Nine niversities and colleges have been honoured for their outstanding internationalisation efforts by the Institute of International Education, in awards announced last week.
The institute’s 11th Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education were said to showcase “the most innovative and successful” models for internationalising a campus, study abroad and international partnership programmes in the USA.
Winners included the University of Kentucky (Internationalising the Campus), Hendrix College (International Partnerships) and University of Rhode Island (Study Abroad).
Hendrix College took best international partnership for leading a consortium of 18 US colleges and universities providing scholarships to Rwandans. By last autumn, 129 Rwandans had enrolled on technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees in the US through the scheme.
“The 2012 IIE Heiskell Awards recognise some of the world’s best initiatives in internationalising higher education,” said IIE’s president, Dr Allan E. Goodman. “We appreciate the winners’ commitment to excellence and applaud their serving as models for other campuses to learn from as they plot their own internationalisation strategies.”
The full list of winners is as follows: University of Kentucky (Internationalizing the Campus); Howard Community College and the Community College of Baltimore County (Internationalizing the Community College); Community College of Philadelphia (Honorable Mention – Internationalizing the Community College); Hendrix College (International Partnerships); Victoria University, Australia, and University of Texas at El Paso (Honorable Mention – International Partnerships); University of Rhode Island (Study Abroad); and University of Georgia (Honorable Mention – Study Abroad).
Winners are not only US-based, as evidenced by an accolade for Victoria University in Australia – but they do need to be an IIE network member.
A nonprofit research body, IIE is most famous for its Open Doors data, considered to be one of the most authoritative research resources on international students and study abroad in the US. It found the number of international students rose 5% to 723,277 in 2010-11, its highest point ever. US numbers studying abroad increased from 260,327 to 270,604.
IIE will present the Andrew Heiskell awards at a ceremony in New York on March 9, to be attended by 200 campus leaders and international education professionals.
