ITF - UTSA Provost Home - The University of Texas at San Antonio

ITF Evaluation Study, 2010 6EVALUATION STUDY ON RESEARCH, LEARNING/TEACHING, ANDORGANIZATIONAL APPROACHESWith an ultimate goal of garnering international research status, the University of Texas at SanAntonio identified globalization as one of three foundational themes in its Strategic Plan, UTSA2016. Globalization is defined by Altbach and Knight (2006) as the “economic, political, andsocietal forces pushing 21st century higher education toward greater internationalinvolvement” (p. 1). However, identifying the vision and carrying out its implementation aretwo different matters. The decision to intentionally internationalize a university campusrequires dedicated faculty, students, administrators and staff who aspire to be a part of the21st century academic community. This is an academic community diverse in scope thatexpects to be linked across nations as far as interactive learning/teaching, service, andorganizational endeavors are concerned. It is a community that UTSA has chosen to embrace,and in so doing it commits to the internationalization process. Thoughtful development of anew design in academic and organizational structure must intentionally advance the goals ofdeveloping and refining the institution’s internationally-related strategic vision.The UTSA Internationalization Task ForceThis report outlines the methods and findings the UTSA Internationalization Task Force (ITF)took in an effort to evaluate current efforts and future possibilities for global learning/international education on the Campus. Globalization is articulated in the Strategic Plan as:The unfolding process of linkage among the world’s peoples, societies, and economies,transcending regional and national boundaries - directs us to prepare our universitycommunity members with the technological, communicative, social, and culturalknowledge and skills, as well as the practical experience, that will equip them to leadand succeed in an ever more intensively connected world. (UTSA Strategic Plan, 2007-2016)Through funding from the Provost’s Office and working with Julius Gribou, Executive ViceProvost and Senior International Officer, the ITF was formed and given the charge to examinehow UTSA is currently situated with respect to offering internationally-focused educationalexperiences and to find ways to provide these experiences for both students and the broaderacademic community. We know that for international education to become incorporated intothe educational fiber at UTSA, a wide variety of academic, administrative, support service, andstudent members of the institutional community must be represented in the process of change.Therefore, the ITF approached this study from two integrated approaches: organizational andacademic. In order to make recommendations for future steps, the ITF investigated thefollowing research questions:1. In what ways have members of the national and international academic and scholarlycommunity set about internationalizing higher education?2. What are the current international offerings and activities taking place at UTSA?3. What does the UTSA community (faculty, students, administrators and staff) believe ournext steps should be toward internationalization?