Reflections on International Education Week

How international is the University of Manitoba?

by Brendan Hughes, executive director, student engagement (Student Affairs)

To recognize International Education Week taking place from November 17 to 21, I thought it might be nice to reflect on how international we are at the University of Manitoba.

Just like our province, we are very diverse. This is international education at the U of M by the numbers:

• In 2013, we had 3,869 international students at the graduate and undergraduate level, up from 754 students in 1999 (source: Institutional Analysis website).
• Our international students join us from over 100 countries around the world. Our alumni are just as international, with 131,000 of them living in 131 countries around the world.
• We have formal study abroad exchange agreements for undergraduate students in 29 countries.
• We have faculty engaging in teaching and research in countries all over the world, on every continent and in almost every discipline.
• We have staff facilitating co-curricular community service-learning programs in Bangladesh, Belize, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Tanzania.

We have our first UM International Strategy that was finalized in September 2014 after extensive consultation, providing us with direction as we continue to internationalize our institution.

While many of us are involved in international education, colleagues like Rhonda Friesen (Manager, International Office) and Tony Rogge (Director, International Centre for Students), along with their dedicated staff are committed to supporting the U of M’s internationalization efforts every day. I would like to take this opportunity to commend them for their work, and all of our faculty and staff who engage in international education, in either curricular or co-curricular contexts.

International Education Week is one week out of 52 that highlights the work that post-secondary institutions do in this field, but here at the University of Manitoba we celebrate our international identities and interests throughout the year.

We just saw an amazing World Opportunities Week in early November, and are looking forward to International Week in February. To learn more about all of the amazing things our students are doing internationally, check out the (be) World W.I.S.E. Magazine. Students have until November 21, 2014 to apply for an international experiential education program and benefit from all that these opportunities have to offer.

So, how international is the U of M? Very!

Happy International Education Week.