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A Snapshot of the Summer Institute for International Admissions: Meet the Presenters

As Featured in the July 16th issue of Memberlink

LesLee Stedman, Julia Funaki, Dale Gough, and Robert Watkins talk about the Summer Institute and how they got involved in international admissions (Hint: the stories may sound familiar). Read on as these presenters discuss what the Institute is all about, and what other resources are out there to help you.

Memberlink: How did you each get involved in international admissions?

Julia: I started off like most people. I was going to Graduate school for international communications and I had a choice to work in the library or the admissions office. I picked admissions. My classes were at night so eventually I decided to work full-time. Since I was studying international issues, I decided to focus more on the international side of things.

I’ve been at AACRAO almost 11 years on and off. Before that, I worked at American University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and the University of Maryland College Park.

LesLee: Well, I got my start almost exactly like Julia. I was doing a Masters in German at the University of Maryland College Park. My assistantship didn’t cover all my expenses so they offered me a student worker job in the international office. And that eventually segued into an evaluator job for a couple of years. I remember thinking I could do this as a career. But I went on to pursue teaching and a couple of other things. Eventually I found myself back in international admissions because this is the field I enjoy. I’ve also worked at a small liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest and at an evaluation agency. I was briefly with AACRAO in 1996-97 for a research project that never got off the ground, came back in 2000, and have worked with AACRAO for the past seven years.

Robert: After completing a Masters degree at the University of Texas at Austin, I needed a job. My wife had been working in the Registrar’s office and wanted to go back to school. They had openings at UT and I got a clerical spot in international admissions. That was in March of ’77 and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’ve worked my way up and have spent almost the entire time in international admissions.

Julia: We’re noticing a trend here. I think most people don’t end up planning to be a foreign credential evaluator. It’s often some place you end up – and the work is challenging and interesting so you stay.

Memberlink: This is great. Let’s move on to the Summer Institute which is coming up soon (July 23-26 in Washington, DC). This is the second year that the Institute will be run at the AACRAO office. What are some of the changes?

Julia: Having the Institute here at the AACRAO office allows us to bring people in to see our offices and see the resources available. It also helps people understand the connection between International Education Services (IES) and the rest of AACRAO. This isn’t always understood or recognized. I think it feels like a better fit here. It’s also worth noting that since we started holding the institute at AACRAO, our registrations have more than doubled any previous year's attendance.

LesLee: Our Summer Institute includes only college admissions counselors now, which gives it a more focused feel. The topics we cover are directly relevant to our attendees, and there’s a lot more intensity because of that. With the focus being solely on international college admissions, participants also have great access to professional networking with colleagues from like institutions.

Memberlink: What types of institutions would find the Summer Institute a worthwhile training opportunity?

Julia: There really isn’t any one type. We have a variety of institutions coming, from Johns Hopkins to DeVry University. There will be attendees from large, decentralized institutions to small institutions, or a place like DeVry with many institutions. We’re training everybody. We even have six participants coming from the City University of Hong Kong. The point is that we have training here that really sets the mark for foreign credential evaluation.

Dale: I think it’s really illustrative that people from institutions keep coming back.

Julia: It’s structured so that the information applies to all types of institutions: community colleges, undergraduate, graduate, and professional. Any institution that recruits, admits, and enrolls international students will find the information they learn here essential.

Memberlink: I understand that you have some people coming to the Institute who use IES’ evaluation services. How does this help them?

Dale: I think it makes them better users of our evaluations. They are more informed and it gives them a sense of what we do and why we do it. It helps them better understand what we say in the evaluation because they have a better sense of why we’re saying it.

LesLee: Absolutely, an informed consumer makes the relationship better and easier and clearer on both sides.

Memberlink: I’m sure you’ve noticed trends from year to year. Are there certain questions that come up often?

Julia: I think that sometimes the questions change based on what’s going on in the world. Over time, you see changes. Like the Bologna and three-year degree question will definitely be discussed. And it’s not something that came up a few years ago.

Obviously current events and trends always have an impact. Some examples are the shift from paper to electronic applications, rising fuels costs and a possible shift in recruiting methodologies, and terrorism and its impact on the visa process.

Robert: There are also topics that repeat from year to year, like forgeries and diploma mills to accreditation and grading scales.

Dale: But I also think that the questions are often the result of group dynamics. One year you may get endless questions about Indian credentials. And the next year, the questions may focus on some other topic completely.

Robert: If you were to send a survey to everyone registered and ask them to give you five questions you’d like to see answered, you may or may not get even one. But once the Institute starts rolling, pretty soon there are a hundred questions.

Julia: We get a lot of people who admit that they don’t even know what to ask. They come in not having any idea.

Memberlink: Is this training appropriate for people that are so new to the field?

Dale: Yes, it helps them know what questions to ask when they’re done. And they go away with a better understanding of their job and how different this is from U.S. admissions.

Robert: This is when the “13 Rules for evaluating foreign credentials and admitting international students” becomes really helpful. Those new to the field will get a lot from the 13 rules.

LesLee: The 13 rules are the basic tenets of foreign credential evaluation and include things like comparisons of grading scales and English language, as well as what resources are available. Once they have a groundwork on how to do their job, they can then go back and fill in the more advanced details.

Memberlink: Who else would benefit from attending the Institute?

LesLee: I think the information taught at the Institute is pertinent both for the staff member as well as their supervisors. Often the supervisors don’t realize how much more complex international admissions is than U.S. admissions. You don’t have one set of assumptions you can make about 243 countries. They all have their own unique systems.

Dale: It’s interesting you mention that because we have had some supervisors come to the Institute the year after their staff has attended.

Robert: The supervisor may be at a higher level but it still comes under their purview and they need to know something about it.

Memberlink: Can you talk a little bit about the format of the Institute and how it’s taught?

Dale: We split it up by country. But basically Robert will start, and then I’ll chime in. We’ve all done this for a number of years so we have a rhythm.

Julia: And if Dale ever forgets his punch line, we can all chime in.

Dale: Exactly. Which isn’t likely to happen but…the old timer thing is getting worse and worse. We’ve all had similar experiences so it’s almost like a seamless flow.

Julia: But specifically, there will be 1-2 sessions in the morning, then lunch, and typically 2 sessions in the afternoon. AACRAO will be hosting an opening reception on Monday afternoon and a closing dinner on Thursday evening.

Memberlink: What about networking?

Robert: I really see how the networking benefits people after the fact. I receive e-mails up to a year and beyond from people who have questions about this or that. They bond over the shared experiences.

LesLee: On the session evaluations, we always get people who say how much they appreciate the opportunity to meet like institutions. A lot of the attendees are the only person in the international admissions office. They’re new to the job, and they don’t know what the precedent is because they’re setting the precedent.

Memberlink: In addition to the Institute, what other resources are available to international admissions officers?

Julia: Definitely EDGE. I think in the years to come we’ll be talking less about books, and more about EDGE and Internet resources in general.

Robert: There is no cookbook to do international credential evaluations, but EDGE is the closest you’ll get to it. It’s not the panacea, but the Institute will help you learn how to interpret and understand EDGE.

Julia: This is the same as using the books and other resources published over the years. You need to be able to understand the system so that you can interpret the placement recommendations. We discussed earlier how the Institute will help users of our evaluations. This is the same with EDGE. It becomes a more effective tool when used with the knowledge you gain at the Institute.