Spotlight
Global Citizenship
| USF News
Indira Nair
There's global education as an idea. Then there's global education in practice — students gaining knowledge and experiences that prepare them to be global citizens, and faculty bringing a global perspective to every course offering.
At USF's first Global Citizenship Conference in August, participants shared information and experiences with champions of global education, and heard from USF students preparing to be global citizens.
"Global education is a way toward shared understanding of one another," said keynote speaker Indira Nair, chair of the Global Learning Leadership Council of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She explained how fully grasping the world's economic interdependencies and shared problems is "vital to continuing our way of life and life on the planet."
Since 2000, global education has been gaining attention at USF. In January, when the university unveils its new Strategic Plan, the first goal, according to Vice Provost Graham Tobin, is "to produce global citizens." The notion, he adds, is an overriding theme of the plan.
Currently about 100 USF students are enrolled in a pilot program designed for students pursuing degrees and careers related to global issues. The students take specially designed, globally-focused courses and study abroad to apply their global citizenship knowledge to real-world issues in another country.
"To produce global citizens, course offerings need to provide students with significant opportunities to learn, practice and apply global skills and knowledge across the curriculum," says Global Citizenship Program Director Karla Davis-Salazar. "This requires a sustained, integrated effort from general education through the majors and more opportunities for study abroad."
It requires the support and creativity of administrators and faculty who understand the profound value of global education.