Regional public colleges work to change their global profile
American students have been slow to resume studying abroad in China after the pandemic, with cooling relations between the two countries and U.S. government travel warnings putting a damper on exchanges. The U.S. embassy in Beijing has said only about 800 students studied in China in spring 2024.
But this summer, one program, supported by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, sent 80 students to China. With scholarships from the Chinese government, students from Northern Arizona University explored Chinese culture, while others from Bemidji State University, in Minnesota, focused on global health. A group from California State University at Northridge studied managerial accounting.
Regional public colleges like these are not often thought of as hubs for international education: They don’t have the high profiles that typically pull in a lot of brand-name-conscious foreign students while many of their domestic students don’t have the time or money to travel abroad.
International engagement takes resources. And the leaders of regional colleges may see their missions as local, not global.
Yet a number of these institutions have quietly carved out their own places in global education, ones that reflect their distinct profiles. They have emphasized strengths like lower tuition costs or strong employer connections to appeal to certain populations of overseas students. They have taken advantage of technology and tailored programs to meet their students’ particular needs or constraints.
AASCU, as the state-college organization is also known, has a long history of international ties. The group’s first delegation traveled to China more than four decades ago, shortly after relations with the United States were normalized and China reopened to academic exchange. Xuesong Shen, current minister counselor for education at the Chinese embassy in Washington, earned a graduate degree in political science at Ball State University, a regional public in Indiana, and spent time as an AASCU intern.
The organization supports efforts to help colleges establish overseas partnerships and build international offerings, such as short-term study-abroad and joint-degree programs, in China and around the globe. It sustained the programs even when the pandemic halted worldwide travel, said Terry Brown, vice president for academic innovation and transformation at AASCU.
Research has shown that international study can improve academic success, particularly for students who are first generation, low income, or from underrepresented minority groups — precisely the students who enroll disproportionately at AASCU institutions. Brown, who previously was provost at the State University of New York at Fredonia, recalls a student who was a former foster child and struggled to find direction until she won a scholarship to take part in an immersive short-term program in China. “Like so many, she thought study abroad was out of her reach,” Brown said of her former student, who went on to major in international business. “She found the confidence that comes with navigating a foreign culture.”
Brown and I spoke after AASCU’s summer meeting, where I led a plenary-panel discussion on international education. Having an international experience makes a difference not only for students but for the communities they come from and are likely to return to for work, which have become part of a worldwide economy. “Embracing stewardship of place is to understand how the local is part of the global ecosystem,” Brown said.
The first international students who came to Salem State University, north of Boston, were often the nieces and nephews of residents of nearby immigrant communities. The college has since tried to become more intentional in its outreach. One way it has done this is to embrace a “siloed approach to international recruitment and retention,” said Julie Whitlow, vice president for faculty and global engagement, through joint-degree programs with partner universities in China.
Students in the programs start at their home institutions, then come to Salem State for two years before returning to China for their final year. When in China, they get some Salem State instruction, through online coursework and a visiting professor, and they earn both Chinese and American degrees, a valuable calling card in a competitive job market.
Rather than recruiting the students individually, they come to Salem State as part of a cohort. The college currently has two groups of joint-degree students, in accounting and English, on campus, and is starting new programs in computer science, early childhood education, and international business, Whitlow said.
In Massachusetts, where the college-age population has declined, Salem State consistently has about 200 international students a year, she said.
