to determine its usefulness for OIE and to examine what we are trying to assess and what we hope to accomplish with those assessments.

SHIP administers a survey twice a semester for students. The purpose is to determine what programs are most desired, and later what the success of those programs has been. These surveys are administered using Zoomerang because of the ease of design and administration. The high rate of return would indicate that students like using this measuring device as well. We intend to continue this type of regular measurement for SHIP.

In addition I have attached two charts. One chart indicates the regular and ongoing assessment activities of ISSS. The other chart indicates the regular and ongoing assessment activities of study abroad.

Part V: Expectations for 2006-2007

Resolution of the space issue for OIE. This may come in the form of the additional space that this office has needed and regularly requested for more than ten years. OR This may come in the form of reduced programming for international students and a reduction in programs available abroad for CU students.

Hiring of a new Study Abroad Director. After over 30 at CU-Boulder, Nancy Stubbs is retiring and the search process has begun. As it is a national search, it is likely to infuse some new energy into study abroad programming (the impact may be minimized by the inability to obtain adequate space to program).

Increasing attention to the recruitment of international students may lead to additional international student enrollments and perhaps a need for new staff.

Increasing legislative activity in the area of controlling international visitor access to the U.S. and to Colorado is likely to increase the work of the ISSS section of OIE.

The SHIP program will need to prepare for the renovation of the Kittredge complex. A decision will have to be made on whether or not to expand SHIP into a full RAP and whether or not to expand the size of the program to fill all of a renovated Smith Hall.

SHIP annual report 2006 (available on Ship website)

Assessment activities for ISSS

 Assessment activities of study abroad

Assessment Activities in CU-Boulder Study Abroad Programs

The Study Abroad Programs unit of the Office of International Education employs outcomes assessment for the following purposes:

• Develop and maintain study abroad programs that meet the “intellectual development” and “identity, independence, and interdependence” outcomes identified as a part of the unit's Student Development goals.

• Monitor the demographics of CU-Boulder study abroad students to ensure that the study abroad experience is available to and being utilized by all undergraduates. Use the data to determine if the unit's Diversity goals are being met. (Annual report available on OIE website)

• Evaluate client satisfaction levels to assess whether the unit's Excellent Service goals are being met. Each year a program evaluation assessment is done of all returning students. In additional, specific programs are targeted for a more detailed assessment.

• Examine standard business practices of study abroad program offices at public AAU institutions to measure whether the unit's policies and procedures could be modified to provide more efficient or effective service.

• Assess whether CU-Boulder study abroad programs provide a good “academic fit” with the campus' colleges and schools.

ISSS Programs and Assessments

We also incorporated feedback from both students/scholars and departments during the Strategic Planning process when our consultant met with stakeholder groups.