It is a central one when defining the marks of an educated person in this time. International students are an educational asset to a campus of the California State University. The point of this concern is that we are obliged to help all of our graduates achieve a global competence. This certainly includes language competence and a knowledge and practical understanding of the fact that the world includes many and often divergent cultures and economic, political, and social systems. For individuals to be educated and functional as well as for nations to be competitive, a globally educated citizenry is imperative.
Global competence is just that, and there is no substitute.
The campuses of the California State University have among them, and perhaps in each or most, mixed experiences of meeting student needs for a global education. My colleagues and I hope that this report will create more room for campus program development than has heretofore existed and that a clear signal or message will be seen by the campuses that global efforts, far beyond anything the system has done, are encouraged and supported. Assuming the implementation of this report, a mechanism for assessment and accountability will need to be created. The recent inventory of international activities published by the Academic Affairs unit in your office provides a useful base or starting point from which campus reports on implementation might be secured after the close of the 1999-2000 year. A regular assessment and evaluation process might well begin by 2001-2002.