Collegiate Times

Growing globalization had all 12 Atlantic Coast Conference presidents uncertain about the best way to develop international education programs. Strengthening international agendas caused the presidents to form the International Academic Collaborations.

?We wanted to take a sports conference and reinforce its image as an academic conference. All institutions recognized growing globalization and wanted to develop an agenda that incorporates research and implement that research in the curriculum,? said Virginia Tech President Charles Steger.

?Five years ago, the then nine presidents of the ACC felt that there was an unrealized opportunity to build on the institutional cooperation and develop some programs and share the successes of all,? said David Brown, provost emeritus of Wake Forest University.

The IAC conference, which is being held at Virginia Tech this week, gives ACC universities the opportunity to develop and strengthen educational programs devoted to preparing students for international job environments.

?The conference?s biggest idea is the concept of working together to enhance all the universities study abroad opportunities for undergraduates,? said John Dooley, Tech?s vice provost for outreach and international affairs.

Brown said that an ACC collaboration could achieve a critical mass on international programs that are not achievable by a single institution.

Steger opened the conference emphasizing the advancement of ACC/IAC collaboration.

?President Steger put a lot of importance on preparing students for a global economy and the international knowledge that will allow students to move from one area to another,? said Susan Felker, Tech?s public relations coordinator.

The conference held sessions on Thursday that discussed Study Abroad programs, internationalizing universities and research cooperation with international universities.

?Most of the institutions will develop an evaluation, an exit questionnaire for the students who are returning from abroad. This will allow us to judge whether students are really impacted by the semester,? Brown said.

Dooley said an important need is to be attentive at assessing the impact that study abroad has on students, and be able to quantify the experience.

?Another program that interested a lot of universities was Florida State?s freshman year abroad. The Tallahassee campus would enroll freshman abroad before they even got to campus,? Brown said.

More ideas about funding study abroad programs for students will help those that cannot presently afford the growing opportunities.

Every year the ACC takes $350,000 from championship game revenues and uses it to fund international programs. Not only that but the ACC program is giving $5,000 to each school that will create two study abroad scholarships of 2,500, Brown said.

The next conference sponsored by the IAC will be on April 23 and 24 at Clemson and will present undergraduate research.

Josiah Tlou, the director of the Virginia Tech/Malawi UPIC project said, ?We are living in a global society. Travel has made distances shorter and the Internet has shortened it even more.?