Award: Silver

Institution: University of California, Davis

Title of Entry: Future of International Education: Leadership Perspectives from Around the World

About this Entry: As COVID-19 created a worldwide crisis, it also brought a reverberating impact on higher education and international education around the world. In spring 2020, in response to the uncertainties, momentous challenges, and need for innovation and partnerships, the University of California, Davis, and the Institute of International Education (IIE) created a timely online series on The Future of International Education: Leadership Perspectives from Around the World.

The five-part online series of leadership conversations about the future of the university and international education, including the role internationalization has in advancing university missions, was presented on a weekly basis in June and July. The series kicked off with a panel focusing on the global landscape, which featured UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May as a panelist, followed by region-specific panels on Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America, during which Chancellor May and IIE President Allan E. Goodman rotated as moderators. The events brought together prestigious senior leaders in academia across 16 countries as well as over 1,100 attendees across over 70 countries for critical discussions on the consequences of COVID-19 and opportunities for innovation and partnership in 2020 and beyond.

This series filled a strategic and timely need and the panel recordings and comprehensive briefing paper that followed have created a long-lasting resource for the field. It exemplified the importance and effectiveness of partnerships, having been hosted by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and UC Davis Global Affairs and the UC Davis Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.