A Global Response to Global Issues: 

Partnering with Universities Worldwide To Build Cooperation and Train Future Leaders

By James V. Wertsch

            When the first cohort of top international graduate students begins study with the McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis in Fall 2006, they will help inaugurate an innovative, cooperative effort by some of the world’s top research institutions. The McDonnell Academy will engage these potential prime ministers, university presidents, research scientists and corporate CEO’s in the increasingly international world of research and education while being immersed in American culture.  These prospective world leaders will be part of a cooperative initiative by some of the world’s top research institutions and a number of the largest multinational corporations to address global challenges including peace, pandemics and pollution.   

The Academy will send Washington University faculty members to institutions throughout the world to learn their ideas on how best to address global concerns.  The newly established program also will help reverse the decline in the number of foreign students studying here, a danger to the U.S. position as the world leader in innovation.

           The Academy grew, in large part, from the vision of Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton, who saw that as the world’s challenges—in fighting disease, fostering peace, exploring space, promoting prosperity, and protecting the environment—became more internationalized, so necessarily were their solutions.  The intellectual and financial resources to address these challenges no longer resided in parochial, largely Western, enclaves, but circled the globe in far-flung research universities, international foundations, governmental agencies, and multinational corporations.

Building an International Network, Integrating International Students

            The McDonnell International Scholars Academy brings together a number of critical components to build a growing network and consortium of international scholars, universities, faculty, and corporate sponsors to foster cooperation in research and education and to train future international leaders in the worlds of education, science, medicine, government, business, and the arts. 

            The Academy recognizes that while international research universities will continue to compete—for faculty, resources, and students—we can advance our causes by cooperating across borders in faculty exchange, student exchange, and joint ventures in education and research.

            Launched by American linchpin Washington University and 15 leading Asian partner universities with a $l0 million endowment commitment from John F. McDonnell and the JSM Charitable Trust, the McDonnell Academy enrolls exceptional graduate and professional students from partner universities around the world.  It not only provides them rigorous graduate instruction in their chosen degree areas but also, uniquely, steeps them in a cultural, political, historical, and social education program designed to give them a truly international perspective and prepare them as future leaders knowledgeable about the United States, other countries and critical international issues.  These future leaders, across all graduate disciplines at Washington University, will have all expenses paid, including tuition, room, board and travel.  Other important support exceeding $4 million comes from nine multinational corporations and several other foundations and individual donors.

The extracurricular program for McDonnell Academy scholars includes leadership training, cultural events, seminars and workshops with experts in key areas, conferences on crucial issues, and St. Louis and Washington, D.C., sessions with U.S. government policymakers and grant administrators.  Thus, the Academy scholars will have a rare opportunity to become integrated not only into their American community but also into the international scholarly-research community.

Faculty Involvement in International Cooperation

But just as we are bringing bright, international students to study with us—students we covet to help the United States cooperate and prosper in the world community—we are sending some of our finest faculty members around the globe to learn from our partner universities. 

To help guide and enhance the educational experience for McDonnell Academy scholars, each is paired with a Washington University faculty member, who serves as an ambassador-mentor and assists in the graduate scholar’s academic and professional life.  These ambassadors also will travel annually with the scholar to the scholar’s alma mater and work to build relationships—in education, research, and cultural exchange—between Washington University and the partner university.

Asia’s burgeoning economic, educational, and geopolitical importance, and Washington University’s existing Asian ties, led to the inaugural university partnerships there.  The University’s International Advisory Council for Asia (IACA), consisting of about 30 members from Asia and the United States, ranks primary among those ties.  In addition, Washington University boasts an Executive MBA program as a joint venture with Fudan University in Shanghai.  Further, about 75 percent of our international students are from Asia, and many outstanding faculty are from Asia.  However, we envision future McDonnell Academy partnerships with universities not only in Asia, but also in Europe, Australia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, and are working to foster stronger relationships there.

Partner universities, from which McDonnell Academy scholars are being invited, now include Peking University in Beijing, University of Tokyo, Fudan University in Shanghai, Tsinghua University in Beijing, Yonsei University in Seoul, Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, China Agricultural University in Beijing, National University of Singapore, University of Indonesia, Seoul National University, University of Hong Kong, Korea University in Seoul, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and National Taiwan University in Taipei. 

Each partner university will have at least one of its graduates as a Scholar in the Academy.  Some of the Scholars will be Corporate Fellows supported by one of the Academy’s multinational corporate sponsors.  Sponsoring corporations also offer internships and on-site educational opportunities for Corporate Fellows. 

           At this time, sponsoring corporations are Boeing, St. Louis, Mo.; Cabot Corp., Boston, Mass.; Charoen Pokphand Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; Corning Inc., Corning, N.Y.; Emerson, St. Louis; Monsanto Co., St. Louis; Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., St. Louis; Rohm and Haas, Philadelphia; and Tyco Healthcare/Mallinckrodt, St. Louis.

With the aid of corporate sponsors and partner universities, the Academy nurtures a cadre of the world’s premier graduate students and future leaders in a unique educational experience that cuts across disciplinary, cultural, and national boundaries.  In doing so, the Academy reinforces our commitment to bring top international students to Washington University to study and further our research goals. 

Simultaneously the McDonnell Academy establishes new connections among the partner universities.  While most academic connections are usually developed along the lines of narrowly defined intellectual interests, the McDonnell Academy brings together a ready-made network of universities and top minds in all areas to talk about a broad range of world issues.  The Academy is just one effort — a demonstration project — to address the need for international cooperation in education and research.  We hope that in 20 years it will be seen as the premier project of its sort.

James V. Wertsch is director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, Washington University’s Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences, and director of International and Area Studies.

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