Activity 6. Internationalization Mission

Description of the Institution

The private university that’s hiring a Director of International Affairs is relatively new, it was founded in 2001. It has four different campuses around Mexico City, which are one building each. They have a student body of 15,000. Their areas of specialization are sciences and humanities. Their main area of opportunity is precisely internationalizing the university since so far, they’ve mainly focused on Mexico.

Mission

Using Simon Sinek’s power of why we can break down the mission of the internalization program as follows:

WHY

We believe that, with the rapid globalization that our society has been experiencing over the last few decades, an international education is paramount in today’s world because it develops a global vision and the ability to communicate effectively with other cultures, fundamental skills in a globalized world.

HOW

·      Facilitating intercultural and international education.

·      Promoting a global campus community.

·      Making strategic partnerships with academic institutions around the world.

WHAT

Provide international programs, services and experiences to our university’s community.

With these statements clear, we can now proceed to create the mission of the Internationalization Office:

We believe that an international education is paramount in today’s world to develop fundamental skills for a globalized world. Thus, we facilitate intercultural and international education, promote global campus community and make strategic partnerships with academic institutions around the world, to provide international programs, services and experiences to our university’s community.

Objectives

·      To provide students with the opportunity of experiencing an international academic context that allows them to develop professionally and personally and acquire a global thinking and global competencies.

·      To attract international students to bring and exchange their expertise and perspectives to our university and with our students in order to create an international environment.

·      To establish solid relationships with foreign partner universities around the world in order to broaden our university’s reputation and influence.

Impact

This plan will have a positive impact in the whole community:

·      Students: They will have the opportunity to participate in international and study abroad programs as well as be immersed in a global community that will help them develop professional and personal skills.

·      Faculty: Since the university will also receive students from other parts of the world, the teachers and researchers will also get the chance to meet and relate with different points of view from different parts of the world which will enrich classes. Furthermore, teachers will be challenged to offer an international curriculum to accommodate the international students, contributing to the development of global skills.

·      Administration: The administration staff will also experience a global campus community. Moreover, since the International Office is new, the university will need to hire new personnel or give raises to existing staff to satisfice the new needs.

Marketing and Public Relations

In order to promote this new office and the new opportunities that the students can find at the University, we will need to:

·      Write and print leaflets for them to be readily available to the students that are interest in one of the programs.

·      Give a series of conferences and informative talks so students can clear their doubts and be well informed.

·      Update the University’s website for it to include the new Internationalization Programs and all the information they need to be able to participate in one of them.

·      Create social media for the Internationalization Programs that are constantly publishing updates, due dates and all the information required for students to be well informed.