Global Education: Extra Credit or Core Curriculum in Times of Crisis?

This is the third post in Ryan Pederson's "Education Entrepreneur" series.

Over the last several months, the financial crisis has ravaged organizations around the world, causing businesses, non-profits, and universities alike to trim down to the bare essentials as they scrambling to make ends meet. Working in global education in this environment, I have often asked: Should universities put global service immersions on hold for a while as we buckle down during the financial crisis?

At Northwestern, we've watched as the crisis has made it harder and harder for students to pursue their passions and spend the money to live, work, and learn abroad. Astronomical interest in our Global Engagement Summer Institute had us preparing to handle 100 students, but come June, we'll be sending at best a lean total of 45 eager learners to Uganda, India, and Argentina to work on community development projects.

At the same time, the Northwestern endowment took a huge hit (close to 30%), spending cuts were seen all over the university, and with it, any hope for continued support from our provost for the Center for Global Engagement, even though we've more than doubled our output.

I completely understand that most families simply cannot spend $9,000 for a summer study abroad program-even when it gives several credits-and that financial aid budgets have been hit hard. But here are six reasons why we need universities to prioritize global education, especially in this economic climate:

1. Tomorrow's global leaders need a perspective of global collaboration greater than today's. I saw more positive cross-cultural collaboration on my team in Kampala three years ago when three Midwesterners, a Singaporean, and an Indian-American worked with Ugandans of several ethnicities to develop a youth education program than I see in managing our global financial crisis.

2. We need a greater global conscientiousness. Tomorrow's leaders can't follow the path of turning towards protectionism in the midst of crisis, and must develop a sense of how self-centered decisions made in halls of power can cause negative ripples throughout the world. This greater global conscientiousness grows quite quickly and deeply when living and working in a developing country.

3. Prevent panic! We can't get into a pattern where some of our smartest, most passionate future change agents panic and scramble for any corporate internship they can find instead of following their passions and channeling their energy towards social good. I've seen that trend amongst a handful of my students already.

4. Social entrepreneurship is crucially important now, and it starts early. Nathaniel often speaks of the entrepreneur's role of moving resources from areas of low yield to high yield. We've never had a time when that's more necessary. Good social entrepreneurs don't just develop overnight though. Some of our best young social entrepreneurs got their start in college-just look at Mark Hanis or Kjerstin Erickson. Global education has been a springboard for many of our students-a quarter have gone back abroad to spearhead additional projects after a summer in Uganda.

5. We need to learn resilience. We have a lot to learn from people who have lived in economic (and political) instability for decades. Life story interviews with Ugandans shaped my view of what it means to live resiliently through turmoil. Nathaniel's interview with Elmira Bayrasli from Endeavor reveals a similar point.

6. Universities have an essential niche as students struggle to find jobs. Many students are looking for ways to gain skills or enhance their marketability, and are turning to volunteer work to do so. Universities need to capitalize on this. The Foundation for Sustainable Development has seen their applicant pools rise in this downturn, and I got multiple emails from friends this week looking for international volunteer opportunities. Instead of pulling funding out of essential programs, schools like NU need to dig into the endowment a bit, and actually prioritize the dramatic learning that happens as when student live, learn, and do good in other communities.

We can't be short-sighted on this issue. Even in the midst of turmoil, universities need to claim their role as institutions that shape our future generations and societies-few programs do that as well as cross-cultural immersions.