@work on the economy:

 

 

 

International students enrolled at UNC campuses bring new perspective and a different set of assumptions to classrooms, dorm rooms and dining halls, learning about the state and helping their North Carolina-born colleagues better understand the people of the world they will be living and working in. After graduation many of those international students choose to stay in North Carolina, starting new companies at higher rates than native-born students. Many of those who return to their home country stay in touch, and look for ways to do business with North Carolina in later years.

 

During their study here, international students also spend money – lots of it. A new report called “Open Doors,” conducted by NAFSA, an association of international educators,  shows that the 8500 international students enrolled at 14 UNC campuses (ECSU and UNCSA did not report data) pumped about $174 million into the North Carolina economy during the 2011-2012 school year – a 10.9% increase over the previous year.

 

 

The impact of the students ranges from about $60.5 million at NCSU to about $565,000 at Winston-Salem State, but the numbers are a reminder that international students play an important role in supporting the state and local economy (think tuition, technology, tacos, t-shirts, and transportation). International students also help the state’s foreign balance of trade. Since residents of a foreign country are buying US goods, this counts as an “export,” even if students decide to stay in the state after graduation.  

 

Economic Benefits of International Students to the North Carolina Economy 2011-2012

 

ASU        $3,349,700.00

ECU        $7,323,400.00

ECSU      Not Reported

FSU        $686,300.00

NCA&T    $2,285,500.00

NCCU      $1,560,500.00

NCSU      $60,530,900.00

UNCA      $646,300.00

UNC-CH   $43,627,600.00

UNCC      $28,681,600.00

UNCG      $12,713,300.00

UNCP      $2,607,500.00

UNCW     $6,623,500.00

UNCSA     Not Reported

WCU       $2,471,600.00

WSSU      $564,700.00

 

Total UNC:          $173,672,400.00

Total N.C. Schools            $338,418,000.00

UNC Impact % of Total  N.C. Schools        51%  

 

International students represent an opportunity for UNC campuses – to diversity their student bodies, better prepare NC students to work with people from across the world, bolster STEM programs. And, as the NAFSA report clearly shows, they also strengthen their local economy.  The numbers add up: nationally last year about 765,000 international students studied in the US, contributing $21.8 billion to the economy. At a time when the US economy is struggling, an infusion like that can make a real difference.

 

 

 

 

 

@work in the community:

 

 

 

 

UNC Gets an Earful at Regional ‘Listening’ Sessions 

 

 

Business leaders across North Carolina are weighing in on what kinds of graduates they are looking for over the next few years.

 

Through a series of listening sessions in eight locations across North Carolina, including Asheville, Charlotte, Edenton, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory, RTP, and Wilmington, regional economic development partnerships and key employers in all parts of the state are providing input that will inform the recommendations of the UNC Strategic Directions Committee on how universities can respond to regional economic development priorities, how universities can work more effectively with state businesses, nonprofits and governmental organizations, and how UNC can do a more effective job in preparing students to be effective employees and citizens after graduation.

 

One consensus recommendation from the early meetings? Students who work in internships and applied learning settings before graduation arrive at work better prepared to hit the ground running. As one employer in northeastern North Carolina put it: “It’s great for kids to be book smart, but we also need to get people experience so that they know what they are doing once they graduate.”

 

Regional meetings typically start with an overview of regional economic development priorities. Universities then give an overview of how they view their economic development mission. For the remainder of the meeting, business leaders talk about what they are hoping universities can do to help them succeed while universities listen.

 

Some early comments give a sense of the range of needs businesses believe universities can help with:

 

·         Students need “global skills”: “Any experience you can give people with foreign language, experience overseas or project management skill will really help us.” RTP participant

 

·         Communication ability is more important than ever: “Written and oral communication skills have dropped off dramatically in the past twenty years. It doesn’t matter what you are doing for a job, you need to be able to communicate.” RTP participant

 

·         Universities must be a key source of creativity: “You’ve got to have a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem around our larger companies so that they can get a constant churn of ideas to minimize the product development risk…universities need to help with that.” Charlotte participant

 

·         Resourcefulness matters: “I try to look for people who have gotten engaged in running some sort of entrepreneurial project on campus.” “If we want to have more strategic entrepreneurs we have to expose people to that way of thinking while they are students.” “University graduates need to have skills in more than just ‘their” field. The greatest opportunities come from the white space areas. We need to figure out how to do that.” RTP participants

 

·         Proximity matters: “You’ve got to emphasize regional universities to serve regional businesses and help the regional economies. You can’t expect the Triangle universities to serve the whole state.” Greenville participant

 

·         Hands-on help from faculty can make a difference: “Your incentives are all messed up. Instead of ‘publish or perish’ it should be ‘partner or perish.’” Charlotte participant

 

·         Access to resources matters: “It’s really important for us from time to time to be able to use some high cost equipment. We may never need to use it again, but we need it at the time. You’ve got to make it easy for us to know how to get at it.” Greenville participant

 

The meetings are a reminder of the important and varied role universities can and must play to help the North Carolina economy succeed. With the data in hand, it will be up to UNC to determine how it can improve its services and offerings to meet these needs.

 

 

 

 

@work in the world:

 

Bringing US Culture to China 

 

 

 

In the past decade, China has invested heavily in bringing Chinese language and culture closer to students from other countries, through supporting Chinese language instruction, development of courses and student and faculty travel to China.

 

The US has not invested as much in helping Chinese people learn about America.

 

Appalachian State aims to change that, using a new grant from the US State Department to share English reading and film resources and lectures on US politics and culture with students and faculty at Northeastern University (NEU) in Shenyang, China.

 

 

Dr. Xiaorong Shao, an Information Literacy Librarian and an Associate Professor at Appalachian State University has seen the effects of the cultural deficit first hand. On a trip last year to her hometown of Xian, China, she was struck by a conversation that she had with the high school principal: “He said that he was having difficulty recruiting students to study in the United States because of the escalating political tensions between the two countries. In working with faculty and students in the United States and China, I know that many misperceptions exist.”

 

When the new US State Department initiative support development of “American Culture centers” in China was announced, Dr. Shao saw this as the perfect opportunity to promote cultural understanding and cooperation between the two nations. “I was always interested in doing something like this and knew in the back of my mind that both sides need more communication and understanding to continue work peacefully,” said Dr. Shao.

 

The grant is for a one-time award of $100,000 that will be led by Dr. Shao and ASU faculty from the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Dr. Xiaofei Tu and Dr. Wei Xie. The team’s work with Northeastern University will revive a partnership initiated in 1981. Besides funding development of an English reading and film library at NEU, stocked with material relevant to American politics and culture, the grant will support lectures by a total of ten speakers (five American scholars from Appalachian and five scholars from China) on different topics relevant to American studies and will help fund student and faculty exchanges between NEU and App State.

 

 

Dr. Shao hopes that the people who have been involved with the program will be its enduring legacy. “We hope that that faculty members and students that have taken part in the lectures and exchanges will maintain an appreciation of the relationship between Chinese and American culture, and continue informing the public through their work.”

 

 

 

Fact of the Month

 

 According to the 2012 Center for Creative Leadership “Leadership Insights Survey” the most important competencies identified by employers for young people today are “self-motivation/discipline” (44%), “effective communication” (40%) and “learning agility” (29%). This contrasted with results from the same survey twenty years ago, which found “technical mastery” to be the most important skill (53%), followed by “self-motivation/discipline” (46%) and “confidence” (32%).

Want to get updates on UNC's work delivered to your inbox?
Click here to receive monthly issues of UNC@Work.