We're delighted to announce an exciting opportunity for our campus: UC Santa Cruz's participation in the American Council on Education's 16th Internationalization Laboratory cohort. Our work with the lab will be done in close collaboration with our Academic Senate.
The Internationalization Laboratory aims to help U.S. colleges and universities craft comprehensive internationalization strategies, with the ultimate goal of infusing global perspectives in all teaching, research, and scholarship. The lab also aims to widen institutional partnerships and relations on the international stage.
Technological advances have shrunk the world. Communities across the globe are becoming increasingly connected — via social media, commerce, and, of course, higher education. UC Santa Cruz has more students studying abroad right now than at any other time in its history, and a growing population of international students. We have seen a burgeoning number of global research partnerships and faculty collaborations. Developing and supporting our international programs and partnerships, with the insights and guidance of our faculty, will serve us well.
The idea of widening our international footprint is not new. Our faculty and students have been reaching across the globe for years, and we have worked to support them by creating a Division of Global Engagement. Our strategic academic planning will work synergistically with the ACE program. Our work in the cohort can support experiential learning, our commitment to diversity, the components of our Design Principles that focus on our world-transforming work, as well as our Academic Priority Areas that look to global futures and the well-being of people and places across the globe.
UC Santa Cruz joins 10 other U.S. universities in the cohort. This effort—assessing and analyzing our current international activities, determining where we can most effectively focus our energies, then creating a plan that will lead us there—will unfold over the next 18 months. At that point, a final report will be delivered to campus leaders, who will determine how our campus can best proceed.
Our participation with ACE is occurring in close collaboration with the Academic Senate, and will be led by a steering committee of about 15 members: Senate representatives, faculty at large, and faculty administrators. Our work will touch all departments and divisions, faculty and staff.
We urge all who are interested in this effort to visit our ACE Internationalization Lab website. There you'll find details about the lab, timeline, participants, and more. We'll be updating the site as the process unfolds. We hope you will take part in bringing a global perspective to our campus goals of teaching, research, and service.
