AGENDA ITEM NO: 14.1 UNIVERSITY COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE FOR INFORMATION ONLY PRESENTED BY: Gap Soo Chang; Chair, International Activities Committee DATE OF MEETING: June 18, 2015 SUBJECT: Year-end Report to Council for 2014-15 COUNCIL ACTION: For information only INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL YEAR-END REPORT 2014-15 The committee met on ten occasions in the 2014-15 academic year. The International Activities Committee is responsible for: 1. Recommending to Council on issues relating to international activities at the University of Saskatchewan. 2. Encouraging the development of programs and curricula that provide an international perspective on campus. 3. Promoting and expanding scholarly exchange programs for faculty, students and staff. 4. Encouraging interactions with university and education/research institutions outside Canada, thereby fostering new opportunities for University of Saskatchewan stakeholders in international teaching, learning and research. 5. Receiving an annual report on matters relating to international student, faculty and alumni activities from the International Coordinating Committee. Committee Membership Council Members Gap Soo Chang (Chair) William Albritton Hongming Cheng Physics & Engineering Physics Microbiology & Immunology Sociology 2017 2016 2017 General Academic Assembly Members Abraham Akkerman Jian Yang Michael Cottrell (co vice-chair) Angela Kalinowski Mabood Qureshi(co vice-chair) Geography and Planning Pharmacy and Nutrition Educational Administration History Pathology 2017 2017 2015 2015 2015 1 Other members Patti McDougall Diane Martz Jack Saddleback Rahwa Osman Alison Pickrell [Provost designate] Vice-Provost Teaching and Learning (ex officio) [designate for Vice-President Research] Director, International Research and Partnerships [USSU designate] VP Student Affairs, USSU [GSA designate] VP External, GSA Director of Enrolment Services Resource members Derek Tannis Penny Skilnik Manager, International Student and Study Abroad Centre (ISSAC) Director of Special Projects, College of Graduate Studies and Research Secretary: Amanda Storey; Committee Coordinator, Office of the University Secretary Issues and discussions Monthly Updates Each meeting, the International Activities Committee (IAC) received monthly updates from International Office, including lists of new international agreements. The committee also invites members from the College of Graduate Studies and Research (CGSR), and Student and Enrolment Services Division (SESD) to attend meetings and provide regular updates to the committee on international activities in those units. Monthly updates, including lists of new International Agreements, are available on the committee’s website: www.usask.ca/secretariat/governing-bodies/council/committee/international/index.php Subcommittee on International Metrics Over the last two years, the International Activities Committee has discussed the importance of identifying priority areas to measure and improve internationalization at the university. The committee agrees that establishing such metrics will allow us to determine whether we are meeting University goals for international activity, and will provide direction to the University on actions that can be taken to improve how we are perceived internationally. A subcommittee was struck this year to identify metrics. Members of the subcommittee are as follows: From the IAC: Michael Cottrell (Chair), Gap Soo Chang, Diane Martz, Alison Pickrell, Penny Skilnik From the Research, Scholarly, and Artistic Works Committee: Rainer Dick From the Office of the VP, Research: David Harris, Darcy Marciniuk From Institutional Planning and Assessment:Troy Harkot Administrative Support: Amanda Storey The subcommittee met on November 5, 2014, January 27, March 5, March 19, and May 22, 2015. The committee will continue its work in the 2015/16 year, working in step with the Office of the Vice President Research as they develop a blueprint for action on internationalization. Reports received Internationalization in various colleges In the first term of 2014/15 academic year, the committee heard from the College of Arts and Science, the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the College of Engineering about 2 internationalization initiatives. Ms. Andrea Wasylow-Ducasse explained the efforts of the College of Arts and Science to enhance internationalization, noting that they have struggled a bit in meeting their international targets because of a lack of institutional authority for internationalization with the current configuration of vice deans in the college, but that with the restructuring of the vice dean portfolios, this should be remedied. Once responsibility for internationalization is clearly identified, the college’s goals revolve around developing standard processes and procedures for considering MOUs with other countries. In November 2014, Dr. Murray Drew attended from the College of Agriculture and Bioresources and discussed their international enrolment success, with 10% of their overall student body and 53% of their graduate students being international. He noted that the college has been building relationships with institutions in Japan to deliver a 3+1 program and has been building relationships with institutions in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. In February 2015, Dr. Reza Fotouhi of the College of Engineering attended and outlined the opportunities that the college has been pursuing to increase internationalization, both with international students attending here, but also with local students participating in international exchange programs. He outlined agreements that are currently in place with Ecuador, China, India, and France. He noted that the College of Engineering has a high level of internationalization in its faculty, with at least 50% being foreign born and trained. This has aided in the college’s ability to establish partnerships overseas, as many partnerships are a result of personal connections and interests. The IAC will continue their review of internationalization initiatives in the colleges in 2015/16 academic year, with the aim of bringing a report to Council for information. Graduate Pathways Certificate and CCDE Bridging Program In March 2015, the committee received a presentation from David Parkinson and Lisa Krol outlining innovative approaches to international student retention through the University Learning Centre. The bridging program allows for students to participate in English language classes alongside a 100-level humanities or social science class, in order to encourage deeper comprehension of the subject matter, apply their fledgling English skills in an academic context, and learn about the academic culture at a Canadian institution. It has been a very successful program with a low failure rate. The Graduate Pathways Certificate is an intensive program that allows for academically gifted international students to accelerate their language learning and commence their graduate program. Other activities Confucius Institute The committee first discussed the Confucius Institute in November 2014, when the Coordinating Committee of Council tasked the IAC to review the Centres Policy as well as the agreements that lead to the establishment of the Confucius institute. This request was in response to concerns raised about having strong ties with countries known to have oppressive regimes. The committee replied to the Coordinating Committee by memo in December 2014, noting that no concern was raised about political issues in the review of the MOU signed to establish the Confucius Institute as a type-B centre. 3 Following lively discussion of the Confucius Institute at the January 2015 meeting of University Council, the IAC invited Dr. Len Findlay, Dr. David Parkinson, and Dr. Li Zong to attend a meeting of the committee to outline their positions regarding the Confucius Institute. The committee heard all parties, asked questions, and provided a memo to the Confucius Institute Working Group, outlining their concerns. The committee was concerned about possibly endangering our relationship with the Beijing Institute of Technology and the impact on student mobility that might arise if the university ended their agreement with the Confucius Institute. Conversely, the committee questioned how the Confucius Institute, in offering non-credit language instruction and cultural programming, fits with the academic mission of the university. The committee also expressed the desire to see a strong management team at the university to steer our involvement with the Confucius Institute and to tackle these difficult issues. Visibility of International Information The committee discussed in January and again in May 2015 how to ensure that information on international activities is effectively communicated to students and university community members. There are many pages on the university website having information that would be useful both for international students studying at the university and local students looking for international study opportunities, but they are not jointly linked or managed. The committee noted that the primary communication tool with international students is the website and it would be useful to pull pertinent information together under a single tab, preferably on the usask.ca front page. Ivan Muzychka and Jeff Drake of Advancement and Community Engagement attended the May IAC meeting to discuss possible options with the committee and eased concerns about the availability of information on usask.ca for international visitors. They noted that analytics are showing that international users are successful in locating the information they look for. A suggestion that arose was to have specific pages of the university website translated into the languages of our common applicants—perhaps the homepage, the “apply now” page, and information about tuition and scholarships. Acknowledgements On behalf of the Committee, I wish to thank Mabood Qureshi who acted as Vice-Chair of the committee this year and the various members of the University Secretary’s office who supported the committee this year. I also thank all the members of the Committee for their thoughtful participation in the Committee’s work. Respectfully submitted, Gap Soo Chang, International Activities Committee of Council 4