Abstract
Little is known about international faculty development and what works to bring about the desired globalization of our American college campuses. The files of the Council on International Educational Exchange's International Faculty Development Seminars are the source of valuable information about the effectiveness of the IFDS format. These data, collected over the ten-year history of the FEDS, are uneven: the questions were not written for the purposes of external research, and the responses do not always lend themselves to quantification. However, the files provide us with some rare information about who has been involved in international faculty development, who pays for these programs, and what the results have been in terms of enhancement of curriculum, research, and service.
Since 1990, the IJDS have run 93 programs in 25 countries, enrolling 1,560 people from 613 colleges and universities. Particiants rate the seminars as extremely successful. Data indicate that a large majority of participants return to campus to create new courses, revise existing courses, get involved in new or enhanced research programs, and offer the campus and the community the benefits of their time abroad. It is recommended, however, that the IFDS staff the sending institutions, and the individual participants make more effort to specify the outcomes expected from these seminars. Also, more work must be done to enable more faculty to participate in structured overseas activities, and institutions must examine their own policies to see whether the policies further the goal of increased globalization, a goal that is part of so many campus mission statements and planning documents.
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