The CIE and the University's International and Intercultural Initiative
In January 2005, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville submitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) a Quality Enhancement Plan on "The International and Intercultural Initiative" (or PDF version). In the plan, the International and Intercultural Awareness Initiative Task Force and Chancellor Loren Crabtree lay out dozens of recommendations designed "to improve institutional performance on behalf of internationalization and intercultural relations, and to ensure that all University of Tennessee, Knoxville undergraduates gain the knowledge, perspectives, and skills necessary to succeed in today's complex, pluralistic world."
Not surprisingly, the Center for International Education and its subsidiary units figure prominently in many of the recommendations. As a first step, the Center for International Education was reorganized to become a part of Academic Affairs rather than Student Affairs. The move allows for better coordination of existing programs as various units across the campus begin to implement the recommendations of the QEP.
The Quality Enhancement Plan was submitted to SACS as part of UT Knoxville's 2010 reaccredidation process. Chancellor Crabtree and the International and Intercultural Awareness Initiative Task Force decided to emphasize international and intercultural initiatives due, in part, to growing national concerns about the failing of America's universities to properly address the issues. According to A Call to Leadership, an October 2004 report issued by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, "Despite broad recognition that higher education has a vital role in preparing the workers and citizens of an increasingly connected world, the internationalization scorecard for American colleges and universities is underwhelming, to say the least. The United States falls short on virtually all indicators of international knowledge, awareness, and competence."
After investigating UT Knoxville's "global competence," the task force found "substantial international and intercultural programs in place" but acknowledged that the efforts are "scattered and uncoordinated." The Center for International Education was singled out as being one of the University's strengths. We at the CIE look forward to the challenges that lie ahead and to the exciting opportunities that await us as we play our part in helping to internationalize the campus.
The task force's full QEP is available online and in a single PDF file.