A Systematic Inquiry on Global Engineering Education: Strategies and Impact

[摘要] Higher education has increasingly emphasized global education programming as a core piece of its strategic goals over the past few decades, yet little empirical data has been collected to inform the decisions of global programming within the U.S, especially in the engineering discipline. As higher education institutions attempt to formalize their strategies for achieving global competency and invest in internationalizing their engineering programs, research is needed regarding: (1) key global engineering education target areas and their relationship to sustained global programming efforts; (2) programming directions that can be used by universities in general and engineering schools in particular; and (3) how effective programming contributes to students’ global competency development. Three separate studies framed in different analytical lenses are employed to address these research objectives. The first study uses a participatory, integrative mixed-methods approach to develop an operational framework for global strategies, policies, and programs. A thematic, qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with a group concept mapping activity was conducted with directors of study abroad and vice provosts of global education from nine universities regarding their global programming strategies, intended outcomes, and organizational resources that support the internationalization process. Global engineering education research has grown increasingly complex, and of particular importance is related to engineering students’ global perspectives. The second study applies finite mixture models to characterize engineering students’ global perspective development patterns. Further, the relationship among global perspective patterns, student backgrounds and prior international experiences is explored. The third study employs data envelopment analysis to investigate how engineering students utilize international experiences in college and the relative efficiency of students’ global perspective development. The results are used to identify which international experiences get the most 'bang for your buck” and how engineering programs can tailor their international experiences to their student populations. The results of this research provide both implicit and explicit engineering school-wide global programming strategies and their sustainable development. Triangulating the results from each study informs international engineering education policy makers and scholars, and provides actionable information for program directors to further educate engineering student populations for the 21st century.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh