Democratizing Study Abroad: Challenges of Open Access, Local Commitments, and Global Competence in Community Colleges

Author(s):  
Tiffany Viggiano

Scholars have identified community colleges as ideal institutions to facilitate global justice through their involvement in internationalization activities such as study abroad. This chapter explores the meaning of humanism as it relates to study abroad at the community college. Using Andreotti, Stein, Pashby, and Nicolson's Paradigms of Discourse, the chapter describes the ways in which humanism can be defined in a variety of ways based on one's own goals. The chapter also grounds a rationale for study abroad at the community college within critical humanism by applying Young's Social Connections Model. Finally, the chapter applies the critical humanist rationale to begin to question the relationship between community college study abroad initiatives: Who is included in the community mission? Whose cultures come to be understood from involvement in study abroad? How are U. S. cultures represented by study abroad?


Author(s):  
Julie Baer

Drawing upon data from Open Doors®, this chapter highlights the unique characteristics of study abroad from community colleges over the past decade. It explores patterns in destinations, durations, and student characteristics for study abroad at community colleges over this time period. Through lessons learned from IIE's Heiskell Award winners and Generation Study Abroad (GSA) community college commitment partners, the chapter will conclude with best practices from community colleges that have made commitments to increase and diversify their study abroad programs.


Author(s):  
Shah S. Ardalan

For over a century, American community colleges have delivered on their mission of open access and now educate about half of all undergraduate students in the United States. Recognized as primary providers of higher education and workforce training, especially to non-traditional and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, community colleges serve as transformative engines of prosperity and democratization of education. Contemporary community colleges face many challenges. Mainly, while community colleges are persistently underfunded, their leaders are under ever-increasing demand to improve student completion.


Author(s):  
Tiffany Viggiano

Scholars have identified community colleges as ideal institutions to facilitate global justice through their involvement in internationalization activities such as study abroad. This chapter explores the meaning of humanism as it relates to study abroad at the community college. Using Andreotti, Stein, Pashby, and Nicolson's Paradigms of Discourse, the chapter describes the ways in which humanism can be defined in a variety of ways based on one's own goals. The chapter also grounds a rationale for study abroad at the community college within critical humanism by applying Young's Social Connections Model. Finally, the chapter applies the critical humanist rationale to begin to question the relationship between community college study abroad initiatives: Who is included in the community mission? Whose cultures come to be understood from involvement in study abroad? How are U. S. cultures represented by study abroad?


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-69
Author(s):  
Khadijah Zakia Ali-Coleman

Community colleges in the United States have historically held a unique position within the system of higher education because of three characteristics. These characteristics include their doctrine of open access, their consistent affordability in comparison to other higher education options, and courses that are directly applicable to the workforce. However, over the years, contradictions have arisen that compromise the practice of these ideals. Focusing on three policy priorities, this analysis determines how effective community colleges are today in offering students an education that is accessible, applicable to the labor market, and affordable. The concluding points include predictions of what the future of community colleges looks like within the next twenty years.


Author(s):  
Rosalind Latiner Raby

Community college literature uses three distinct narratives to explain why few community colleges offer education abroad and why limited numbers of community college students study abroad. This chapter explores the viability of these narratives and counters them by showing that non-traditional community college students understand the role of education abroad to enhance their personal and professional growth, are capable of making sound decisions, and are able to balance work, school, and family. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how weak institutional choices remain the most important element that negatively impacts the choice to study abroad.


2022 ◽  
pp. 259-278
Author(s):  
Neriko Musha Doerr

This chapter suggests new approaches to global education based on ethnographic fieldworks of students' study abroad experience and a classroom project that challenges the binary opposition of “cultures” in the notion of immersion by drawing on the multi-scalar networks framework where individuals are seen to have multiple connections to others and by replacing the notion of “global competence” with “structural competence” that sees mundane practices as symptoms of wider structural arrangements. This chapter also challenges the double standard over mobility in “regimes of mobility” and argues for connecting study abroad and minority immigrant experiences on campus and including diverse programs within the purview of global education.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Reilly ◽  
Stefan Senders

Buzzwords like "global competency" sound compelling initially, but without a critical definition, the danger is that the rhetoric becomes an empty sales pitch. In this essay, we argue that we can no longer afford to allow study abroad to be reduced to such catchphrases. We propose a new model for understanding the work of study abroad; Critical Study Abroad. Critical Study Abroad is a structured way of framing our work with direct reference to the current state of the world, and it suggests concrete changes in the work of our programs. It rejects many of the assumptions of previous frames: in place of class-reproduction it offers class-analysis; in place of self-development through accumulation it offers self-development through commitment; in place of internationalism it offers a critical and global perspective; in place of “global competence,” it offers global citizenship. Critical Study Abroad requires that we reevaluate our knowledge production and our teaching, and more specifically, that we reconstitute the field in which study abroad operates.


10.28945/4435 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 177-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M Unangst ◽  
Nicole I Barone

Aim/Purpose: This paper evaluates three community college internationalization plans using quantitative textual analysis to explore the different foci of institutions across three U.S. states. Background: One of the purposes of community college internationalization is to equip future generations with the skills and dispositions necessary to be successful in an increasingly globalized workforce. The extent to which international efforts have become institutionalized on a given campus may be assessed through the analysis of internationalization plans. Methodology: We use the textual analysis tool Voyant, which has rarely been employed in educational research, being more frequently applied in the humanities and under the broad heading of “digital scholarship”. Contribution: Extant literature examining internationalization plans focuses on the four-year sector, but studies centered on the two-year sector are scarce. This study addresses that gap and seeks to answer the research questions: How do community colleges operationalize internationalization in their strategic plans? What terms and/or concepts are used to indicate international efforts? Findings: Key findings of this study include an emphasis on optimization of existing resources (human, cultural, community, and financial); the need for a typology of open access institution internationalization plans; and the fragmentation of international efforts at the community college level. Impact on Society: It is clear that internationalization at community colleges may take shape based on optimization of resources, which begs the question, how can education sector actors best support open access institutions in developing plans tailored to the local context and resources at hand? Future Research: We recommend additional use of quantitative textual analysis to parse internationalization plans, and imagine that both a larger sample size and cross-national sample might yield interesting results. How do these institutional groupings operationalize internationalization in the corpus of their plans?


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