By Diane Ceo-DiFrancesco
Challenges in higher education have made it increasingly difficult for institutions to focus strategically on internationalization. Studies point to the limitations of global student mobility, and a two-tier system consisting of a privileged minority of students studying abroad (Open Doors Report, 2018). Yet, at a time when stereotypes and negative attitudes toward difference are reinforced in the media rather than dispelled, and examples of dehumanization are portrayed by key government officials, promoting global learning among our students becomes ever more critical. Students experience an increase in the promotion of ethnocentric values, a culture of fear of difference, and the polarization of our society. The existence of the internet has made the world smaller and access faster, yet our students tend to interact less frequently in a face-to-face context and prefer texting to in-person communication.
As Jesuit universities grapple with these issues and explore the best means of educating a new generation of students with tendencies to turn inward, we are reminded of Father Adolfo Nicolás’ (2010) speech in Mexico City over nine years ago, warning against an age of “globalization of superficiality,” when thinking becomes shallow, resulting in an inability to engage deeply in our world. Global learning can combat globalization of superficiality, encouraging students to become responsible world citizens, to develop curiosities beyond their own bubble and to realize that local decisions can have a much greater global impact than they previously thought possible. Through intentionally designed, virtual and in-person global learning opportunities, Jesuit universities can leverage the Jesuit educational network to cultivate students who become well-educated “whole persons of solidarity” (Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., talk at Santa Clara University, Oct. 2000).
Dan Parsley, then a Xavier University student (above), plays with children during recess at Minto Primary School in Hagley Gap, Jamaica. Connecting with local communities during learning experiences beyond the borders of one’s home institution often sparks deeper reflection and increases student awareness about social justice issues. Photo courtesy of Xavier University.
Global Learning Abroad
Many colleges and universities have incorporated learning experiences that involve high impact practices, including those with an emphasis on diversity and global learning. Studying abroad is one such high impact global learning opportunity which offers numerous benefits to a student’s educational preparation, such as enhancing language proficiency, increasing flexibility, adaptability, resourcefulness and confidence, and developing cross-cultural awareness. Numerous partnerships exist between Jesuit universities in the United States and abroad. A few such partnerships include Loyola of Chicago and Loyola of Andalucía, Loyola of New Orleans and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ecuador, Seattle University and Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua, and Xavier University in Cincinnati and Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya in Lima. These partnerships leverage their shared mission to create learning experiences that are distinctive, deepening student learning by intentionally crafting experiences that connect students with local populations and increase their awareness of social justice issues. The intentionality increases the benefits for students across borders and sparks deeper reflection, increased self-awareness, and a passion to advocate for justice both locally and internationally.
Virtual Connections
A growing trend in education involves virtual exchange, as educators from across the globe facilitate collaborations among their students to complete curricular projects. Within our Jesuit university network, a grassroots network of university faculty members has developed the Virtual Dual Immersion Collaboration, supported by AUSJAL and AJCU. Since 2006, the collaboration has involved over 200 professors and 37,000 students at more than 20 Jesuit universities, primarily in the United States, Latin America, and Spain, in academic synchronous video-conferencing and asynchronous interactions. The collaboration has focused on linguistic and cross-cultural exchange, as well as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) interdisciplinary projects related to areas such as physics and management, philosophy and Spanish, theology and English, education and journalism, English composition and business, and health administration and business.
At Fordham University, the Specs Nova Initiative offers a model of collaboration that began as a student club and now offers academic courses involving engagement with Jesuit university students across borders on virtual collaborative projects to benefit nonprofit organizations abroad. Students and faculty report the transformative learning that they experience through these virtual collaborations. Students are encouraged to explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews both similar and distinct from their own.
In addition, these virtual connections promote self-awareness related to power and privilege and growth in cultural humility and intercultural competence, and encourage the examination of social justice issues, such as diversity, human rights, racial, ethnic, and gender inequality. These virtual pedagogical global learning innovations are low cost, yet offer many benefits that are within the reach of students who cannot afford more traditional options of global learning mobility. They break down barriers, boundaries and stereotypes, humanize the ‘other,’ and encourage U.S. students to check their privilege when they realize that developing proficiency in English is an economic necessity for their international peers.
Regardless of the format of global learning, be it in-person or virtual, an emphasis on shared mission produces learning experiences of distinction for Jesuit university students. Breaking down borders, boundaries and challenges to create such experiences provides a humanistic model for other higher education institutions. Linking global learning back to the local context encourages Jesuit university students and faculty to step out of their too-often unquestioned reality and to view the world through the eyes and experiences of others. Exposure to diverse and often conflicting perspectives across multiple contexts promotes critical self-reflection, a reevaluation of assumptions and a renewed self-awareness that has the potential of deepening collaborations. Jesuit universities possess natural linkages that can transform global learning into powerful and transformative learning experiences that lead us to inhabit our world in a different way.
Diane Ceo-DiFrancesco is faculty director of the Eigel Center for Community-Engaged Learning, an associate professor of Spanish at Xavier University, and a member of the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education.
The featured cover photo (above) is courtesy of the Jesuits.