News From the Dean for
International and Border Programs
Bologna Process and Transatlantic Collaboration
For two
days, March 22-23, 2007, 16 European and 16 North American
international education leaders met in Amsterdam to explore the current
state and direction of the Bologna Process. I was privileged to have been among the invited North Americans. The symposium, entitled “The Bologna Process: Advancing Trans-Atlantic Collaboration in a Changing Higher Education Landscape,”
was sponsored by NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the
European Association of International Educators (EAIE). Designed
as a dialogue among colleagues, the symposium is part of NAFSA’s
ongoing effort in 2007 to provide useful, practical information that
policymakers on campuses can use to respond to the rapidly changing
European higher education environment.
In my
column this month, rather than focusing on the details of the Bologna
Process*, I will look at Bologna’s role in advancing
international mobility. This is the
symposium session to which I had been assigned as a respondent to my
European counterpart—Maria Kelo’s—presentation. Maria Kelo is a senior officer at the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA),
an independent European organization dedicated to the management,
analysis and improvement of education and training co-operation within
Europe and between Europe and other parts of the world. The
symposium, in general terms, focused on the state of Bologna and what
to expect in the coming years, with specific sessions that looked at:
· commonalities and differences in systems on both sides of the Atlantic
· Bologna’s role in advancing international mobility (which I discuss below)
· Bologna’s tools to promote transparency
· The status of Bologna implementation
The effect of Bologna on trans-Atlantic cooperation in international higher education
Two clear messages emerged from the session: Bologna’s role in advancing international mobility.
First, to date, there is not enough data to measure the impact that Bologna has had on mobility. This
is true for different types of student mobility: intra-European Union,
European Union/rest of the world, horizontal mobility (short-term and
semester programs), and vertical mobility (full degree programs). In
Europe, there is an obvious need for collecting and disseminating
statistics on higher education mobility at all levels (comparable to
the Open Doors series on U.S. higher education mobility published annually by the Institute for International Education).
Second,
the Bologna reform of degree structures and subsequent increases in
transparency, readability and rationalization of study programs is
bound to bring more mobility within the European Union and between the
European Union and the United States. Ninety-seven million students are currently enrolled in higher education institutions worldwide. In 2000, 1.7 million studied outside of their own countries; an anticipated 8 million are projected to do so by 2025.
At
present, most of the incoming mobility in European countries is from
other European countries and not from the United States nor from
non-European countries. On the other hand; most of the outgoing mobility from Europe to non-European countries is indeed directed to the United States. And
with the growing acceptance of the Bologna three-year bachelor’s
degree among graduate schools in the U.S.**, there will, in all
likelihood, be more and more European students in U.S. master degree
programs in the near future.
Student
mobility, either through short-term (horizontal) or long-term (full
degree programs) study abroad programs, will surely continue to grow
worldwide. As I have pointed out in a
previous column, U.S. student mobility, i.e. study abroad, is growing
rapidly and will continue to do so, especially if the Senator
Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007 is signed into law
(currently under consideration in both the U.S. Senate and House of
Representative). On the other side of the Atlantic, the Bologna Process has established student mobility as one
of its major goals, indeed going so far as to predict that an academic
degree without an international experience will be a less worthy degree. However,
the distance between the goal (study abroad as an expectation) and the
reality (the percentage of students who actually study abroad) is still
significant both in the U.S. and in Europe. There
is much to be done—both in the U.S. and in Europe—to
enhance study abroad and ensure that university graduates understand
and comprehend the incredible and wonderful diversity of the world in
which they live.
*The reader might look at the following source for background information on the Bologna Process: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/EHEA2010/BolognaPedestrians_en.asp
**
According to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), the percentage of
U.S. institutions that do not accept three-year Bologna-compliant
degrees went down from 29 percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2006.
New Aerospace Engineering
A new undergraduate dual degree program is currently being negotiated between NMSU’s Mechanical Engineering Department and the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (UACH). The program will allow approximately 20 students from the UACH to take the first 6 semesters of course work at UACH and complete the last three semesters at NMSU and received a dual degree from both UACH and NMSU in Aerospace Engineering. Although the program has not been formally approved, numerous meetings at NMSU and UACH have taken place over the last 5 months and both universities have agreed to the final curriculum which will be required from students entering this degree program.
Those working on this program from NMSU are: Thomas Burton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Head, Ronald Pederson, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Associate Department Head, Ida Baca, Associate Dean for International & Border Programs, and Imelda Olague, NMSU Civil Engineering Ph.D. candidate who is also a faculty member of the UACH Faculty of Engineering. Those working on this program from UACH are numerous, but the effort is being headed by Oscar Raúl Herrera Lagunas, Director of the Faculty of Engineering, Juan Carlos Sáenz Carrasco, Secretario Académico, and Omar Hinojos Carrasco, Secretario de Planeación. Although the program design and agreement will be finalized within the next month, UACH students are not expected to begin arriving at NMSU until the Fall of 2008 at the earliest. For further information about this program, please contact Tom Burton at 646-3501.
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NMSU and UACH negotiating dual degree program during May 8 and 9 in Chihuahua
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NSF-New Mexico - Chihuahua Partners
Throughout
the 2006- 2007 academic year the members of the New
Mexico—Chihuahua Partnership for Innovation have actively worked
on the progress of their respective projects. A
conference was held at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) campus Chihuahua in April, 2007; each
of the teams delivered a PowerPoint presentation that depicted their
goals, progress, and future outlook. A summary and description of each
partner institution’s progress is provided below.
Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados (CIMAV)
Project:
Develop a kit that will be used to determine the sex gender in
reptiles, birds, and mammals. Prominent companies have recently
demonstrated an interest in the efficient sex identifying kit developed
by the CIMAV. The team has concluded the technical training phase of
their project and is currently researching new product applications for
the use of their kit. Research findings have determined that this
technology is not only useful as a “sex gender determination
method” in crocodiles but can also be utilized on other species.
A testing kit prototype is in the works and a patent registration in
Mexico; and a patent registration application by PCT.
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT)
Project: Develop a water filtration system to remove bacteria and viruses. NMT
plans to install filtration systems along the border in Mexico to study
the efficiency of their work and prepare the new technology for
industrialization. The 5-student team,
under the direction of Dr Peter Anselmo, has engaged in technology and
market research, experimental design, discussions with potential
funding sources, and interfacing with students from partner schools as
they pursue the overall goal of development of a technology-based
market plan for commercialization of SMZ/ZVI. They have also participated in the physical and experimental designs associated with the wastewater and drinking water tests. New
Mexico Tech students have also gained valuable contacts and experience
interacting with students from the PFI partner universities and
extremely valuable, hands-on experience with the commercialization of
innovations.
Joint
Project Between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Instituto
Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores (ITESM) Project: Develop the
commercialization wind energy and technology along the Border. The
NMSU team business students are determining the political and economic
requirements for developing small (5-10MW) wind farms on Mexican ejidos
(cooperative farms and ranches) that promote local economic development. This
project includes assisting SEMARNAT (Mexican Environmental Secretariat)
on establishing guidelines for wind farm implementation in Mexico. In
February 2007, the NMSU wind team completed a windpower analysis based
on three years of monitored data for the NASA White Sands test facility
in Doña Ana County. The student team is now moving into the
commercial planning development phase and will develop a pro forma
financial analysis for the NASA wind site. Completion
of the construction work for the project was completed the last week of
March, 2007. Giselle Lujan, from the ITESM team, is conducting the cost
analysis to develop the wind tower in the Chihuahua campus and the
future economic feasibility of the same.
The
American Wind Energy Association approved a poster presentation from
the NMSU and ITESM wind energy student teams on Borderlands wind energy
development. The poster will be presented at the Windpower 2007
conference held in Los Angeles, CA in June, 2007.
Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ)
Project: Develop GIS software for local real estate agents use in Ciudad Juárez.
Retirement of Ms. Rita Stevens
The
Office in International and Border Programs would like to publicly
acknowledge the retirement of Ms. Rita Stevens, Records Specialist for
International Admissions and Sponsored Students. Rita
is retiring after working with our office for the past ten years. She
has been a dedicated employee who will be greatly missed by both staff
and students alike.
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CONGRATULATIONS RITA!! |