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Institute of
International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 984 5367
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A Multidisciplinary International Linkage: An Engineering Faculty’s Viewpoint |
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By Takoi K. Hamrita Tartir
Creating effective opportunities for international programs is a shared responsibility between the institution and the faculty within it. Although administrative units created for the purpose of enhancing global programs within a campus are very important, faculty from all disciplines should proactively seek internationalization opportunities. Yet, for those of us without program management components in our job description, we fear administrative responsibilities might compromise our research and that our efforts might go unrewarded by our institutions. Many faculty members also fear venturing out of our traditional teaching and research roles. In order for faculty to effectively participate in our campus internationalization efforts, they must overcome departmental, disciplinary, infrastructure, and traditional role boundaries.
When we talk about international work, we often talk about building bridges. Bridges are by definition structures designed and built by some so that others can pass through, hence the altruistic nature of international work. Here lies one of the challenges of initiating international programs in academic environments. As faculty, we have been trained to singularly pull resources and attention to ourselves, our disciplines, our areas of research, our unit, our turf, instead of integrating resources for a greater common good. The most effective international linkages, regardless of their size, scope, goals, and context begin with people who put the common good before their own and cut across barriers to pull together whatever it takes to form that bridge.
Background
When I left Tunisia 22 years ago as an 18 year old girl to study engineering at Georgia Tech, it was with a mix of exhilaration, fear, hope, and admiration for my parents who let me go to a world they knew almost nothing about. At the time, I was one of only a handful of Tunisian girls who went overseas for education. As I took the leap to study electrical engineering at Georgia Tech, my subconscious wrestled with two fears I never articulated at the time: That engineering, though a great match for my scientific background and analytical skills, might be too narrow of a field and limit my ability to make a difference. (When you grow up in a developing country, academic achievement is central to your life and you grow up with aspirations to change the world. If you are a star student (and I was), your family, your home town and your country expect it of you). My second fear was that someday I might lose touch with my home country and its reality.
As a student and now as a faculty member, I have made choices to embrace a bigger picture than the one dictated by traditional engineering boundaries to counter balance the pull towards narrow specialization. Also, I have made efforts to stay in close touch with Tunisia and its education system by participating in conferences and scientific events, serving on scientific organizations, and seeking networking opportunities. Though building a linkage with Tunisia had been brewing in my mind for a long time, it became more pertinent as I realized that developments in the geopolitical arena made collaborating with an Arab Muslim country one of the most important things I could do with my career and for my institution.
I was not interested in just conducting joint teaching and research programs between a few UGA colleagues and our Tunisian counterparts. From the start, I had the ambitious goal of creating a far reaching, holistic, and comprehensive partnership which would have a profound impact on Tunisia and its higher education system as well as on my institution. The partnership had to align with the efforts of the Tunisian ministry of higher education and Tunisian universities to modernize the education system, increase its relevance and impact on social and economic development, and tune it to international standards; in addition to furthering UGA’s globalization efforts, and contributing to a better understanding between the U.S. and the Arab world.
Building Bridges
Being an engineer, I realize that building a strong bridge requires careful planning, structurally sound design, careful selection of material, and a close study of the grounds on which the bridge would sit. Unlike physical bridges however, bridges built for international partnerships continue to grow or deteriorate according to the quality and the need for what is transported through them. Therefore, to ensure that our bridge was flexible, built for the long run and designed to allow passage of things of mutual beneficial to both sides, I spent the last four years engaging in research, dialogue, brainstorming, partnership and program design, network and team building and cultivation of financial, institutional, and governmental support.
When developing this program, I let partnership goals act as the magnets to attract human and financial resources; not the other way around. Additionally, I tried to work in a scholarly way, developing new areas of expertise as opposed to being a mere broker or facilitator. I engaged government, diplomats, higher education leaders, faculty, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and community to work together. Using careful diplomacy and cultural sensitivity, I did everything in my capacity to call attention to this program, raise its profile, and celebrate its successes.
Some of our Current Initiatives and their Impact
A steady increase in the number of students seeking higher education in Tunisia is causing a great deal of strain on the higher education system. The number of college students in the system is currently 300,000 and is expected to reach 500,000 by the year 2010. In January 2002, Tunisia established the Virtual University of Tunis (UVT) to increase access to higher education through the use of information and communication technology and distance learning. One of the highest priorities of our partnership so far has been to support the efforts of the UVT by building infrastructure and developing Tunisian expertise in new technologies. Our partnership has contributed to a national network of e-learning experts around the country, a large number of online degree programs, courses, and modules, and a new national e-learning scientific organization to ensure local sustainability of our efforts.
According to a UNESCO report by the Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States (Higher Education in the Arab Region, UNESCO 2003), the Beirut Declaration states that higher education in the Arab world is “under considerable strain” due in part to the weakness of the links between the higher education institutions, secondary and elementary education, local communities, and societal and human development needs. Thus, another of our partnership goals has been to create opportunities and programs for strengthening the relationship between the Tunisian higher education system and the community so that the university becomes an active player in solving societal problems. A pilot project aimed at bringing together college, high school, and elementary students to address community and civic issues through art has had a tremendous success and promises to not only foster civic engagement but also strengthen the links between the three layers of education.
Engineering and Globalization
Occasionally, I worry that building this program has taken time away from my technical research and teaching, both of which were thriving before I took this turn in my career. Then I remember my anxiety as young girl about engineering being too narrow a discipline and that it might limit what I can do to make a difference. All told, the project has provided for the exchange of over 100 individuals including faculty, staff, administrators, students, and diplomats in addition to engaging individuals from several universities, dozens of departments and disciplines and all tracks of the university system (teaching, research, service and administration). It is piloting essential reform efforts in Tunisia and serves as a unique model for international collaboration.
I realize now that engineering has equipped me with the skill set to make a difference in any arena I choose to engage in, and that it gave me the ability to think, analyze, strategize, learn and adapt. I realize that what I have been doing over the last four years is systems engineering at its best. The system in this case is not electrical or mechanical or agricultural, it is in systems language a highly complex nonlinear time varying unpredictable human system. I realize this new career direction has taught me things I could have never learned in the lab or classroom. I realize that the expertise and scholarship I have been developing through this experience is something unique and invaluable. Perhaps I should call it Global Human Systems Engineering.
Takoi K. Hamrita Tartir is Associate Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia.
Note: The author would like to acknowledge the Middle East Partnership Initiative and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, The Tunisian Government, UGA and Tunisian University leaders, and the Georgia Board of Regents for their support of this program. For further information about the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership program please visit www.tunisia.uga.edu
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