EAST LANSING, Mich. ― Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon has been invited to participate in the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, co-hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Jan. 5-6 in Washington, D.C.
The secretaries will engage leaders of U.S. higher education in a renewed partnership to strengthen international education, emphasizing its importance to the national interest. Rice and Spellings have called this summit, organized by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, to initiate a dialogue on the need for government to work collaboratively with the non-governmental sector on the future of U.S. higher education in a global arena.
“Michigan State University is the global prototype of a genuinely American brand of higher education―one that is an engine of the economy, a force for the democratization of public learning, the model for engagement with the world beyond the campus, and a catalyst for improving the quality of life in Michigan and around the world,” said Simon. “Internationalization is not a fad at MSU. We have a long and deep involvement with institutions around the world that have benefited the state of Michigan in addition to the partner institutions.”
For more on the U.S. University Presidents Summit, go to www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2005/12/12282005.html
Examples of MSU’s international initiatives include:
- Faculty of Education Reform Project, a five-year partnership with seven Egyptian universities and their local feeder schools to improve children’s learning capacity;
- U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence, a partnership to research and develop effective models of K-12 education that integrate the strengths of Eastern and Western practices; and
- PEARL: Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda Through Linkages that is assisting Rwanda in its efforts to rebuild from the effects of war by producing coffee, chili peppers and cassava products.
Here are just some of the facts about Michigan State's international presence:
- Founded the first international programs office among major U.S. universities in 1956.
- Has the largest study abroad program among public universities in the U.S.
- Has more than 25 internationally focused centers, institutes, offices and programs, including ones focused on world area studies, international development, language education and research, international business education, agriculture, gender and health.
- Hosts the Japan Center for Michigan Universities in Hikone, Japan, which is administered by MSU and offers programs in Japan on behalf of all 15 public universities in Michigan.
- Developed and maintains MSU Global Access (www.msuglobalaccess.net), a Web-based directory with more than 8,000 annotated links to information about the world including country information, maps and news.
- Has approximately 1,300 faculty engaged in international scholarship and instruction abroad.
- Has grown from 12 study abroad programs in nine countries in 1970 to more than 200 programs in more than 60 countries today on all continents, including Antarctica.
- Offers “Freshman Seminars Abroad” in which incoming freshmen participate in a summer international experience before they arrive on the East Lansing campus.
- Has hosted international students since the 1870s and currently has an international community of more than 4,000 students, scholars and their family members.
- 3,293 international students from 127 countries are studying at MSU as of fall 2005; the largest numbers are from China, Korea, India, Taiwan, Canada and Japan.