Larry D. Lauer

Weather permitting, this week I will attend the second meeting of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Blue Ribbon Panel on Global Engagement. 

Nineteen heads of universities from around the world will gather again in Washington to discuss the complicated implications of the internationalization of higher education. I must confess, I have been thinking about this issue nonstop.

I have previously discussed how I believe in the months ahead we are going to witness rapid change in our industry. The longer I study the situation, the more clearly I see it. We definitely will feel dramatic shifts in our industry from the content and organization of the subject matter we teach, to where that teaching will take place, to the migration patterns of students and faculty, to how new technology will bring a virtual dimension to the total international experience, to where and how our graduates will find careers, to how new media will change the way this worldwide story is told, to how our institutions are marketed, and more.

I have argued in earlier writings that as a consequence of the changing role of governments and sources of funding around the world, the field of university advancement will have new prominence in administrations everywhere. I now believe that the cutting edge expertise held by most modern advancement practitioners will be called upon to influence not just how institutional marketing and fundraising are accomplished, but to help shape the entire “look” of a whole new kind of global university.

A new day always requires new visionary leadership. So I now foresee the coming of a whole new breed of international advancement and educational entrepreneur. Here are just two of the questions that have been dominating my thinking:

1. Where will we find, or how will we develop, this new breed of leader for advancement and institutions… one that has international experience, resource development expertise, new media savvy, and the relentless drive and courage necessary to pioneer the way?

2. How can we build intelligent innovation and creativity into the ongoing challenge of advancing and leading institutions?  Creativity is now an area of academic study. Techniques for developing it in managers are being pioneered in many cutting edge industries. As we did a few years ago with integrated marketing, how can we adapt what these other entrepreneurs are learning to the visioning and planning of an internationalized academy?

The week ahead promises to enrich my thinking about these issues, I know. But, to draw conclusions too soon from ACE’s Blue Ribbon Panel will be premature. For that, we all will have to await its’ final report later in the academic year.

In the meantime, I will be sharing my evolving thoughts with you.  Fasten  your seatbelts, we are taking off! I can’t think of a more exciting time to be a part of higher education.