International Higher Education, November 1996
In cooperation with the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Center organized a two-week seminar for senior administrators from the University of Amsterdam, at Boston College and in the Boston area. Participants included the incoming rector magnificus of the university, deans, and directors of schools and programs. The seminar provided the Dutch participants with an innovative analysis of trends in American higher education. It included a combination of lectures and discussions on topics identified by the University of Amsterdam and internships with key academic leaders in the Boston area. In addition to Boston College, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, Northeastern University, Tufts Dental School, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and Harvard University took part in the program. Vice president for international activities Hans deWit of the University of Amsterdam and Philip Altbach of Boston College were the main organizers of the program. The Dutch participants heard such higher education experts as Prof. Zelda Gamson of the University of Massachusetts (faculty issues), Prof. Judith Block McLaughlin of Harvard (presidential leadership), and others. Speaking with the group at Boston College were Associate Academic Vice President Robert Newton, Vice President for Finance Peter McKenzie, and Information Technology Director James Krinebring. Dean of Students Robert Sherwood organized a student panel. The Dutch participants felt that the combination of internships, which permitted "hands-on" experience with key Boston-area administrators, and focused lecture-discussions were an effective way of providing an in-depth understanding of American higher education. Boston, with its more than 50 colleges and universities, proved to be an ideal location for the program.
The director of the Center for International Higher Education, Philip G. Altbach, has been appointed to the J. Donald Monan, SJ Chair of higher education at Boston College. Karen Arnold, the director of the Higher Education Program at Boston College, was promoted to the rank of associate professor. James JF Forest, a graduate assistant in the Center and the assistant editor of this newsletter, has recently joined the staff of New York University as Project Coordinator for the Center for Community College Leadership - a new initiative funded by the Kellogg and Ford Foundations. Damtew Teferra has joined the Center as a graduate assistant. He most recently has been editor at the National Herbarium at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Patricia Murphy, currently completing her doctoral dissertation on higher education reform in Spain, is currently working with the Center as a graduate assistant and as an assistant editor of this newsletter. Rudolf Heredia, SJ, director of the Social Science Center at St. Xavier's College in Bombay, India, will be joining the Center as a visiting scholar in summer 1997.
The
Program in Higher Education
The fall 1996 Higher Education Lecture Series at Boston College included talks
by Howard London, of Bridgewater State University, on community colleges,
Ernest Lynton, the Commonwealth Professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts
on service learning, Judith Block McLaughlin, of Harvard University, on presidential
leadership, and Kai Meng Cheng, of the University of Hong Kong and Harvard
University, on higher education in China and Hong Kong.
Students interested in applying for graduate study at the masters or doctoral level in the Higher Education Program at Boston College should contact the Graduate Admissions Office for admissions material or Professor Karen Arnold, director of the program, for information. Financial assistance is available through the Administrative Fellows Program or from other sources. Deadlines for applications and financial aid for the 1997-98 academic year are in February. The Graduate Admissions Office and Professor Arnold can be reached at Campion Hall, Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA 02167. More information about the program - including course descriptions and degree requirements - can be found online at the Boston College higher education program World Wide Web site, at: