Thank you to all the contributors who shared their experiences this month of working abroad or engaging international students at their home campuses!
As we conclude this month’s #SAinternational series, I want to close the loop by suggesting a couple assessment resources. Consider these while you look to improve your campus culture around inclusion.
APCA’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks (GDIB)
ACPA Executive Director Cynthia Love writes,
“ACPA’s customization of the GDIB for colleges and universities provides an engaging and easy to implement baseline assessment of campus climate and a comprehensive strategy to deconstruct and change some of the most contested issues of our time—racism, gender bias, religious intolerance and sexism. The GDIB stimulates campus wide awareness of barriers and lays the foundation for better attitudes, behaviors and standards for faculty, staff, administrators, and students concerning respect for individual needs, abilities, and potential. Use of the GDIB can positively influence institutional effectiveness at a time when we need it most.”
The GDIB benchmarks, or institutional standards of performance, cover 14 categories. Each category then has five levels of progress toward best practices (level 5). Note, institutions planning to use the GDIB need to complete a permission agreement.
NERCHE Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Higher Education
The New England Resource Center for Higher Education describes their rubric as being
“designed to assist members of the higher education community in gauging the progress of their diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts on their campus.”
It covers six dimensions each with several characterizing keywords. These illustrate focal points for college campuses to self-assess efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion. A handy ready-to-use worksheet will speed up your self-assessment progress on the continuum of emerging, developing, or transforming.
My final thoughts are this: Interpersonal connection is at the heart of an inclusive student experience at home and abroad. Developing students’ interpersonal competency, as well as our own, will equip them to better navigate our global society before and after graduation. Go forth and CONNECT.
This post is part of our #SAinternational series. We will hear from #SApros who work in international student related services. We’ll also hear from those those who have had the fortunate opportunity to work overseas or have a global perspective to higher education. For more info, please see Kim Irland’s intro post. Be sure to check out other posts in this series.
