This award supports a two-phase symposium on ?Strategic Initiatives for University Internationalization? between universities in the U.S. and Japan. The symposium will involve US and Japanese university officials with responsibility for campus internationalization to share best practices and encourages collaboration. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of science and engineering education in university internationalization strategies.
The first meeting will be held May 22-24, 2008 in advance of the annual conference for NAFSA: Association for International Educators in Washington, DC. The meeting will explore U.S. and Japanese perspectives on internationalization, comparative policy initiatives, institutional approaches to campus internationalization, international collaboration and consortia and mobility of students and researchers. Japanese participants will be officials from twenty universities receiving special ?Strategic International Headquarters? grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to become models in Japan for university internationalization. U.S. participants will be officials from universities and organizations that have been recognized for model programs, especially in the area of science and engineering. A second symposium is scheduled in Japan for December 1-5, 2008 beginning in Tokyo and including travel to universities in other parts of Japan. U.S. participants will include a subset of the officials participating in the May meeting. Special attention will be paid to representation from a diverse group of U.S. universities, and to encouraging follow-up collaborative activities in science and engineering research and education.
