International efforts profiled in report

Mon, November 17, 2008 |

Valparaiso University's success in promoting international learning is showcased in a report released today, Nov. 17, by NAFSA: Association of International Educators to celebrate the beginning of International Education Week.

Valparaiso is one of five institutions in the United States featured in Internationalizing the Campus 2008: Profiles of Success at Colleges and Universities. The report takes an in-depth look at Valparaiso and other winners of this year's Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. In exploring the University's model approaches, exemplary practices and innovative efforts in international education, the report illustrates how Valparaiso is a leader in the growing effort to better prepare students for a global economy and an interconnected world.

In celebration of International Education Week, Valparaiso's Office of International Programs and the Valparaiso International Student Association are having a Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 21 at Viking Chili Bowl in Valparaiso. The owner of the restaurant, a Valparaiso student from Macedonia, will host the dinner for Valparaiso's international students and scholars.

Holly Singh, director of international students and scholars, said the University has a long history of emphasizing a global outlook throughout the student experience, including its international study programs, interactions with international students on campus and a wide variety of cultural events.

"You can't run away from the knowledge that we live in a global world," Singh says. "Our students are constantly exposed to that globalized world and have to think about what that means for how they will live in the world."

The Senator Paul Simon Award, named for the late senator from Illinois, seeks to recognize institutions where international education is broadly infused across the learning environment. Senator Simon was a strong advocate for international education throughout his career in public service. His efforts were instrumental in the creation of the National Security Education Program, and his visionary leadership remains central to current efforts to establish a national program to increase the number of American students who study abroad. The 2008 Simon Award winners are distinguished by the support and participation of their campus leadership, faculty, visiting scholars, staff, students, and communities in creating an integrated global approach to the curriculum, campus programs, and outreach on their campuses.

NAFSA also selected Valparaiso as a spotlight institution in last year's annual report on campus internationalization. The University is only the second institution of higher education to win the Simon Award after being featured in NAFSA's report the previous year.

Valparaiso maintains Study Centers in China, England, Germany and Mexico and participates in 10 other study abroad programs which host approximately 200 students annually. Undergraduate programs are offered in Chinese and Japanese Studies, International Economics and Cultural Affairs, International Service, International Business and eight languages, as well as graduate programs in Chinese Studies and International Commerce and Policy.

Valparaiso also has witnessed a boom in international student enrollment over the past five years. This fall it set a record for international student enrollment with 292 international students (245 on non-immigrant visas) from 55 countries on campus – an increase of nearly 50 percent from fall 2007. International students now make up more than 7 percent of the student body.

According to the Institute for International Education's Open Doors report, also released today (Nov. 17), there was a 7 percent increase in international students in the United States from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008.

During the past year, Valparaiso became the first faith-based university in the United States selected to host a Confucius Institute, a non-profit institute established and funded by the Chinese government to promote cultural, business, educational, artistic and government exchanges between China and northern Indiana. The University's chapter of Engineers Without Borders was nominated this fall for the International Citizen of the Year Award and named a friend of Kenya in honor of its humanitarian work in the country, and the College of Engineering launched a Valparaiso International Engineering Program-French that builds upon its existing German program.

With nearly 10,000 members, NAFSA is the world's largest professional association dedicated to international education. More information about international study at Valparaiso is available on the Web.