ATLANTA — Conversations on the importance of Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) internationalizing their campuses, advocacy for DREAMers and collaborative partnerships between other minority-serving institutions for Hispanic student success filled the final day of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities’ (HACU) Annual Conference.
An opening international plenary on the role of HSI presidents and CEOs in internationalizing their campuses offered best practices to provide international experiences to students, infuse cross-cultural engagement into curriculum and attain buy-in from campus and external partners.
“Make internationalization a long-term, strategic priority” and investment, said Dr. Fernando León García, president of CETYS University. “In order for this to be meaningful, you have to link it to learning outcomes. It is about what skills, what experiences the students have gained so that they have a rich portfolio when they go out into the marketplace.”
García added that institutions should seek financial and operational sustainability of their internationalization efforts, and that they should not only focus on students, but involve faculty, too, as they are the ones who will “perpetuate the effort” once students graduate, he said.
Efforts to internationalize a campus can be sustained through building partnerships and alliances with strategic partners around the world, García said, highlighting initiatives like the Partners of the Americas or the Erasmus Mundus program. He suggested that another approach for institutions includes identifying, nurturing and promoting campus “evangelizers of internationalization,” who can then recruit and engage others in various departments or colleges within the institution.
Other approaches included creating “internationalization committees” of administrators, faculty and students, creating a Center for International Education such as the one at Dalton State College or working with cultural centers and student organizations to promote study abroad and provide cross-cultural learning opportunities for the campus community.
“In the end,” García said, “it’s about enriching [students’] experiences and preparing globally competitive citizens.”
