Themes
ConnectEd focuses on globalization and its impact on higher education around the world in creating a global curriculum; mobilizing people and ideas across cultures and borders; innovating to transcend barriers; and collaborating with businesses, governments, NGOs and philanthropic organizations to shape higher education’s response to the challenges of the 21st century.
Innovations in Education
Individuals, governments, businesses, and NGOs have fostered innovation in education with varying degrees of success. ConnectEd will provide a venue for analysis and discussion of innovations in international higher education by those directly involved in their development and implementation. Conferees will engage questions such as, “How is success measured with innovative models?” “Are there best practices for the development and testing of new models?” “What are the costs associated with such innovation?” “How is the role of the private sector managed in relation to established education?” and, “How is risk assessment integrated into the startup and implementation of new models and products?”
Language and Cultural Competence
Communications technology has increased access and speed between users with a reliance on comparative increases in language skills and learning. ConnectEd will consider the following questions, “What is the role played by global education English-language programs at the university level in traditionally non-English speaking cultures?” “How instrumental have these programs been in internationalizing the campus?” “How do we engender genuine cross-cultural competence in teachers and learners around the world, enabling them to engage their peers in effective collaboration in tackling the most pressing global problems of the 21st century?” and, “What role do languages play in a global curriculum?”
Educational Mobility
Colleges and universities are becoming more international as students seek opportunities for education in the global marketplace. ConnectEd will look at new models for joint degree programs across national, linguistic, and cultural boundaries. It will ask, “How do supra-national agreements such as the Bologna Accords, global outreach ventures such as Education City in Qatar, international joint degree programs, partnerships, integrated study abroad modules and internships affect the way faculties and universities think of their curricula?” and, “What are new models that go beyond multiple credentialing to explore actual cross-cultural study and research options, drawing on the respective academic strengths of collaborating institutions?”
Transnational Issues
Global issues are attaining greater stature as they become more immediate to citizens and their governments. Issues such as global warming, supra-regional conflict resolution, international terrorism, and devolution of nation states confront universities with the challenge of ensuring that teaching and research reflect these global priorities. ConnectEd will convene experts on these issues who will ask, “How do we coordinate and share information on transnational issues?” “What are the new criteria for teaching these issues effectively to the next generation?”
International Higher Education Competitiveness
ConnectEd will have a forward vision for evaluation future trends in international higher education. It will ask, “How can U.S. institutions of higher education remain competitive in attracting tomorrow’s information nomads when access to U.S. universities is less desirable for international students and researchers?”
Educating the NextGen
“What skills and knowledge will the next generation of global leaders need?” “How do institutions of higher education partner with other sectors to ensure that these needs are met?” “How can we identify the values worth preserving in 20th century educational paradigms and ensure their survival beyond the next generation?” “Can the digital technologies that have become pervasive in our daily lives be employed effectively to expand and extend educational communities beyond our bricks-and-mortar campuses?” and, “What will it mean to pursue higher education in 2028?”
