Defense Date

7-14-2005

Graduation Date

Fall 2005

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

thesis

Degree Name

MA

Department

Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Kent Moors

Committee Member

Joseph D. Yenerall

Committee Member

Mary Antolini

Keywords

democratic aid, educational exchange programs, graduate students, international students, public diplomacy

Abstract

A steady increase in student mobility levels has become a widely recognized component of general globalization trends in the modern world. Yet, internationalization of education is not merely a product of bigger globalization processes. Educational exchange, in many instances sponsored and administered by national governments, is an effective tool in governmental foreign policies. The shift of focus in governmental policies towards the political rather than educational purposes of educational international exchange could lead for lack of attention paid to the issues of foreign students' academic interests. At the same time, universities, although prompted by the globalization tendencies to internationalize their campuses might not have capacities to meet all specific academic needs of the graduate exchange students.

Is it possible to provide exchange program participants with education that would both match their career goals and address the policy goal of inspiring change in the participants' home countries? Do the universities have capacities to meet these needs? To search for answers to theses questions, the current research studies academic interests of graduate-level international students participating in government-sponsored educational programs, as formulated at the conjunction of interests of the major stakeholders (US foreign policy, host universities, and students) of their academic experiences.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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