Global Competence Task Force Report

Presented to Provost Patrick Farrell

by the members of the Global Competence Task Force

August 2008
The Charge:

y Develop a working definition of global competence for UW–Madison graduates

y Define appropriate global learning outcomes including any suggested core
competencies for all students
y Review learning opportunities available to meet global competence goals and
recommend new areas for development
y Identify methods of assessment
y Explore models for a certification process, such as through portfolios
y Identify any barriers that need to be addressed to accomplish the desired results

Task Force Members:

Marianne Bird Bear, Division of International Studies

Wei Dong, Environment, Textiles and Design
Randall Dunham, School of Business (Chair)
Rebecca Gilsdorf, undergraduate engineering student
Rob Howell, International Academic Programs
Leslie Kohlberg, L&S/School of Human Ecology Career Services
Tura Patterson, Division of International Studies
Mary Regel, Department of Commerce
Brett Schilke, undergraduate psychology student
Kenneth Shapiro, International Agricultural Programs
Edwin Sibert, Chemistry
Amy Stambach, Educational Policy Studies
Jolanda Vanderwal Taylor, German
Gilles Bousquet (ex-officio), Division of International Studies

Summary of Recommendations:

yCreate a campus-wide student portfolio program to demonstrate, certify, and assess

global proficiency. A pilot project will begin in fall 2008.
yRemove barriers for students to study abroad and learn world languages.
yProvide incentives and recognition to faculty and staff who participate in international
teaching, research, learning, and outreach. Increase faculty and staff involvement in
internationalizing the campus.
yAlign defined global learning outcomes to campus-wide liberal education goals (LEAP).
yRecommend or require that schools’ & colleges’ strategic plans include the importance
of developing citizens and leaders who can solve global problems in the context of their
disciplines. Core components of global competence should be adapted by each
discipline.
yEngage and integrate international students on campus.

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Today’s great challenges facing society span all fields—but they share one characteristic:
they are global in scope and require a collaborative response from groups or nations. In order
to educate the generation of students who will face the challenges of the 21st century,
universities need to provide students with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to work
effectively in our increasingly interdependent world. Foremost amongst these “global
competencies” are the abilities to communicate effectively across linguistic and cultural
boundaries, to see and understand the world from a perspective other than one’s own, and to
understand and appreciate the diversity of societies and cultures. Students need to appreciate
the interdependence of nations in a global economy and to know how to adapt their work to a
variety of cultures.

What is the university’s role in developing students with these global competencies? Given
the inherent complexities and breadth of the issues involved, we must recognize that
developing global competency is a life-long process. The university’s role is to make
students aware that all disciplines have international or cross-cultural implications, and
to train them to recognize when they need global or cultural skill sets in order to
address a given problem. College courses should highlight the global context of all
disciplines and the cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural skills that might be associated with
them.

Training in global competency must become part of the culture of the university, a strategic
priority. Naturally, each area of specialization will view global competencies from its own
unique perspective. Units should be encouraged and/or required to develop strategic plans
that include developing citizens and leaders who can solve global problems within the
context of their disciplines. The university must also establish a central plan whereby
graduating students can demonstrate and showcase the global skills they have acquired
throughout their academic careers.

Opportunities & New Areas for Development

UW–Madison offers a wide variety of undergraduate academic and co-curricular programs

and activities that teach students about diverse cultures and global perspectives. A
comprehensive inventory of these opportunities is provided (Appendix A).

Students may encounter one or many of the following types of global-learning opportunities:

●Academic majors
●Certificates in global subjects
●Language courses
●Study abroad programs
●Work, service learning, fieldwork, and volunteer abroad programs
●Learning communities
●Scholar programs
●Student organizations
●Co-curricular activities

Study abroad and academic plans (majors and certificates) are the largest contributors—in
both scale and impact—to global competence. Increasing global learning opportunities is not
a matter of increasing the number or types of programs, but entails making these

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opportunities more accessible to more students. Increasing awareness of these international
opportunities among students, parents, faculty, and staff is critical. Far too few members of
the campus community take advantage of the plethora of global learning experiences offered
by UW–Madison, both on campus and overseas.

A second invaluable resource for domestic international experiences is UW–Madison’s

international student population. Approximately 4,000 international students from more than
100 countries study at UW–Madison each year. They bring diverse cultures and perspectives
to our campus but are, unfortunately, often marginalized from the domestic student
population. We recommend a campus initiative to better engage and integrate international
students on campus.

Current data shows that seventeen percent of UW–Madison students will have studied abroad
before they graduate. While this percentage has grown consistently over the years and is
comparable to or better than our peer institutions, we propose a campuswide effort to
increase participation in study abroad programs. This effort must remove the financial,
academic, and perceptual barriers to study abroad. First, a large-scale funding campaign is
essential if we are to provide scholarships to students who would otherwise be unable to
study abroad. Second, curricular adjustments may be inescapable in order to facilitate study
abroad in some academic programs. Third, specialized marketing that targets students before
they participate in SOAR is critically important to encourage students who might otherwise
assume they are unable to study abroad; early commitment to and planning for study abroad
removes many of the road blocks that can make studying abroad a difficult decision, process,
or experience.

In addition to increasing the number of students who participate in study abroad programs,
we recommend increasing the number of opportunities for international internships and
overseas employment. To succeed in a global marketplace, it is no longer enough for
students to live and study overseas. Graduates must have the skills, knowledge, and attitudes
that will allow them to navigate in work environments that contend with globalization,
outsourcing, and emerging technologies. Graduates with these skills will help the State of
Wisconsin thrive in these changing times.

Because global expertise hinges on acquiring languages other than English, UW–Madison
must maintain its tradition of excellence and breadth in language instruction. Strengthening
our students’ competence in languages does not require layering additional requirements onto
existing programs. Instead we recommend that the university remove barriers to language
study and provide incentives for students to attain advanced levels of proficiency in one or,
preferably, multiple languages. What is more, we need to think creatively about the way
language instruction is delivered and about how language learning will look in the next
century.

We recommend that the university reexamine the traditional model of language courses.
Reorganizing instructional times and/or introducing different types of instruction might
provide greater access to language instruction to a broader range of students. We see
potential for increasing access to language study by combining traditional language
instruction with short-term immersion programs, which could take place on the Madison
campus, abroad, or with online instruction. In all these formats, emerging technologies

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promise new ways of enabling a wide variety of linguistic interaction. New technologies also
provide students with culturally appropriate, pragmatic use of languages.

Although the university’s entrance requirements and certain language requirements like that
in the College of Letters and Science acknowledge the importance of language study, more
could be done to allow students to integrate language study into undergraduate and graduate
programs. The fact that language courses are not recognized either as humanities or social
science credits in the university’s breadth requirement contradicts the university’s mission of
internationalization. Additionally, even when a college requires language study, that
requirement presently can be waived if a pre-established number of years of language study
have been completed at the high school level.

To increase language acquisition in our students, the task force recommends that:

1) Up to two semesters of language study be recognized as humanities or social science

credits in undergraduate breadth requirements

2) At least one semester of language study be completed at the university level, regardless of
the number of language courses taken in high school

We also believe that students should have the opportunity to certify proficiency in languages
studied. This certification would then be part of students’ portfolios that demonstrate global
competence.

Every UW–Madison school, college, and division has active faculty, staff, and graduate and
undergraduate students who gain and contribute to international and global experiences
through education, research, and service, and through formal and informal instruction, social,
and organizational activities. However, we have learned that faculty and staff are
increasingly anxious to contribute to and even lead further internationalization efforts.
Increasing the number of campus internationalization champions can occur only with
incentives or rewards as well as removal of barriers. In a 2005 survey (Appendix B),
seventy-five percent of CALS faculty said that international collaboration was important to
their work, and eighty-one percent said they would like to do more international research
under the right circumstances. When asked to suggest potential incentives, faculty cited the
following:

1) Funding for travel, pilot projects, tuition waivers, conferences, etc., as well as collegial
coverage or release time

2) Administrative support for international scholarship and activities, for example support in
identifying funding sources, visas, logistics, Homeland Security issues, and so forth

3) Giving international activities professional recognition in merit and promotion reviews

Addressing these suggestions and recognizing faculty’s important contributions to the

internationalization of our campus will increase the number of champions and will result in
increased international activity.

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Increased efforts in internationalization, in turn, promise benefits to the campus as a whole.
An optimally internationalized campus attracts a more diverse and talented student body and
faculty base. It also ensures UW–Madison’s status in international academic rankings such as
the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which are increasingly noted (presently, Madison ranks
seventeenth among research universities worldwide). Of course, educating a globally
competent pool of graduates also ensures that UW–Madison fulfills its commitment to
engage in and shape world affairs.

Global Learning Outcomes

Several groups at UW–Madison have adopted the “essential learning outcomes” developed
by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) as a conceptual
framework to improve communication about the goals and outcomes of higher education.
The LEAP (“Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation
Goes to College”) initiative recognizes liberal education for the 21st century as a
comprehensive set of aims and outcomes that are essential for all students because they are
important to all disciplines. These aims and outcomes are grouped into four categories: 1.
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World; 2. Intellectual and
Practical Skills; 3. Personal and Social Responsibility; and 4. Integrative Learning.
Important tenets of this approach are also that higher education needs to help students
become “intentional learners” and that it needs to prepare them to be lifelong learners.

The core components of global competence may be viewed as a reformulation of the

“essential learning outcomes” as they apply to global competence. They, in turn, find more-
detailed characterization in the attached “grid” (Appendix C) which shows that/how
individual global competence-related learning outcomes extend along several dimensions: the
cognitive –, the skills –, and the affective dimension. The document also indicates some
developmental learning experiences; as units identify the global competence learning
outcomes that they wish to adopt, it will be important to match to these appropriate kinds of
assessment.

There is an emergent, powerful understanding on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-

Madison (Appendix D) that learning takes place not just in the traditional classroom but
through a range of experiences which include such “high-impact” and integrative experiences
as study abroad, internships abroad, service-learning, student activism, participation in
learning communities and small group experiences. As we encourage students to be
“intentional learners,” it is appropriate to create a space in which learning outcomes gleaned
from a range of experiences may be recognized, evaluated and captured. As we seek to
document and assess student achievement in global competence we are aware that certain
elements of global competence require not just knowledge and skill, but also the kind of
personal development that results from integrative learning experiences. Thus, it is important
to create and recognize not just opportunities for learning experiences appropriate to such
outcomes, but to create a space for intentionality and reflection, and to offer appropriate
opportunities for documenting them.

In the most recent employer surveys reported by AAC&U (Appendix E), business leaders
urge colleges and universities to place strong(er) emphasis on certain learning outcomes
associated with global competence. The findings also reveal the clear support of business
leaders for more qualitative forms of assessment and rejection of multiple-choice testing at

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the undergraduate level. Both these points are consistent with the recommendations found in
this report.

Portfolio Program

The UW System Growth Agenda Action Steps calls for the development of a Student
Engagement Portfolio:

“2. Create the UW Dual Transcript

The UW System’s commitment to student success will be evidenced not only in the
content of classroom instruction and the traditional academic transcript, but also in a
new UW personal development transcript that captures the out-of-classroom learning
that is such an important part of student development on all our campuses.”

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents April 11 meeting minutes

reflect the commitment of the System to move forward with this initiative and revised
the language to incorporate the term “portfolio.”

“(Associate Vice President Rebecca) Martin announced that she and Reilly would
soon appoint a task force to explore models and propose pilot projects for the Student
Engagement Portfolio, an initiative formally known as the UW Dual Transcript. The
task force would supplement the plans underway or in place at UW-Green Bay, UW-
La Crosse, UW–Madison, and UW-Platteville.”

Consistent with this call for action, the task force recommends the creation and
implementation of a two-part student portfolio program designed to document and certify the
achievement of global competencies. This portfolio provides each unit with the essential tool
to certify students with its own standards of global competence.

Both sections of the portfolio will be certified. UW–Madison will certify part one, which
lists the activities, courses, and experiences completed by the student. The unit will certify
part two, which consists of the documentation of how the competencies are achieved. This
second part will include students’ reflections on coursework and study abroad, papers, blogs,
podcasts, presentations, etc.

Implementing a global competence portfolio program involves running a pilot program on a

limited basis. Following a successful pilot program, implementation would also require a full
program proposal specifying all the human resources, materials, facilities, and organizational
arrangements needed to launch a program. We believe that many of these resources are
already available on the UW–Madison campus. It is our hope that the portfolio be required
for all UW–Madison undergraduates but that individual units have the authority to determine
the standards and the process.

Employer Feedback on Global Competence

"...companies need a much more sophisticated approach to choosing the

managers or management teams to lead their global operations— the
stakes are just too high to be so culturally unaligned. Success today

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 depends on the awareness, understanding, and ability to navigate various
customs and cultural differences, economic and political climates, work
force conditions and expectations, unions and laws, customers, and
competition—in essence, a global mindset."

This excerpt, from a fall 2007 article in Thunderbird Magazine titled, “Is a Global Mindset in
Your DNA?” (Appendix F) is particularly relevant to our research about industry's needs and
expectations as well as the "risk" of "doing nothing."

Our process addressed the value to industry of hiring globally competent employees through
a survey questionnaire (Appendix G) and informal interviews with global companies both
based in Wisconsin and internationally. The responses were generally strongly supportive of
the need for globally competent employees, however, there was some question as to whether
this could be verified and accomplished through a university education alone.

According to a recent National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey,

employers pointed out that they hire for core skill sets including integrity, teamwork,
communications, work ethic, interpersonal skills, analytical skills, motivation, and
flexibility/adaptability. They also specified work-related skills that would typically be
acquired through on-the-job training and experience.

These core skill sets included the ability to think critically and to analyze and synthesize vast
amounts of information. Other qualities included intercultural communication skills and an
ability to listen and effectively engage others. Most employers responded that this type of
experience and these attitudes can only be developed through firsthand experience interacting
with people and organizations of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Language training,
study abroad, and intercultural education can effectively enhance these qualities before
students enter the workforce.

The university can contribute to these core learning outcomes by removing barriers to
international experience, by increasing awareness of international education opportunities,
and by encouraging a process of life-long, practical, and experiential learning.

Additionally, the competitive issues inherent in a global economy raise the question: “what
is the risk if we do nothing?” We could be left behind and become irrelevant as a university,
a state, and nation if we do not take a proactive approach to developing global talent. This
point was highlighted in a recent UW–Madison report on “Global Talent” (Appendix H) that
identified a general pattern in the fields most closely associated with a rising demand for
global talent. These fields included various forms of engineering, information technology,
chemistry and biology, and management. With economic trends reflecting a dramatic rise in
the amount of human capital in countries outside of the U.S., many countries are devoting
considerable resources to developing their knowledge economies and global talent base.

The report illustrates that outsourcing continues to be an effective means for international
companies to access the highest quality and widest range of global talent:

“outsourcing is, in fact, significantly more expensive than bringing the workers here;
but corporations eager to access the widest possible pool of talent—skill is valued far

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 more highly than location or nationality— are willing to make the financial decisions
needed to remain globally competitive.”

The report further emphasizes:

“The European Union, China, and India have all gained significant ground on the
U.S. in recent years by embracing the international aspects of business and nurturing
education and innovation as the ‘foundation for scientific, technical, and personal
advancement.’ Increasing the participation of women in these fields—women are
viewed by many in international business as vastly underrepresented; and as the
greatest untapped human resource in the global economy—has also been a priority
for many national programs.”

A conference sponsored by the Levin Institute, “The Evolving Global Talent Pool,” held in
New York in 2005, identified five key areas of interest for institutions operating on a global
scale:

1. Supply of global talent: which areas of the world are producing global talent,
and how
2. Demand for global talent: what entities (governments, business, etc.) are
looking and what skills are most valued
3. Role of government: how educational and management priorities are set and
enforced
4. “Building a global organizational structure:” horizontal organization across
political and cultural lines
5. Managing the “dislocations and marginalizations” in wages and lifestyle that
have only grown wider
Clearly, the role of a global university is impacted by many of these issues as industry’s
expectations will continue to focus on the quality and availability of global talent.

Potential Challenges & Suggested Solutions

The task force has identified broad areas of challenges, listed below. It has also set forth
potential ways to surmount these hurdles. Each of these challenges and solutions is linked to
the others: perception of value among state legislators, for example, directly impacts our
ability to meet costs; meeting costs allows us to establish a solid infrastructure in support of
international research and education, and so on.

Perception of value

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, university and government leaders and the citizens of
Wisconsin are more aware than ever before about the need for an increased global
orientation.

In fact, recent federal legislation, such as the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation
Act and the U.S. Department of State’s 2006 National Security Language Initiative illustrate

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the extent to which national support for augmenting the global competence of American
citizens is gaining momentum.

Our task is to connect this national movement to the state level. Through positive media and
outreach campaigns we can illustrate to Wisconsin residents the need for global talent and
understanding. In turn, state legislators will support the perspectives of their constituents.
Conversely, forging relationships with supporters in state government who recognize UW–
Madison as a resource when it comes to executing trade missions, developing a globally
competent workforce, and researching ways to adapt to an increasingly interdependent world
can do much to convince those in their districts of this need.

Our sense is that faculty and staff across campus are generally receptive to institutional and
curricular changes that will better prepare our graduates for a changing world. Providing
them with the incentives, solutions, and support to execute these changes would be
sufficiently persuasive.

Student motivation

From the humanities to the professional schools, UW–Madison’s students understand the
need for increased global competence upon graduation. Incoming student surveys indicate
they are hungry for international experience, education, exposure, and expertise.

Students who are enrolled in tightly organized majors such as engineering may believe that
adding international coursework and/or experiences to their academic program will delay
progress towards completion of their degree. However, an expanded menu of opportunities
removes this perceived barrier to study abroad and provides students with the global training
they desire without sacrificing the structured degree programs that they need.

Cost

Study abroad programs such as those offered through International Academic Programs
(IAP) operate on a cost recovery basis, which is in effect revenue-neutral for both the
university and student participants.

We are fortunate to have a vast and sophisticated body of alumni who easily grasp the
importance of today’s graduates to gain international experience. Recent gifts through the
UW Foundation and WAA reveal that alumni and corporate sponsors are compelled to
contribute to scholarships and other funds that directly impact a student’s international
education. Examples of recent gifts include Chicago Alumni Association Chapter study
abroad donation and Promega’s international internship funds.

Infrastructure

Enhancing our students’ global competency is not only a matter of cost, however.
Reorganizing how we administer international opportunities will result in a leaner, more
efficient operation overall. For example, collaborating with those in career services can
relieve much of the administrative burdens on staff and faculty who presently run
international service learning and academic internship programs. Among faculty and staff,
reward systems such as a high-profile award for exemplary service to international

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education can create an effective momentum with a relatively small investment. Recognizing
faculty’s important international work in faculty review processes (tenure evaluation, post-
tenure review, and merit review) will motivate faculty to become increasingly invested in
enhancing the global competence of their students. Implementing change on an institutional
level is challenging. Showcasing and supporting central administration’s commitment to
international education and research, as illustrated in its new strategic plan, is essential for
this process to succeed.

Conclusion

All of our graduates need the global skills, attitudes, and knowledge essential to succeeding
in an increasingly interconnected world. As a great global public research university, UW–
Madison is uniquely positioned to address the complexities that accompany this phase of
globalization and is equipped to provide the essential components required to develop
globally competent students. We have the motivation and the capability to increase
participation in study abroad, to implement new programs that document student
achievement, and to adjust curriculum and infrastructure so that our students, faculty, and
staff can serve as global citizens and leaders in the 21st century. Achieving this vision calls
for commitment from the leaders of our campus, strategic action from an engaged and
diverse campus community, and the endorsement and recognition of value from the State of
Wisconsin.

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