A few observations from the NAFSA conference
I’m back from a week of panels, meetings, receptions, and dozens and dozens of convention-hall conversations at the annual meeting of NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Now that I’ve had a chance to unpack my bags, I’m sifting through my notebooks. They’re full of tips, observations, and fodder for future reporting. But here are a few initial reflections from the conference:
There is a lot of concern about what’s next. I told you last week that the word I was hearing most often at the largest gathering of international educators was hopeful. A close runner-up: uncertain. One enrollment-management veteran told me that he had attended an open discussion on international recruitment hoping to come away with some clear strategies but instead found himself commiserating with fellow attendees about the cloudiness of international-admissions trends.
This sense of unpredictability isn’t confined to the recruitment of foreign students. I heard from education-abroad officials unsure about how fresh Covid alerts and the war in Ukraine could affect the appetite of Americans to go overseas. A clarification to federal pandemic guidance for online study released on the conference’s first day is sowing confusion among international-student advisers. Administrators are warily eyeing the U.S. Congress as it considers stiffening oversight of global research and partnerships. And a big wild card is China, where President Xi Jinping’s likely decision to seek a historic third term could affect academic partnerships and student mobility.
International education will continue to have important, but sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity. It was impossible not to notice just how many sessions at the conference focused on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including how to get more students of color to study abroad, foster collaboration between international and multicultural offices, and educate international students about race in America. I went to several panels and every one was packed, evidence of the hunger of international educators to engage in DEI work. I also met a number of doctoral students and early-career academics who are focusing their research on questions of diversity and international education.
Yet, this will not always be easy. Despite its focus on cultural diversity, there have been longstanding gaps between international education and domestic diversity programming. The field also is confronting its own relative lack of diversity, particularly in leadership roles, the subject of multiple sessions. As Jewell Winn, president of the Association of International Education Administrators, told another standing-room-only crowd, “You’ll be working more at the intersection of international education and diversity than ever before.” Winn, who is chief diversity officer and directs international programs at Tennessee State University, a historically Black institution, said there may be “tough conversations” ahead. “I’m comfortable with making you uncomfortable if you think about things — and especially if you act,” she said.
The hunger to reconnect was palpable. Not a few people told me they were so happy to be back among colleagues and friends, networking and exchanging ideas, that they cried. Among those who attended, there was a sense of renewal.
But, of course, many were not there. Their absence was a sobering reminder of the personal and professional toll Covid has taken on the field. One conference-goer said she had hoped to connect with other community-college leaders but few were present. Although two international-exchange groups announced they were starting a professional-development fund to help international educators attend NAFSA and other gatherings, budget strains prevented some people from coming, and some colleges have cut back their commitment to international ed. Could we see a widening divide been haves and have-nots?
And holding such meetings in the not-quite-post-pandemic era will continue to be tricky. Despite masking and vaccination requirements, since my return home from Denver, I’ve been pinged with emails and social-media notices of folks who’ve tested positive. Wishing everyone a swift recovery.