International Activities

September 20-21, 2012

Global Summit on Student Affairs and Services
(September 20-21, 2012, Washington DC, USA)

Discussing the Role of Student Services through Small Groups

The International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS) Association, with headquarters in the United States, carried out its first global summit in Washington DC. The staff in charge of international affairs of National Federation of University Co-operative Associations (NFUCA) participated in the event. There were 43 participants from 20 countries, including US, Europe (Eastern Europe and three Baltic countries), Middle East (Lebanon), South Africa, Africa (Tanzania), North and South America (Mexico, Peru) and Japan.

Dr. Philip G. Altbach from Boston College gave the opening address. Dr. Altbach shared that higher education is affected by massification of education, globalization, multinationalization, economy and the change of mindset towards university (as a concentration of knowledge or an educational institution). The impact of economy (global recession) is considered limited and seen only in the change of time consumed to take a degree.

At the summit, a lot of group discussions were carried out to take advantage of the small number of participants. We discussed the role and models of student services in each country . We also discussed about learning assistance (how to acquire learning skills), health care, housing, responding to globalization, financial problem of universities and responsibility of undergraduate students. An interesting point is that foreign students have to pay the tuition in full and their presence is considered a blessing because of the financial effect. Unlike Japan, many countries like the US and UK set a high amount of tuition but offer significant discounts to students who originally come from the country or state.

The Japan delegation shared that there is a decrease in the number of Japanese students who study abroad, problems such as the diminishing international competitiveness and that fall enrollment by some universities are carried out as one solution.

This event proved to be very meaningful, since we were able to discuss with the former president of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and have a series of discussion in two days with participants from around the world.

Over the years, IASAS has been holding the international symposium at the same time with NASPA Annual Conference and created opportunities for mutual learning by presentations. This time, the style is different. It was the first global summit with many opportunities for discussion in small groups. IASAS planned to continue the two-pronged approach in the future.

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