What's in a Name?

Inside Higher Education posted an article recently about foriegn language departments moving away from the use of the word "foriegn" to names such as world languages department. On the surface this doesn't seem earth shattering and in reality it probably isn't. It does connect for me a conversation our campus had recently about globalization and becoming a globally inclusive campus. Language can, in my mind, be one of the first ways to do this. The article made several points about the use of the word foriegn as applied to language:

1. Spanish, a very popular foriegn language, is hardly foriegn in the United States.
2. Foriegn language implies simply teaching the mechanics of a language - many of these courses also focus on culture and literature, for example.
3. Foriegn can have a negative connotation - unfamiliar or scary - whereas terms such as "world" or "international" have more positive connotations.

Community College of Aurora Student Center

Why is this worth considering? In 2010, Inside Higher Education posted an article: " Global Community Colleges," that stated that community colleges, in particular, were behind the eight ball in infusing their curriculums with global issues and providing their students opportunities to experience and explore these global issue. 

"A 2006 American Council on Education survey on internationalization in higher education – examining whether institutions offered programs like study abroad or courses with a global focus and other variables – gave community colleges a low score of 0.68 on a 4.0 scale."

My own institution has put a lot of focus on this issue. One reason is that our campus, as many other campuses across the country do, serves a very international population of students. For our students English is a foriegn language to them. I did double check and our "foriegn language" department is actually called the "world languages department" and includes languages such as American Sign Language, Spanish and Japanese. Our students speak over 100 different languages on campus - none of which feels foriegn to them. So, in this way I'm in favor of more departments finding titles that are more inclusive of all student experiences. 

A personal experience I've recently had with a student has stayed with me over the past week and half. Hakim and his two sons attend our institution. I met Hakim because he wanted to know what kinds of transfer opportunities were available to him and his sons. At the end of our conversation he wanted to know where on campus he could offer his fluency in French and Arabic to help other students make a more comfortable transition to the United States and to higher education. This exchange made me even more atune to the students I pass everyday on our small campus and what a rich diversity of students attend our institution. So, rather than dedicate an office to supporting these students the campus, primarily the instructional staff, have made a point of infusing their curriculum with global content. Many faculty even focus on the diversity of students in their classes by engaging students directly through activities intended to expand their awareness of each other. Clearly more work can be done in finding opportunities to engage students with each other and in global issues - many of which play out every day on our campus. As a starting place I'll support name changes and more inclusive curriculum. And as our president commented, globalization is here - we need to shift the conversation from "globalizing" to how we will create space for these experiences and help students engage with and learn from each other.

There are of course other reasons that institutions talk about globalization; career opportunities, business opportutnities, enrollement and revenue considerations etc. My focus here certainly had more to do with inclusiveness and the opportunity for students to engage with others. What are your experiences with globalization or internationalization on your campuses?