University of Zurich: Internationalization Plan
University of Zurich: Internationalization Plan
Edwin Raagas, Amanda Rochlen, Julia Rozell, Karina Sierra
Introduction
The increasing involvement of global access and teachings within higher education institutions is both a consequence of globalization and a decisive act of internationalization. Lauded as a progressive method to become competitive in a global market, institutions are openly seeking partnerships with other universities abroad, as well as advertising their global programs to incoming students as a way to develop their cultural aptitude. Especially within Europe institutions are stressing the importance of a functioning internationalization strategy as a means to develop partnerships in new regions, student exchange and faculty opportunities, and recruitment of international staff and faculty. According to the 2013 EUA Membership Consultation, the overwhelming priority for internationalization is to attract students from abroad and increase the global learning and teaching methods of their individual institutions to keep up with their competitors. As a politically neutral and independent country, Switzerland has the exclusive opportunity of being a sanctuary for global citizens and businesses situated in the middle of the European Union member countries. As a result of this, Swiss universities have a great advantage in ease of internationalization and are going through great lengths to ascertain themselves as role-models in global institutional integration.
Institutional Profile
Founded in 1833, the University of Zurich (UZH) was the first university in Europe to be established by a democratic political system, in lieu of the traditional monarchy sanctioned establishment. Located in the heart of the historic district in Zurich, the university has the advantage of being in one of the foremost financial and economical regions in the world. A unique attribute of Zurich is its placement in Switzerland; it is surrounded by French, German and Italian speaking cantons further heightening its global nature. Switzerland itself is landlocked and bordered by Germany, Austria, Italy and France. Though politically neutral, the border countries have a great influence in the political and financial infrastructure of Switzerland. UZH is considered Switzerland’s largest and most wide-ranging, in terms of concentration areas offered, university. It possesses seven faculties, one hundred and fifty institute and thirty thousand students and researchers globally. It is a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and internationally distinguished in the areas of immunology, medicine, genetics, neuroscience, structural biology and economics. The celebrated Albert Einstein and Edward Schrodinger are among the twelve Nobel Prize winning alumni and previous faculty of the institution which is one of the reasons Winston Churchill chose this school to call academics to action in the political landscape of 1946. UZH chooses a global approach to higher education demonstrated by the domestic to global faculty and student ratio. Fifty-five percent of all professors, thirty-nine percent of instructors and nineteen percent of all students (including forty-two percent of all PhD candidates) are international. The international access of UZH is made possible by its partnerships in with over five hundred institutions in one hundred countries in the areas of teaching and research as well as student exchange programs. The push toward the internationalization of the university is clear in its policies, funding, and population composition.
Internationalization Plan
UZH is a prominent international research and teaching institution that contributes to our global society. As an institution that is held in such high regard it has become crucial to their positioning that they continue to contribute and rise to global and international challenges. It is for this reason that the executive board of the university met in 2012 to discuss the future and to create strategic goals for 2020 with a focus on the university's internationalization policies.
The executive boards objective focuses on promoting UZH’s research, scholars, and infrastructure. Based on the university's objectives their strategies for their internationalization plan were broken into three main areas of concentration. These areas were broken down into the university as an institution, research & academic career development, and teaching & studies. These strategies for internationalization would also fall heavily under the responsibility of UZH faculty members who the executive board members would support in their commitment in fulfilling these goals.
The Strategic goal of the institution was broken down into six subcategories. These subcategories include international house, visibility, bilingual communication, institutional partners, institutional alumni, and global engagement. The International House component to this plan will offer support to all international students and faculty on campus. Visibility, within this component of the strategy is crucial to the plan is it places the image of UZH as a diverse institution with its international partnerships and rankings. Bilingual Communication, is another factor playing a major role in the institution strategy as the university communicates in both German and English. The subcategory of Institutional Partners, is where UZH will make throughout partnerships with both national and international universities to create a global network. UZH will also use International Alumni to promote the institution's reputation. The last subcategory in the goal area of institution is Global Engagement, the institution will show its commitment towards society by contributing to the development of countries.
The second goal of UHZ when it comes to internationalization is research and academic career development. This area was broken into three subcategories: recruitment, acquisition of international funds, and promotion of junior scholars. This goal area really focus on the faculty aspect of gaining the best researchers, acquiring the funds to support them, and supporting rising scholars who need more experience in the field.
The third and final goal in UZH’s strategy focuses on teaching and studies. Within this strategy there are four sub-categories that include mobility, Internationalization in Zurich, Recruitment, and International Programs that focus on the student aspects of their plan. UHZ promotes mobility to all students to go abroad in all programs except medical. They offer an array of options which includes summers and internships and students that go abroad don’t need to worry about possible delayed graduation. Internationalization in Zurich focuses on creating curriculum that integrates international aspects into all programs. The third sub-category is Recruitment, UZH wants to recruit the best master’s and Phd candidates for their programs with an accelerated and rolling admissions process. The final part in the strategy of teaching and studies is International Programs, UZH encourages the development of international degree programs and supports faculty members who are able to offer double/joint degrees in partnership with a foreign institution.
Critical Analysis of Internationalization Plan
Overall, UZH has explicitly stated that their internationalization strategy is a response to meeting the larger goals of “Strategic Goals 2020,” which were adopted by the University Board and the Executive Board in 2012. Strategic Goal 1 outlines UZH’s aim to be regarded among the world’s best research institutions. That being said, this plan seems to be significantly self-serving on the university’s part, with too much focus on the ways it will benefit from internationalization. Additionally, the strategy itself acknowledges that “many of the proposed measures lie within the responsibility of the faculties,” confirming that there is an unbalanced sharing of responsibility within departments and allocation of resources that burdens the faculty.
Section 1 of the plan’s strategic goals focuses on “the Institution.” UZH cooperates with “strategically important national and international partners.” However, in this case, what is “strategically important” and what are the factors behind this distinction? UZH may be limiting its partnerships with other institutions on a very subjective view of whether or not an institution is “strategically important.” Also, how will excluded institutions be able to vie for partnership with UZH?
Section 2 of the plan’s strategic goals focuses on “Research and Academic Career Development.” Faculty members are encouraged to recruit and hire visiting professors from abroad, but there is a possibility for favoritism to factor into some faculty members’ recruitment efforts, potentially only recruiting professors who may be too similar to them. This potentially limits diversity of identity, thoughts, and research. UZH supports its researchers by acquiring third-party funds from abroad, which sets the stage for there to be a lack of transparency and conflicts of interest, based on who these these third-party funds (and their affiliates) are. There also seems to be little room for faculty to negotiate the terms of their funding and support.
Section 3 of the plan’s strategic goals focuses on “Teaching and Studies.” While UZH does promote mobility and encourages its students to go abroad, the University and the individual faculties decide on the target numbers. This policy lends itself to discrepancies between the number of students interested and the number of spots available. Also, student exchange is based on reciprocity only. This means that there is a one to one ratio, limiting international students’ chances of studying at UZH to whether or not their home institution is an institutional partner that can “exchange” with UZH. Additionally, the internationalization plan gives faculty the autonomy to decide which skills their students should acquire to be best qualified for an international environment. Without a uniform standard provided by UZH, this may give individual faculty members too much control over how much or how little to prepare students. One must consider if faculty members are basing their decisions regarding skills integration in the classroom on standardized and statistical data or solely their personal preferences and opinions. Finally, UZH’s plan mentions that it only actively recruits “excellent” students at Masters and PhD levels. In this case, what is the definition of “excellent” and who or what is defining it? This distinction also means that there is no targeted recruitment efforts to international students at the undergraduate level, as well as students who fall outside of the “excellent” category. Such students may or may not be from low-income backgrounds; may or may not be non-English or non-German speakers; may or may not be low- to average-performing students. In other words, which populations continue to be excluded by UZH’s international student recruitment strategy?
Conclusion
While the University of Zurich, a large research university, has an impressive international population and a strategic plan for internationalization, there are still some questions that arise. To solidify UZH’s strategic plan on their internationalization process, areas of concentration were created: university as an institution, research & academic career development, and teaching & studies. While it is all centered on academic readiness in the new global world, some of the processes lack clarity. UZH holds a strong relationship with many countries which allow for comprehensive student exchange programs, continuing its mission of internationalism, but there is a questions of student access. Some of the criticisms of the UZH’s internationalization plan include the metrics used to determine which student have access to these opportunities. UZH’s use of internationalization as a tool for maintaining its high ranking can be both beneficial and problematic with the use of faculty as the main source of strengthening their strategic plan. Faculty work directly with students and determine skills needed for the international market. The University of Zurich is taking action steps to have a concrete plan for the student’s preparedness for the global market but there are still critics of its inclusion and access for all its students.
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