Penn State Global 2020 Annual Report - Global Operations & Learning

The Office of Global Programs

2020 ANNUAL REPORT

LOCAL TO GLOBAL: FULFILLING THE MISSION OF A LAND- GRANT UNIVERSITY

GLOBAL OPERATIONS & LEARNING

Global Operations and Learning (GOL) facilitates the critical structures that support global engagement for faculty, staff, and students, maintains international student and scholar engagement, monitors global safety, manages international agreements, alumni connections, and sponsored relations.

Mel White, Interim-Director of Global Operations and Learning

"The Past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” So begins the novel The Go-Between, by the British author L.P. Hartley. In the year 2020, the “Past” was as recent as 2019 —a few months earlier. All of us in 2020 experienced the shock of everyday life being different. For most, these differences were uncomfortable but bearable. For some, however, the year was tragic, and we recognize the sacrifice and sorrow that will resonate long into the future for many.

In Global Operations and Learning (GOL) our intercultural development activity is focused on the Global Education and Leadership Experience (GELE). During GELE, we help students investigate the complexities of interacting in a culture different than their own. Real life in 2020 provided the same experience for all of us. Behaviors were different due to physical distancing. Dress and appearances were different due to masks and personal protective equipment. Communications were different due to remote meetings and family gatherings. Language was different: “coronavirus”, “COVID”, “flattening the curve”, “PPE” entered our lexicon…New national figures emerged: Dr. Fauci, New York’s Governor Cuomo, and Dr. Deborah Birx, a Penn Stater herself, among others.

2020 has reminded us of our responsibilities at Penn State. We help prepare students, staff and faculty for the different cultures they will encounter whether a visiting student or scholar to Penn State, a Penn Stater on a program overseas, or through an interaction with someone from a different culture in the face-to-face or digital classroom. Our organizational vision is to foster global responsibility to inspire innovation. Towards that end in 2020, we modified co-curricular programming for international students for remote delivery rather than in-person, and for community-centered programs. We refocused our robust travel risk management processes towards communicating with travelers sheltering in place overseas, while simultaneously monitoring travel conditions across the globe. We continued building partnerships with global collaborators and sponsored governments by transitioning to digital communications, always using proactive dialogue prioritizing students’ welfare. Similarly, we strengthened our partnership with Penn State’s alumni resulting in gifts of medical supplies for use by current students and additional flexibility in the use of endowments with a global focus. Global Programs has long used the idea of a threesided coin to capture our functions. These sides are “Go, Come, Partner”. In 2020, that coin shrank to a single side. Travel restrictions that prevented "coming" or "going" forced us to rely on the remaining aspect: partnership. These strengthened bonds, with both internal and external partners, will be the one legacy from 2020, we will retain.

Global Engagement & Leadership Experience (GELE)

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INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ORIENTATION

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT PATHWAY (ISP)

As part of the university-wide effort to provide virtual orientation to all students on all campuses, Global Programs collaborated across the Commonwealth to develop the International Student Pathway (ISP). ISP offered additional orientation components for international students which they completed in addition to New Student Orientation which all students participated in, led by Penn State Student Orientation and Transition Programs.

We offered three Parent Welcome sessions that were concurrent to their students’ ISP: Welcome session included a message from Dr. Brindley, an introduction to Global Programs staff, and small group sessions with Orientation leaders (OLs). ISP courses included modules on academic integrity, immigration, tuition payments, health insurance and more. The courses were moderated by GP staff and OLs. The last portion of ISP was the follow-up and immigration session which included a presentation on learning options for Fall semester and tips for international students. Breakout rooms were provided during this session for new students to speak with OLs, GOL staff, and DISSA staff, about key issues that encourage student success.

ISP: Follow-up and Immigration session

ISP BY THE NUMBERS

> ISP WELCOME 93% of ISP participants said that the welcome was informative

>> ISP COURSES 86% of ISP found digital courses to be interesting and useful

>>> ISP FOLLOW UP & IMMIGRATION 91% of ISP participants found the Follow up and Immigration session to be interesting and useful

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INTERNATIONAL PARENT SUPPORT

BUILDING REMOTE CONNECTION DURING COVID-19

In 2020, newly developed remote connection activities provided several opportunities to support the parents of new international students.

First, Global Operations and Leaning (GOL) made a concerted effort to begin communication to parents of ongoing or new international students, much earlier in the year.

Second, engagement was broader because digital meetings allowed GOL to engage parents who were concerned about COVID-19 but unable to travel to the United States.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Programs hosted hundreds of parents during International Parent Orientation providing an opportunityto learn more about Penn State, the campus community, and to welcomethem to the Penn State family.

Our engagement with parents took multiple forms. We offered four connection opportunities. Three were concurrent to their students’ ISP: Welcome session and included a welcome for parents from Dr. Brindley, an introduction to Penn State, and an overview of the International Student Pathway and Virtual Orientation so they would appreciate their students' experience. Parents were then given the option to select breakout room they wanted to attend with some digital rooms offering language support in Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic.

Finally, in an initiative with the Penn State Parents Program, Global Programs co-hosted a “New Family Friday” session specifically for international student parents. This session included a welcome from Dr. Brindley and presentations with Q&A from partners across the university including Jennifer Campbell (Global Operations and Learning), Masume Assaf (International Student and Scholar Advising), the Bursar’s Office, Health Insurance, University Park Police, and Matt Ferrari from the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Penn State. We sincerely thank all our colleagues who extended the Penn State experience to the parents of our ongoing and new international students, during a year when they particularly needed reassurance that their students would be cared for.

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INTERNATIONAL STUDENT & COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING AND SUPPORT

Our SEIL program supports international faculty, scholars, and students throughout their academic and research journey at Penn State. Here are a few examples:

TAX WORKSHOPS

The Global Programs Tax Workshop is an annual program sponsored by the Office of Global Programs to assist international students and scholars with their tax questions. This year, this program started as in-person sessions, quickly transitioned to completely online sessions and the program was extended for an additional 3 months to provide full support for our international clients, because the IRS had extended tax return deadline from April 15 to July 15, 2020. The 2020 tax program assisted 425 individuals at University Park and 8 commonwealth campuses. In addition, the Global Programs Community Engagement Coordinator overseeing the tax program completed the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance & Tax Counseling for the Elderly certification, to better assist participants in the future. Read more at Penn State News.

GELE

The Global Engagement and Leadership Experience (GELE) is a two-and-a-half day conference that brings together international and U.S. students to discuss and learn about aspects of global leadership. It is the perfect mix of serious conversations, engaging activities, and practical simulations. The application process is competitive, with only 40 participants accepted. The participant mix is 50% international students and 50% U.S. students from a variety of backgrounds. Students representing more than 17 different countries have participated at GELE.Prior to COVID-19 group gathering restrictions, 37 students attended GELE 2020 at the Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park- Read more.

CASE AWARD

Penn State received the Bronze Best Collaborative Program Award in the CASE District V Awards program for the 2019 Penn State Asia Pre-Departure Program. This award is a result of the excellent collaboration between Global Programs and the International Development Office at Penn State.Overall, more than 1,000 people participated in the Pre-Departure Orientation across the four cities. During the orientation process, students were given information on life at Penn State, an overview of visa and immigration issues, and an opportunity to meet alumni and parents from their respective countries. Full story at Penn State News.

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THE GLOBAL CAREERS INSTITUTE

February 28-29, 2020

The Global Careers Institute, a new partnership between Career Services and Global Programs, was designed to prepare students for career success in the global marketplace. The program contributes toward several foundations in the University strategic plan, Engaging our Students and Enhancing Global Engagement.

The program included: Career Readiness for Students

Online programming included several preand post- online modules

Residential programming included large and small group sessions, individual career counseling appointments and large and small group networking sessions with alumni.

A competitive application process admitted 130 students: 75% international students; 25% domestic students 38% commonwealth campus students

Professional Development Programming for Faculty and Staff

A panel of industry experts addressed the topic of “How to Prepare Students for Global Career Success.” The panel was live streamed and engaged 93 faculty and staff members from all campuses.

Feedback has been very positive. There is strong interest in future programming to better understand international career options.

Financial Sponsorship Financial support was received from several University offices, including: Global Programs, Career Services, the Penn State Alumni Association, and the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses.

For more information contact Jennifer Theiss at jaw24@psu.edu

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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK

PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS

Global Programs organized its first all-virtual International Education Week (IEW) in November 2020. The online nature of the events provided an opportunity for presenters and attendees from across the Commonwealth to truly participate as one university, geographically dispersed. Thirty three sessions were attended by over 360 students, faculty, and staff. During IEW, we ran a very popular photo contest. Here are this year's winners.

Student Name: Halie Ralston

Location: Como, Italy

Caption/Description: Hiking the scenic mountains of Como, Italy

Student Name: Chad Klein

Location: Purmamarca, Argentina

Caption/Description: Taking in the salt flat sunset

Student Name: Emily Shiels

Location: Cliffs of Moher, Republic of Ireland

Caption/Description: Taking in the views from the Cliffs of Moher

Student Name: Eliana Hadjiandreou

Location: Washington, DC

Caption/Description: International students at Capitol Hill for NAFSA's Advocacy Day

Student Name: Supichaya Boonyapakorn

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Caption/Description: Trying to blend in with Thai literal animal character at Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)

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GLOBAL SAFETY OFFICE

The Global Safety Office in Global Operations & Learning (GOL) in a vital part of the Penn State commitment to prepare and support students, staff, and faculty when traveling abroad. We are pleased to summarize the work of this office in 2020.

COVID-19 RESPONSE STATS

2000 International trips canceled for spring and summer 2020 due to COVID-19

862 Students recalled from 41 countries around the world as COVID-19 spread in spring semester

55 Travelers supported while sheltering in place abroad from March-late August

41 Assisted with travel scheduling during mass flight shortage

COVID-19 RESPONSE

From the first message sent to administrators to flag the rise of the virus in January, and the first students we repatriated from South Korea, to the last traveler who safely returned home over the summer, and the first traveler we approved for an exception to travel abroad again in the fall, the Global Safety Office has been central to Global Programs’ COVID-19 response. The COVID-19 pandemic led to swift and large scale evacuations of travelers abroad, saw the first use of global “do not travel” advisories by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S Centers for Disease Control, and led to a stunning return to border closures along national lines. We are reviewing information from many sources and consulting with our peers across higher education as we adapt to this new normal. While university international travel was suspended in 2020, we have been supporting a small number of mission critical travelers abroad and focusing on plans for when and how to safely resume international travel. The Global Safety Office also facilitated after action review meetings with Global Programs colleagues to reflect on our response to the pandemic with respect to international travel, and use our lessons learned to inform future emergency response policies and procedures. While we may be bringing masks along with us when we go abroad in the future, one thing that will not change is our commitment to supporting transformational international travel as soon as it is safe to do so, in line with our vision of a Global Penn State.

TRAVEL RECORDS BY YEAR

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SPONSORED RELATIONS

Sponsored Relations is committed to serving international sponsored students at all Penn State University campuses and is dedicated to providing the highest level of service to our international sponsored student population, ensuring that the needs of both our sponsored students and sponsoring organizations are met.

Penn State’s sponsored student enrollment is among the TOP 5 largest in the U.S.

*In-person sponsored student recruitment events prior to COVID-19 pandemic

BY THE NUMBERS

SPONSORS

24.4% Other Sponsors

20% Corporate Sponsors

55.6% Government Sponsors

TOTAL # OF STUDENTS ENROLLED FALL 2020 637

Graduate 16.3%

Undergraduate 83.7%

TOP SPONSORING ORGS

Embassy of Sultanate of Oman

Embassy of the State of Kuwait

**United Arab Emirates

Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission

Aramco Americans

**United Arab Emirates - More than any other university in the United States

TOP SPONSORING COUNTRIES

SAUDI ARABIA

KUWAIT

THAILAND

MALAYSIA

OMAN

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

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SPONSORED RELATIONS

SUPPORT DURING COVID-19

In March 2020, Global Programs led outreach efforts to foreign Ministries of Education and other governmental entities with the purpose of establishing a communication channel to address challenges presented by the COVID-19 global health crisis. These communication channels have helped Global Programs address challenges in student mobility, academic delivery, and other student support, in partnership with foreign governments.

During the Spring 2020 semester, Penn State was home to 9,839 international students from 136 different countries. Many Ministries of Education around the world do not authorize or authenticate foreign online learning. Thus, Global Programs led special outreach to Ministries of Education to assist with their regulations during the COVID pandemic. Ministries of education around the globe were well informed regarding the enhanced modes of course-delivery to all students completing their semesters remotely. Through these efforts, key global stakeholders approved remote delivery and ensured our international students did not have to delay their academic progress during the pandemic.

SPONSOR FEEDBACK:

"I am not surprised to see Penn State step forward to meet the challenges of the Corona Era with determination & hard work. I am proud of my friends at Penn State." - UAE Embassy

"Penn State again has set the bar high... We are glad that our students continue to study with you.” - Aramco

STUDENT OUTREACH AND SUPPORT Beginning in the Fall 2020 semester, Sponsored Relations partnered with Student Engagement and Intercultural Learning (SEIL) to hold virtual check-in appointments with new international students. The purpose of this outreach was to check-in with sponsored students individually to learn more about how the students were doing with their classes, connect students to campus resources and involvement opportunities, and discuss their plans for the Spring 2021 semester. This outreach also allowed us to give students a direct staff connection, so that as concerns arise, they had a direct contact to reach out to for assistance.

Sponsored Relations made it a priority to keep all sponsored students and partners informed about the changes taking place during the transition period and beyond. Invitations to the virtual Town Halls were regularly sent and advertised to all sponsored students and sponsoring organizations.

Sponsored Relations and Health Promotion & Wellness partnered to deliver a mindfulness workshop aimed at supporting sponsored students. MINDFULNESS: in the era of Zoom University a virtual program was designed for sponsored students to guide them through understanding stress and its effects, identifying specific causes of stress in their own lives, and learning how to use mindfulness to manage it.

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GLOBAL COLLABORATIONS

International agreements are a key tool in Penn State’s globalization efforts. The types of agreements range from specific contracts that govern programs with international institutions to ceremonial documents expressing an intention to discuss possible areas of cooperation.

Global Collaborations manages a portfolio of nearly 300 agreements, from the initial inquiry to contract processing to expiration and archiving records in accordance with University policies. These agreements support partnerships with 221 international institutions in 70 countries. In addition, nearly 50 drafts were in development as of our last report in 2020.

Almost 40% of the international agreements are Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) and support a variety of activities that usually reflect longer-term and more established research or educational relationships. Half of these MOAs are related to study abroad programs and set forth details such as the number of students that may participate in a particular program per semester or academic year, eligibility criteria, what types of courses the students may take, logistics and student support services each university must provide. Another quarter of the MOAs establish programs for graduate students. The remainder are a mix of internship programs, articulation agreements that allow students to start their degree at one institution and finish at the partner university, joint research centers, and other initiatives that require written contracts.

Some examples of these types of agreement include:

• Direct enroll undergraduate program with University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland •

• Dual degree programs with Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) School of Law in Taiwan •

• An internship program with the Institute for Field Education (IFE) in France & Belgium •

• Summer undergraduate program with the University of Limpopo in South Africa •

• Undergraduate reciprocal exchange agreement with Jönköping University in Sweden •

• A research partnership in biosensing with National Taipei University of Technology (MOU) •

The remaining agreements include Letters of Intent or general Memoranda of Understanding that establish inter-institutional relationships or support individual faculty collaborations around the world. These agreements acknowledge intentions to work together with researchers at an international university or provide a broader framework for an emerging partnership. Sometimes, they are used to demonstrate to funding agencies that a relationship exists.

BY THE NUMBERS

298 ACTIVE AGREEMENTS

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WITH 221 INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

In 70 countries

46 AGREEMENTS IN DEVELOPMENT

31 NEW PARTNERSHIPS IN 2020