Provided

During spring break architecture students participate in studios around the world, including this one in Mumbai. President Skorton has called for 50 percent of Cornell students to have an international education experience.

Building on its existing strengths, coordinating resources and making additional investments will help Cornell enhance and solidify its status as a top school for international studies and engagement, says a new report by the Cornell University Task Force on Internationalization (TFI).

Last spring the task force, comprising 10 faculty members from across the university, was charged by President David Skorton, Provost Kent Fuchs and Provost for Medical Affairs Laurie Glimcher to develop an actionable, focused plan to enhance Cornell's excellence in international studies and international engagement.

The TFI's work expands on Skorton's March 2, 2012, white paper, "Bringing Cornell to the World and the World to Cornell," which found "evidence of slippage of the quality and focus of international programs" at Cornell. Skorton wrote that this trend must be reversed through strategic investments to equip students "to live and work in a world whose chief problems transcend national boundaries."

"I commend the members of the task force for their hard work and dedication to this important effort, which will mean so much to Cornell's strength and capacity for contribution around the world," said Skorton. "These recommendations build on this university's long history of international education and engagement and will help define the future of international studies at Cornell."

The TFI's report, which echoes Skorton's concerns, includes 27 sweeping recommendations focused on three primary efforts:

• "Expand and enhance the number and quality of student opportunities for meaningful international experiences linked to their curriculum." This would be achieved through expanded student travel grants, engaged learning and research opportunities, international partnerships, new lower division undergraduate courses, an internationalization requirement for all undergraduates, and administrative reorganization.
• "Realize the original vision of the Einaudi Center 'to stimulate, support and coordinate the university's efforts in all facets of international studies and activities.'" The center's area studies and thematic programs should be reinforced, and its links to the natural sciences and engineering should be created.
• "Ensure international education, research and engagement are woven into academic life structures." Internationalization, the task force writes, must be achieved through comprehensive action involving curricula, faculty, cross-college leaders, universitywide centers, senior leaders, alumni, trustees and donors.

"Cornell has always had significant internationalization strengths and a distinct advantage as the only land-grant institution in the Ivy League," said Alfonso Torres, professor and associate dean for public policy at the College of Veterinary Medicine and chair of the task force. "We anticipate that our task force recommendations will provide a guiding path for regaining Cornell's leadership in internationalization activities and programs."

While task force members are "amazed at the breadth and depth of Cornell's international reach," the TFI writes, "the decentralized nature of Cornell has led to underperformance compared to other research universities."

The TFI writes that these plans require significant financial investment and say Skorton's pledge of $3 million per year for the next five years is "a significant step in that direction." The report calls for a new fundraising effort to create an endowment of at least $70 million that will generate $3 million per year to support internationalization efforts beyond the initial five years.

The task force cites several points that "underline the seriousness of the challenge faced by Cornell in the area of internationalization":

• The university's "once eminent position in international studies has eroded greatly during the last 30 years" by a failure to invest in international activities relative to peer institutions.
• Efforts to make the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies "the pivot for international study and engagement at Cornell did not succeed." Einaudi Center funding was reduced 17 percent between 2008 and 2012 despite higher demand for international activities from students.
• Cornell's National Resource Centers, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, have declined from six in 1988 to three in 2012; many peer universities have six to eight centers.
• "Cornell is facing an acute crisis in the teaching of foreign languages" and an "infusion of very substantial resources" is necessary to compensate for fiscal retrenchment by the federal government.
• The rate of Cornell students studying abroad has dropped from 31.9 percent in 2003 to 20.9 percent in 2008-09, falling out of the top 40 universities. In his white paper, Skorton called for 50 percent of Cornell students to have an international education experience.

"Reversing this downward slide will not be easy," the TFI writes. "But with vigorous leadership, well-chosen priorities and adequate resources sustained beyond President Skorton's present five-year commitment, chances are good that the university will succeed in forging a new position of leadership."

Other TFI recommendations include building the Einaudi Center's Comparative Muslim Societies program "to compensate for the lack of an area study program focused on the Middle East"; implement an international studies curriculum requirement in all undergraduate colleges; and create a faculty internationalization fellowship program in the Einaudi Center.

The TFI also recommends a variety of changes to Cornell's administrative structure, assessment and planning, along with methods to assess the effectiveness of these changes.

Input on the recommendations are being welcomed from the Cornell community and can be sent to provost@cornell.edu. Read the complete TFI report on the provost's website.