CAROL’S SUMMARY: Poverty is a world-wide issue. There are1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs (food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care, or education). One half of the world’s population lives on $2 US dollars a day. What implications does this have for us in an abundant country like America? What responsibility do we have to help the rest of the world with their issues of poverty, water sanitation, air pollution, etc. ? If we think effectively about these problems, how will the world benefit and how will be benefit here in the US?

Questions to consider:
1. How can you help fight poverty?
2. What would it be like if you lived on $2 a day?
3. What excesses are in your life currently?

ARTICLE:

When are we going to do something about global poverty?

By PETER SINGER

Reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty throughout the world is clearly one of the great moral challenges of our time. Although the issue is by no means absent from what we study and teach, as educators in the United States we appear to be falling short in the task of ensuring that our students are adequately informed about world poverty, its consequences, and the ways in which it can be reduced. Is it possible that some of the reluctance to deal with the topic stems from the fact that it may have uncomfortable conclusions for our own lives?

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CAROL’S SUMMARY: Globally collaboration isn’t only happening in the field of business but in the education field as well. This is only natural since our goal as educators should be to prepare students to compete globally, something I specifically address in my book

Junior Guide to Senior Year Success: Becoming a Global Citizen.

The best graduates from college used to move to New York City, Chicago, San Francisco or Washington. In today’s world, the best students need to be ready to live and work, or prepared to travel to, Dubai, Delhi or Dhaka. The ultimate goal of college is to prepare students to enter the global workforce.

1) What are you doing to cultivate a global perspective for your college education? Career? Life?

2) What kinds of partnerships has your campus formed with colleges or universitites in other parts of the world?

3) Whether you are a faculty member, student, or both, how can you become more engaged in international projects?

ARTICLE:

By KARIN FISCHER, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 25, 2009

Like a single man who has soured on the dating scene, Mark S. Wrighton is looking for serious commitment. The chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis is tired of accumulating scores of hastily arranged agreements with overseas universities that rarely lead to much.

In the search for more meaningful relationships abroad, he has focused on a select group of foreign universities in hopes of engaging large numbers of Washington University students and faculty members, encouraging robust research collaborations, and cultivating a more global campus.

Mr. Wrighton is not alone in his desire to develop overseas partnerships that are both broad and deep. A growing number of college leaders say they want arrangements that involve multiple departments and disciplines, square with institutional goals, and even tackle global challenges like sustainable agriculture or clean energy.

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CAROL’S SUMMARY: The Clinton Global Initiative University is a three-day event where motivated students brainstorm and discuss their ideas for creating change in the world. This year it was held at the University of Texas at Austin and contemplated such issues as hunger, pollution, and AIDS.

In the article, Lizzy Dupont gives the advice that when approaching “potential donors, he should come across as professional and passionate and have a detailed plan, but be open to their suggestions.” The opportunity for students here is to see themselves as global leaders—as people whose ideas and actions will make a difference in solving the world’s greatest problems.

Questions to consider:
1. What change are you passionate in order to take a stand and make a difference?
2. What measurable way could you bring about this change?
3. Who could you ask for help/donations or support for your cause?

ARTICLE:

Students gather in Texas to plan attacks on hunger, pollution, and AIDS

By KATHERINE MANGAN, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 25, 2009

Austin, Tex.

In a room full of idealistic young social entrepreneurs, Lizzy Dupont was a veteran. They listened with rapt attention as the senior at the University of Texas at Austin recounted the rewards and frustrations she had met over the last year in creating sex-education videos for deaf students in the West African nation of Mali.

Max Gelber, a University of Florida freshman, made his way to the front of the room for advice. He told Ms. Dupont he was working on a plan to record indigenous music in destitute villages, sell the music on the Internet, and send the proceeds to the musicians. “I want to go to the worst, most desolate spots on the planet,” he said. “They’re not exactly aesthetically pleasing. How do I get people interested in wanting to help me?”

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CAROL’S SUMMARY: The economic crisis of the United States has affects overseas. With the value of the dollar falling, studying abroad for students in countries like China becomes more affordable. As a major world economic power, U.S students will do well to learn how these students think, work and apply themselves. Many US students will be working with employees from China and India once they graduate. The more exposure US students can get to these cultures while they are still in college, the better prepared they will be for the global world.

Questions to consider:
1. Have you considered studying abroad?
2. What are the benefits of continuing your studies in another country?
3. What perspective would you have after working a summer, semester or year in China?
4. What opportunities do you have in your own community to learn about cultures like China,

ARTICLE:

By MARA HVISTENDAHL, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2009

Shanghai

The Chinese news media has a name for the craze that has gripped students here in the past few years: “overseas study fever.” And despite the worsening global financial crisis and a slowing domestic economy, it shows little sign of letting up.

Chinese recruiters say a high household savings rate, a difficult job market, and a steady yuan combine to keep foreign study popular in China. That marks a significant difference from India (The Chronicle, January 9), where students who rely on loans to pay overseas tuition have had difficulty securing credit; and South Korea, where the plummeting won has made Western education increasingly unaffordable. Such troubles suggest that applications from those two countries to study in the United States could drop for this fall.

What happens in Asia is key to foreign-student enrollments in the United States. India, China, and South Korea are the top three source countries for American colleges, sending 94,600, 81,100, and 69,100 students, respectively, to the United States in 2007 (The Chronicle, November 21, 2008).

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