The Q-List:  A Faculty Fellows Research Agenda for the Profession

Globalization and Internationalization

Globalization has resulting in nations increasing their higher education capacity to meet the increased demand for a highly trained and educated workforce. Internationalization of higher education has focused on providing nations whose higher education capacity is not yet sufficient to meet these new demands with access to a quality education through distance learning, branch campuses, joint programs, study abroad, and other learning opportunities provided by well-established higher education institutions. Both globalization and internationalization bring forth challenges and opportunities for student affairs educators. Three researchable questions related to these topics are:

1. What is the role of student affairs professionals in a national system where higher education is seen as a public good rather than a private benefit?
2. How are student affairs professionals meeting the current needs of international students related to student engagement and learning opportunities?
3. How does a student affairs/student development model fit and/or work under new cultural conditions, where institutional presence is either virtual or through proxies with institutions with a model that differs from the U.S. student affairs context?