Global Connections, Summer 2014

Welcome

Welcome to the fall 2014 issue of Global Connections, our newsletter designed to highlight the diversity of the University’s engagement in the world and in bringing the world to BU. We are proud to lend a hand in advancing BU’s global strategy and supporting its global initiatives.

Since our last newsletter, our team has been busy meeting with visitors and delegations from across the globe, working to connect professors and students across campus around their international interests, collaborating with faculty to offer exciting new programs to study abroad, supporting a growing international student population, and providing the tools to help keep our BU community safe and secure when those interests take them overseas or when world crises – like the Ebola outbreak – potentially impact our campuses.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter. If you have any questions or great stories you would like to share for our next newsletter, coming April 2015, please contact us at global@bu.edu.

With best wishes,

Willis G. Wang
Vice President and Associate Provost for Global Programs

In this Issue:

Open Doors ranks BU in top 25

For international students and study abroad

According to recently released Open Doors data, Boston University once again ranks in the top 25 list of universities with the most international students on campus and the most students studying abroad. The release of the Open Doors report, published by the Institute of International Education, is timed to coincide with the official start of International Education Week and is self-described as a “comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the United States, and U.S. students studying abroad for academic credit at their home colleges or universities.”

For the second year in a row, BU ranks #12 among campuses with the most international students on campus, and #11 among campuses with the most students studying abroad. The international student ranking reflects numbers from the 2013/14 academic year, while the study abroad ranking reflects data from 2012/13.

Madrid & Paris celebrate site anniversaries

Plus: Changing of the guard for Madrid leadership

The long history of Boston University’s engagement internationally is one in which Study Abroad has played a key part. This year Study Abroad is proud to celebrate two milestone anniversaries: Madrid, Spain, which celebrated 30 years earlier this year; and Paris, France, which celebrated 25 years in November by collaborating with Alumni Relations on a reception commemorating the history of a quarter-decade of BU in Paris, as well as welcoming BU’s newest batch of international alumni.

BU’s Paris site, which opened in 1989, welcomed friends on November 14th for a celebration hosted by Director of Paris Programs and BU alumna Renee Pontbriand. Invited guests heard from William Keylor (Professor of International Relations and History at the Pardee School of Global Studies of Boston University) who offered a keynote talk on “France and America: The Love-Hate (Mostly Love) Relationship of Four Centuries,” along with welcome addresses from Vice President and Associate Provost of Global Programs Willis Wang and Executive Director of Study Abroad Heather Barclay Hamir.

“Paris is a vibrant metropolis with a global influence on both business and culture,” praised Pontbriand. “We are proud to be the leaders in this area of higher education, having shepherded over 2,400 students through the process of acculturation in a foreign setting, instruction in French, preparing one’s candidacy for a full-time internship in a French establishment, and making the entire enterprise compatible with discovering all that Paris has to offer. We also have two solid exchange programs with two prestigious French educational institutions: Sciences Po Paris for political science, economics and international relations and the Université de Paris Dauphine for management students.”

Amidst the celebrations this year, Study Abroad also paused to thank Dr. Ray Green for his exemplary service as Director of the Madrid Programs over the last 30 years and congratulate Dr. Green on his recent retirement. As of October 1st, former Academic Director in Madrid and director of the Menorca program Dr. Amalia Perez-Juez assumed her new role in replacing Dr. Green. Dr. Perez-Juez is also an accomplished archeological scholar and researcher specializing in Archeological Heritage Management and Spanish Archaeology.

ERC partners with CELOP, ISSO

Workshops foster academic success among international students

In response to record international student numbers and a growing demand for enhanced learning resources, a group of departments and centers across BU teamed up this fall to hold collaborative workshop series on “Academic Success in the U.S.” The series of workshops featured guidance on classroom expectations, available resources, and testing techniques to international students and scholars beyond what is offered during orientation.

“We were approached by the Orientation office about the idea of expanding the offerings of orientation programming to international students,” explained Educational Resource Center Director Glenn Wrigley. “We contacted CELOP, ISSO, the CAS Writing Center, BU Libraries, and the COM Writing Center to talk about what international students would most benefit from in a program aimed at introducing them to the American collegiate experience from an academic standpoint.”

The group collectively recognized the need to expand resources further in scope and later in the semester. They also observed how critical it is that students receive topically relevant educational resources at the appropriate time during the semester – like guidance on testing techniques around the time of midterms.

“It’s been incredibly exciting to see all the offices come together and strategize creatively to help international students start off strongly in the academic year,” praised Andrea Popa, associate director for student services within the ISSO. “BU has so many excellent academic resources for international students, and this was a key way to bring these offices together and provide a unified solution.”

One surprise for the event partners was that, though they expected primarily freshmen to attend, in reality many of the attendees were graduate students.

According to Wrigley, there is support to continue the workshop series. “We certainly hope to offer the program again; to expand it, and that it grows to have a meaningful impact on our international students.”

If you have questions on the workshops, please contact Andrea Popa in the ISSO.

CELOP & International Admissions partnership

Supporting conditionally admitted students

According to a recent BU Today article, “The Class of 2018 is big. It’s also diverse.” International students make up about 23% of the newest freshman population.

International Admissions, part of the Undergraduate Admissions Office, oversees all international student applications. To assist students who are academically strong but fall just short of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score requirement for full admission to the university, International Admissions is now able to grant conditional admission. Conditionally admitted students are recommended to attend CELOP for intensive academic English language instruction in order to improve their language skills. Once they have met the TOEFL score requirements of their degree program and have received satisfactory CELOP faculty evaluations, these students are then reconsidered for full admission.

In this endeavor, CELOP and the Office of International Admissions work hand in hand to provide comprehensive support for conditionally admitted students. For example, a dedicated webpage has been specially designed to inform and instruct students on the necessary steps they need to take in order to matriculate as a full-time student.

Anne Corriveau, senior associate director in the Office of International Admissions values the relationship her office has built with CELOP to ensure the successful transition of this student population. “We love working with these highly motivated students from around the world and we know that CELOP prepares them to be successful students within the BU community.”

Moreover, conditionally admitted students that attend CELOP have had great success in transitioning to full-time student status. This summer, approximately 95% of the conditionally admitted students at CELOP were fully admitted to Boston University for the fall 2014 semester.

Faculty Spotlight on Paul Hare

US/Cuba: After 50 years of freeze, signs of a thaw

Paul Hare

Paul Hare

Among last month’s International Education Week programming was a talk addressing the prospects for breaking the half-century-old stalemate in the relations between the United States and Cuba. The event – a “Global Conversation” lunch panel sponsored by our friends at Santander Universities – was moderated by Ambassador Paul Hare, former British ambassador to Cuba from 2001-04 and lecturer in international relations for the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, and featured other faculty from BU as well as a former BU faculty member now in residence at Brown University.

We caught up with Ambassador Hare, who teaches a course titled Cuba in Transition at the Pardee School and also teaches arms control and non-proliferation, to learn more about this timely issue and to find out what Cuban economic reforms mean for Cuba and the world. Despite positive signs and restrained optimism, Ambassador Hare worries there is still no blueprint as to where the major state-controlled sectors will be in the next five to ten years. He also expounded on this topic when he recently attended and spoke at the Atlantic Dialogues in Morocco, an event where delegates examined the effects of Cuban economics and U.S. sanctions on the greater Atlantic region and the world.

To learn more about the Cuban diplomacy and politics course and other opportunities, contact the Pardee School.

Did You Know…?

Travel planning resources

Planning an overseas activity next semester? If you have concerns or questions – whatever the destination – Global Programs is here to help. Our recently updated website includes information and many tools to help keep your travel health, safe, and secure.