While many institutions actively encourage faculty to pursue international research opportunities, there is a growing tendency to withhold support for international teaching opportunities, assuming them to be poor institutional investments.

     Surveys of Fulbright U.S. Scholar alumni debunk this view, demonstrating sizeable long-term benefits for scholars’ home institutions. Many U.S. colleges and universities have prioritized developing their faculty’s cross-cultural competencies, yet few experiences can instill these skills and perspectives as rapidly and effectively as teaching in a foreign classroom where the instructor may for the first time feel what it is like to be an outsider.

     Scholars return home from teaching abroad and—applying newly acquired knowledge and perspectives—revise syllabi and develop new projects and courses. Many continue to virtually co-teach with their host-country counterparts or invite them to be visiting scholars, building “exchange” experiences for students who may be unable to participate in study abroad programs. Some establish formal and informal exchange programs for students and postdocs, and many actively recruit foreign students to apply to study at their home institution.

     This panel will show the myriad ways institutions have benefited from supporting faculty to teach abroad though a brief overview of survey data and a presentation by a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar alumna, Alexa Alice Joubin.

     The final presentation will be by a senior international officer who will explain steps institutions can take to best capitalize on these professional development investments to further campus globalization priorities. 

    The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is a global membership organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. It works to improve quality and equity in undergraduate education and advance liberal education.

     Founded in 1915, AAC&U comprises more than 1,000 member institutions in the US and abroad, including accredited public and private colleges, community colleges, research universities, and comprehensive universities.