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How is Education Abroad Related to the College/university Mission Statement?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:42:41 +0000

By: Dr. Mohan Dewan

ortant to draw justification for a study abroad program from the college/university mission statement. Look for excerpts from mission statements and senior level administration for internationalizing the curriculum, developing students with a global perspective, preparing students for a global workforce, etc.

Write a mission statement for study abroad that makes it a priority to integrate international education services into the foundation of the college/university mission. A study abroad office mission includes an academic enhancement role and student support services. It is essential to include with your mission statement, some measurable intended outcomes for study abroad. Your statements of intended outcomes will guide your policies and practice.

It is also important to understand that every institution invests dollars and staff in endeavors that support and enhance the institutional mission and outcomes. Just as we see different levels of support for campus housing on various campuses, we also see different levels of support for international education.

Study abroad has long been considered an elective or “luxury” experience and thus has not been tied to the core values (and therefore finances) of most institutions. The closer you correlate study abroad with institutional priorities, the more leverage you will have in gaining support for your endeavors.

An example of a campus mission statement that is easily identifiable with education abroad.

Mission Statement:

We educate students to put the liberal arts into action as citizens in a global society.

And they go on to describe their core values as:

Academic Excellence, Diversity, Equity, and Shared Governance, Education of the Entire Person, Adherence to Common Ethical and Moral Standards Community Service and Global Citizenship, Environmental Stewardship.

This makes it easy to integrate study abroad into the core values of the institution.

Another example of a university mission statement is:

Our mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of the diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world.

However, some university mission statements require a little more work to integrate international education into the core values. For example consider the following mission statement

Our mission is to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society. This mission is accomplished through instruction, which communicates the knowledge and values and imparts the skills necessary for individuals to lead responsible, productive, and personally satisfying lives; through research, scholarship, and creative activities, which advance knowledge and enhance the educational process; and through public service, which contributes to the solution of societal problems and enriches the quality of life in the State.

And yet other university mission statements do not lend themselves easily to integrating international education as a core value.

Our mission as a multipurpose public institution is to develop educated persons of inquiring, creative, and disciplined intelligence to be competent in careers that are fulfilling and to be socially responsible contributors to society. This University strives, therefore, to graduate people on the bachelor’s and master’s level who have had sound education in the arts and sciences and relevant specialized training built upon that base.

A study abroad office mission statement can also come in many diverse forms and visions. The following mission statement is an example of a diverse vision:

The Office for Study Abroad promotes opportunities for global education to all eligible students in order for them to gain an understanding of other countries, regions, languages, and cultures through direct overseas experience.

Some universities have taken the approach of being very explicit about their connection to the institution’s core values:

In support of the University’s mission to "promote the process of lifelong learning from both global and integrative perspectives," the Office for Study Abroad offers international education opportunities to students through the University’s overseas study centers, international exchange partners, and affiliated organizations. As an extension of the University’s academic program, we promote academic excellence and provide access to high quality international education programs in expanding geographic destinations to serve a diverse student population representing a wide array of academic disciplines. As educators, we facilitate the academic, personal, professional, and intercultural development of students through the programs and services we provide.

And one more example of a carefully crafted mission statement that not only integrates international education into the university core value, but also sets criteria and objectives for policy:

We are a world leader in research, teaching, and public engagement. Many hands – at home and abroad – make it so, and many benefit. Study abroad is one of the ways in which our students and others build and benefit from our University’s international engagement.

Our mission is to provide and facilitate a range of study and education opportunities abroad consonant in breadth and quality with on-campus curricula, offered for short or long duration according to curricular objectives and in consideration of students’ obligations, at a range of costs and with opportunities for scholarship or subvention such that study abroad opportunity is available to all students in good standing. Attention to students’ health, safety, and well-being abroad underlies all other considerations.

Our intention is that through study abroad we and our partners prepare students for global citizenship, guiding them to a greater understanding of world and domestic cultures and encouraging them to share that understanding with their hosts abroad and communities at home; that students gain or enhance area, linguistic, subject, and cultural knowledge and competence; that students contribute to their host communities; and that students emerge wiser and more engaged citizens

Find Favorable Terms for a Kredit or a Privatkredit

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:42:09 +0000

By: Groshan Fabiola

There are many financial institutions in Austria which act as providers of loans. The term loan, or ‘kredit’ is usually used to refer to a monetary debt, in which the borrower and the lender agree upon a system of redistribution in time of the financial assets. A ‘kredit’ is usually paid back in regular installments, but this is not always the case. The money received by the borrower from the lender can also be paid back in irregular installments. The ‘kredit’ naturally comes with a cost, which in economical terms is referred to as debt or interest. It is not the financial institutions alone that can provide loans, or ‘kredits’. Other institutions resort to this type of debt contracts, in order to increase their sources of funding. Such contracts are usually known as bonds.

A ‘kredit’ is therefore a contract between a creditor and a debtor, according to which the former promises to give a sum of money and the latter agrees to repay it in accordance to the creditor’s terms.

A ‘kredit’ can be either secured or unsecured. Secured loans refer to specific types of debt, such as those contracted for housing or auto purchasing. In such arrangements, the money obtained by the debtor in the form of a ‘kredit’ is used to purchase a property or a car. The loans used for housing purchase are also known as ‘mortgage loans’, as the bank or any other financial institution representing the creditor is given a lien on the house until the debtor has paid off the mortgage in full. In quite a similar way, an auto kredit is secured by the car that is to be purchased, whether the car is a new or a used one. The kredit duration is definitely shorter in the case of auto purchase than in that of housing purchase, usually according to the period of useful life for the car in question. Auto kredits can be direct or indirect. The direct kredit refers to the consumers receiving the money directly from the financial institution, whereas the indirect loan means that a car dealership acting as an intermediary between the consumer and the financial institution.

The unsecured loans are available to Austrian consumers under a wide range of marketing packages. An unsecured kredit may refer to credit card debt, a bank overdraft, corporate bonds, a personal loan, etc. The interest rates for an unsecured kredit may not be regulated by the Austrian law and they vary according to each lending institution.

A private loan, or ‘ privatkredit’ is widely available among Austrian financial institutions, and it represents a convenient option for financing higher education. Once again, it is the financial institution that sets the interest rates for the privatkredit, based primarily on the risk posed by the borrower of not being able to pay off his/her debt in full. The buying factors of a ‘privatkredit’ include the interest rates, which may be different during the education period and after the student has graduated; incentives, which depend mostly on each individual’s payment record; payment options, and origination fees.

The varied offerings of financial institutions in Austria give prospective debtors a wide range of choices when choosing a kredit or a privatkredit.

For the austrian version of loans or mortage resources about Kredit or even about privatkredit please review this link http://www.kv24.at

What Poker Game Suits you?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:41:32 +0000

By: Wallace Willis

In the world of poker, there are almost countless variations to choose from. One only has to find the right game that will suit his way of thinking, and the right techniques to master it, and this will bring him places. Poker indeed became very popular, for it merges chance and strategy together. This is very much important, since in the scheme of things, these two things come hand in hand when dealing with the changes life has to offer. Poker, we can say, puts the game of life on a table, for players to enjoy with.

There are about three categories in poker games. These are the stud games, as exemplified by the 7 card stud, the draw games, as illustrated by the 5 card draw, and the shared hand games, as represented by the Texas Holdem, the most popular poker game nowadays.

Stud games as with the seven card stud poker, have three to ten players that will join in the game. Each of the players will be dealt with two cards placed face down on the table. The third card will be dealt face up. A round of betting will follow. The fourth, fifth and sixth cards are then dealt and placed face up on the table. There will be another bout of betting. The seventh card is then dealt, followed by another round of betting. The player that holds the best cards wins the poker game.

Draw poker, as with the five card draw poker, is played with three to seven players on a table. Five cards will be dealt to them, and a round of betting will occur. The players can opt to put down three cards in exchange for new ones depending on their preferences. Another variation on this is you can exchange up to four cards if you have an ace on your hand. After another round of betting, the player with the best hand wins the game.

Texas Holdem became popular because its rules are extremely easy to know, and playing it comes easy to a beginner. Two cards will be given to a player, followed by another three which is placed face up on the poker table, called the flop. A round of betting will then ensue. Another card placed face up on the table will be dealt to the player, and this is called the turn. Betting will again occur. The final card will be dealt again, this one now called the river. Another bout of betting goes on after the deal. The player will use the first two cards called the hole and any of the three from the table to put together the greatest five card hand. The greatest five card hand wins the game and collects the prizes.

Other variations of poker games can also be played depending on the preferences of the players. All you have to remember is that you have to really master the game, and not let the game become master of you.

Digital Signage Media – Building a DAM to Control the Flow of Files

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:39:23 +0000

By: Crystal Hargrave

How many media files go into the average digital signage system? Well, that is hard to say. It depends, of course on the size of the network and the quantity of messages it runs, but if you consider how the typical digital signage playlist is created, you will see that the number of media assets can easily run into the hundreds or even thousands. A file management system is essential to keeping track of each and every one.

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

A digital signage creator takes individual media assets and combines them to create a playlist. A recent Digital Signage Today guide likened playlists to notes on a musical staff, with each note being a media file, and the collection of notes on the staff constituting the playlist.

To understand the content management challenge, consider the many files that digital signage creators work with: MPEG and AVI, Flash or other animations, still images and graphics, fonts, HTML and messages in many forms, including straight text, crawls and scrolls. Managing single instances of each of these files is only the beginning. These files go into playlists that appear on different types of displays across a broad network. Each digital signage deployment may require different versions of the same file for portrait and landscape orientations, and for any number of screen sizes, from small 15-inch displays to large 60-inch screens.

Content management is an issue for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Content creators, from technical writers to graphic designers to digital signage editors, can write volumes about the content management systems they have developed to handle the large quantities of files they produce.

As these creators will tell you, there are three key components in any successful content management system – a robust content management tool, metadata, and strict filename conventions.

Of course, the most straightforward and commonly used analogy for computer files is that of a library. If your files are a library, the content management system is the tool that creates the classification system. In digital signage applications, this system is called digital asset management (DAM) software. The DAM controls access to the media assets and helps define workflows for adding items to the “library”. And, just as the Dewey Decimal System allows a librarian to tag a book so a library patron can easily locate it in a sea of thousands, the DAM software enables you to tag your files with descriptors, also called metadata.

Metadata is, to be brief, data about data. In the context of digital signage, it can be used to assign tags that indicate where and how a media file should be used, perhaps by describing its resolution, orientation, or even its content. Metadata can be as simple as a date, or as detailed as “Promo for upcoming buy-one-get-one sale”. Just like the call number on a library book makes it easier for you to find it, metadata makes it easier to search for and find specific media files.

Of course, as any computer user will tell you, filenames are of vital importance to managing data. Without a consistent naming convention, files can easily be lost, whether they are Word documents or digital media. A naming convention should be in place before any digital signage network is launched. Use attributes like resolution, orientation, season or type of promotion consistently in your filenames so you can quickly judge whether the file you are selecting is the correct one.