Weber State Hosts International Lecture Series on Higher Education Administration
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University is hosting a virtual speaker series on “Internationalization and Higher Education Administration” with students, staff and faculty participating from universities in multiple countries, including the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Canada and Malaysia.
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The series focuses on bridging the literature and theories of internationalization with the professional work being done in universities. After each virtual talk, there is a cross-national online forum where participants can share their experiences and perspectives from various countries and professions.
“We invited experienced scholars and practitioners as our speakers,” said Yimin Wang, WSU Senior International officer and co-leader of the initiative. “In the online forums we discuss how what we learn in these talks can be helpful in our daily work, including enhancing our global competency, fostering intercultural understanding and better serving students from all cultural backgrounds.”
The first virtual talk took place on March 22 and attracted an audience of 175 people from various institutions in the U.S. and internationally. While most participants speak English, bilingual facilitators from partnering universities are on hand for anyone who may need assistance.
The community is invited to join the remaining discussions, which will run through April 12, via Zoom video conferencing. The schedule and Zoom links can be found at weber.edu/internationalprograms/speakerseries.
The speaker series is also part of a graduate level course for the Higher Education Leadership program housed in the Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education Master of Education program.
The course and speaker series is a collaboration with multiple international partner universities, including the Xiamen University in China, University of Malaya in Malaysia, Tohoku University in Japan, as well as Southwest University and Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College in China.
Students in the course are expected to attend the virtual lectures, as well as collaborate with their peers from other universities to complete a project and create a cross-national virtual presentation at the end of the semester.
The groups choose a profession found at higher education institutions and consider the similarities and differences of the role at various universities globally. They are also asked to examine how the same profession can differ significantly depending on location and institutional culture. After they have researched the selected profession, student groups will then create a plan to make this profession more “internationalized” and present their work to the class.
“In almost two decades of immersion in international higher education work, this is the most innovative course I've seen,” said Brett Perozzi, WSU Student Affairs vice president and co-leader of the initiative. “The mixture of Weber State student enrollment, internship opportunities related to the course, global facilitators and opening the lecture portions to the public is truly creative. The blending of synchronous instruction across multiple countries with more intimate small group discussions has pushed international collaborative learning to the next level.”
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Shaylee Stevens, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7948 • shayleestevens@weber.edu- Contact:
Yimin Wang, WSU Senior International officer and assistant professor
734-972-6017 • yiminwang@weber.edu