President Nan Keohane visited London last month to address numerous University alumni, students abroad and parents of international students. Her mission: to discuss the imminent need to make the University a globally recognized academic powerhouse.
Compared to our considerably older and more established Ivy League counterparts, the University has quite a lot of ground to cover if it's going to accomplish its goal any time soon. Our undergraduate, graduate and professional schools' rapid ascension into the top tier over the last several years, however, should be an encouraging sign that we are ready to take on such a challenge.
As Keohane mentioned in her speech, one way in which the University has already demonstrated its determination to extend its reach into the global community is through the Fuqua School of Business' Global Executive MBA program. This program brings executives from all around the world together with each other and with professors via Internet chat sessions and online classes.
Such interaction in cyberspace is only the beginning of what appears to be a myriad of possibilities for students and researchers from all University divisions to interact with other institutions around the world, which certainly gives us a boost toward international prominence.
Naturally, a larger endowment would serve the University's purposes as well, and fortunately Keohane has been very successful in raising money for our capital campaign. In the context of the University's international strategy, this money could be used not only to enhance and augment our technology, but also to extend our financial aid checkbook to less privileged international students, thus truly making our admissions policy need-blind.
But high-tech gizmos and a bigger wallet are only part of the solution. In fact, there are some much simpler things the University could be doing to improve its international recognition and appeal.
Currently, there are many undergraduates who spend a semester studying abroad, enabling them to experience academia in a foreign environment and to become more aware of cultures different from their own. Unlike many of the Ivy League schools, however, the University does not have an organization that coordinates functions for these students studying abroad.
For example, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown and Cornell have a consortium that meets for dinners, operas, etc. We have virtually nothing, which is ridiculous, considering that we pay approximately $1,650 as a "study abroad fee." I haven't seen a dime of that money spent toward my education over here, while students from the aforementioned schools get a £75 allowance per term for cultural exploration.
I believe that there is also a major difference between the attention the University gives to its foreign studies centers-some of which are very prominent in the academic community-and to its foreign students, with the emphasis being on the former. A friend of mine from Singapore transferred to Harvard after freshman year, for example, because he was unhappy not only with the University's poor international recognition, but also with its lack of attention and programming through the International House. Another friend of mine from England told me that the University failed to tell him that his student visa expired while he was abroad last semester.
But the most important thing that the University needs to establish in order to become an international superstar is something that it is struggling to define even on the domestic front: its identity. Throughout this column I've been making overt references to Ivy League this and Ivy League that, and it certainly seems like the administration is taking us in that direction. For all of our bitching and moaning about not wanting the University to become like the Ivies, perhaps we should give them some respect for what they've accomplished.
Moreover, in light of what transpired this past weekend, frankly I would be embarrassed if an international student came to visit the University campus right now. Imagine if you were a student from a foreign country and you read in the campus newspaper about students running around campus throwing aerosol cans into bonfires, some of which had campus furniture for kindling. These same students were then chased by police in riot gear resulting in both parties ending up in the hospital. Doesn't make for much of an advertisement, now, does it?
And let us not also forget about the racial and ethnic tensions that still persist on campus, which would most likely not be looked upon favorably by international students. In fact, the alumni I spoke with in England were very disappointed that race relations at the University have not improved too significantly since their time at the supposed Gothic Wonderland. How can we talk about progressing toward international diversity when we can't even handle domestic diversity?
Thus, although there is relatively little doubt that the University has begun to take great strides in strengthening its recognition on the global horizon, it appears that there is just as much, if not more, work to be finished first on the home front.
Rod Feuer is a Trinity junior.
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