Internationalization and the influence of environmental factors

Abstract

Community colleges in the USA have been significantly impacted in recent years by powerful global forces (Levin 2001; Siaya and Hayward 2003; Panel on Global Engagement 2011). These forces include the increased movement of goods, people, and information across borders. Research (Kedia and Daniel 2003; Hart Research Associates 2010) suggests that US colleges and universities need to acknowledge these forces and respond to changing market and civic needs by enacting significant organizational, policy, and curricular changes, often termed internationalization, to better prepare college students to be global citizens and globally competent. Results from national surveys and case studies (Harder 2010; Hudzik 2011) indicate that such changes are occurring in some US colleges and universities; however, quantitative research on internationalization in community colleges is very limited. The following pages describe recent quantitative research regarding internationalization in Oregon and Washington community colleges, with attention to organizational behaviors in the areas of governance and student support services that are responses to global forces.