February 1, 2019
Grant Chapman co-presents at conference, elected vice president of Mid America Universities International
Grant Chapman, associate provost for the Office of International Programs, presented at the 2019 Association of International Education Administrators Conference, "What's Next? Possibilities and Probabilities in the Future of International Higher Education." The annual conference is the only conference specifically for those leading international education at higher education institutions. Higher education leaders from across the globe attended more than 100 sessions.
Chapman was one of four panel presenters for "Data issues help and hinder U.S. colleges seeking global profile: Some U.S. colleges find the ability to harness data plays key role in success or failure of international outreach." The panel also included Jane Meza at the University of Nebraska, Omaha and Lincoln campuses: Randy Kluver from Oklahoma State University and Sukant Misra of Texas Tech.
The panel discussed how many U.S. universities appear to be hurting themselves in the competition for international students by routinely failing to properly count data showing how well they are already doing. The miscounting and undercounting by U.S. colleges in areas such as the national origins of faculty seems to be part of an overall lack of appreciation for cross-border diversity, experts told the annual assembly of the Association of International Education Administrators.
Chapman described K-State's 15-year quest to become recognized as a Top 50 public research university by 2025. K-State has recognized that it cannot accomplish this without boosting its international profile.
"The university has set numerical targets for increasing the number of institutional partnerships it has with foreign campuses, and increasing the percentage of undergraduates who gain some kind of international experience," Chapman said.
Chapman said the panel discussion was picked up by the Times Higher Education — The United Kingdom edition — and that the discussion was standing room only.
Chapman was also just elected vice president to Mid America Universities International, or MAUI. The universities in MAUI work together to actively promote overseas educational opportunities for students and international teaching, consultation and research opportunities for faculty. The participating European partners are members of the Utrecht Network, a group of universities cooperating in the area of internationalization.
"This is the successor group to the Big 12 international programs officer group and includes more than Big 12 schools such as Nebraska, Colorado State, Missouri, Wichita State, Tulsa, etc," Chapman said. "It is a two-year appointment. I am excited by this appointment as this allows Kansas State a higher degree of visibility as well as engaging dialogue with our peer institutions."
Chapman was one of a few international education experts asked to lead a preconference workshop "Managing International Partnerships Training Course" as part of the upcoming Institute of International Education, or IIE, Summit 2019 in New York City, Feb. 16-19. The summit is expected to host more than 500 leaders, influencers and practitioners from education, government, business, philanthropy and media for action-oriented discussion and envisioning the next 50 years of international education.