As the diversity of the world’s cultures continues to influence our generation, Baylor has recognized the advantages of expanding students’ horizons on an international level.

Imperative XI of Baylor 2012 stresses the importance of emphasizing global education.

One goal under this imperative is to increase participation in study abroad programs so 30 percent of each graduating class will have had the opportunity to study abroad.

Also, Baylor hopes to place a stronger focus on the study of the modern foreign languages and to build an ethnically diverse student body and faculty.

Cathleen Catlin, exchange program and study abroad adviser, said participation in study abroad programs began to increase after Imperative XI was established, but numbers have remained consistent in recent years, with roughly 800 students studying abroad this school year.

The estimated 20 percent of graduating seniors who studied abroad this year falls about 1,400 students short of Baylor’s 30 percent goal. “We’re not seeing too much of an increase, but I do think that this coming year there will be a definite increase for the number of students going abroad,” Catlin said.

She attributes her prediction to the interest she’s noticed from students at biweekly study abroad information sessions.

“I think that the meetings are more attended now since studying abroad has become so much more popular as a whole across the U.S.,” Catlin said.

“Students are realizing how important it is for them to have study abroad programs to complement their education.”

According to a survey conducted in 2005 by the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, 75 percent of college undergraduate students believe it’s important to study abroad, but only a little more than 1 percent actually do.

Beth Walker, adviser for campus and community involvement for the Center for International Education, said that in addition to studying abroad, students can learn from international students on campus.

“We often think the international students need help, and they do, in many cases, need a lot of assistance with adjustment,” Walker said. “But we also feel it’s very important that our U.S. students meet international students.”

Walker said U.S. students are more prepared to face diversity outside of Baylor when they form relationships with international students.

In 1998 Walker started the program People Around the World Sharing, which aims to make international students feel more welcome at Baylor by pairing them with U.S. students to share cultures and form friendships.

Since Baylor 2012 was announced, involvement in PAWS has been “steadily rising,” Walker said, with about 45 partnerships set up and several U.S. students waiting to be matched with an international student.

Despite the growth of PAWS, international student enrollment numbers have remained around 400 with no major increase in the past five years.

The 2012 goal for international students on campus is 4.25 percent of undergraduate students from outside of the United States.

Mike Morrison, director of the Center for International Education, said international undergraduates currently make up 1.64 percent of the total undergraduate population.

Morrison said visa issues may be the reason for “the flattening of the international student enrollment at Baylor during recent years.”

But he also said U.S. schools in general experienced a decline in international enrollment after Sept. 11 “due to the initial increased difficulty in obtaining a visa and later the perceived difficulty in obtaining a visa.”

Morrison is now making changes in hopes of increasing numbers.

“We are redesigning our Web presence, seeking scholarship funding and planning to exert more effort and money in foreign recruiting, all toward increasing the number of international students on campus,” Morrison said.

Dr. Michael Long, interim chairman of the department of modern foreign languages, said Baylor’s goal to enrich the quality and application of the study of modern foreign languages by 2012 is right on track.

“We have put in a major strategic proposal, a proposal in implementing a major for more languages,” Long said. “If our (major strategic proposal) were funded by the university, this would represent huge progress toward meeting the goals of 2012.”

Besides implementing majors for languages like Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Swahili, Long said that the department is working to develop a local living and learning center so students could have a “semi-immersion experience” with the language they’re studying.

Although numbers and percentages do not suggest fulfillment of Imperative XI, Catlin remains hopeful and dedicated to Baylor’s efforts.

“I don’t know how much emphasis has been put on attaining the goal of Imperative XI, but I know that the university is realizing the importance of this goal,” Catlin said.

Information from: www.baylor.edu

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 1:18 am and is filed under Education, Study Abroad. Tags: College, Education, Fellowship, Scholarship, Student, Study, Study Abroad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.