SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF INTERNATIONAL OFFICE STAFF

1. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF INTERNATIONAL OFFICE STAFF IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Fiona Hunter - Università Carlo Cattaneo, Italy UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

2. OUTLINE • How do we see ourselves? • Changes in roles and responsibilities • Blurred identities and possible tensions • Are we emerging as a profession? • The EAIE response to professional development in international education UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

3. HOW DO WE SEE OURSELVES? • What’s in a name? • Administrators or managers? • Generalists or specialists? • Facilitators or initiators? • Followers or leaders? • Peripheral or central? • Job or career? UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

4. CHANGES IN ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES In a changing higher education environment • New positions, higher levels • More involved in decision and policy making, greater responsibilities • Increasingly complex functions • Working with many stakeholders UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

5. BLURRED IDENTITIES AND POSSIBLE TENSIONS • Interface with academics • Blurring of lines • Service role or partnership? • Friend or foe? • Balancing different agendas • A chameleon - adapting to different teams • Achieving goals through persuasion and negotiation UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

6. THE CHALLENGE “University managers – more traditionally called administrators – must live with inordinately high levels of role ambiguity and embrace paradoxical contradictions. They must tolerate uncertainty and accept the contradictory plurality of what is true, right and expedient.” (Chris Duke 2002) UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

7. KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCES • Requirements: • University level education • Developing and managing programmes, Administration of systems, Coordination and supervision, Information and advising, Budget management, IT skills • Analytical and practical strengths, accurate and efficient, structured and well organised • Understanding/experience of international environment • Work independently and in team • Cultural awareness/knowledge • Communication skills – verbal and written • Language skills • Interpersonal skills, empathy and sensitivity • Flexibility • Responsible and committed • Willingness to travel UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

8. ARE WE EMERGING AS A PROFESSION? • How to define a profession? • Increase in formal status • Increase in requirements for educational qualifications • Emergence of common cognitive basis • Growth and formalisation of networks (Gornitzka and Marheim Larsen 2004) UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

9. THE EAIE RESPONSE TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • Analysing needs • Identifying competences • Developing courses • Building pathways • Creating tools • Training trainers UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

10. THE EAIE RESPONSE – identifying competences • Management skills • Communication skills • Intercultural communication • Student advising • Credential evaluation • Marketing and recruitment UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

11. THE EAIE RESPONSE – developing courses • International project management • Negotiating successfully • English in the international workplace • Building the international campus • Advising international students • International credential evaluation • Recruiting for your institution • Working with recruitment agents UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005

12. THE EAIE RESPONSE – creating tools • Managing an international office • Implementing exchange programmes • Marketing your institution internationally • Managing projects, bids and tenders • Preparing students for study abroad • International accreditation and quality assurance • Managing institutional collaboration and joint degrees • Working with EU institutions • Managing international admissions • International offices as agents of change UNICA IRO Meeting, Tallinn, Estonia 2005