Strategic Issues

1. Curriculum

2. Assessment

3. Scholarship

4. Student Diversity

5. Funding Diversity

6. Partnerships within the UO

7. Healthy Work Environment

8. Organizational Management

9. Space and Facilities

1. Curriculum:

Changing educational environments and student demographics continue to impact the ongoing development of the AEI’s curriculum*. Current challenges include advances in the use of educational technology, shifts in pedagogical best practices, and increasing demand for services beyond our current offerings. The AEI strives to innovate and stay ahead of the changes.

NOTE: *For the purposes of this document, “curriculum” refers to all the factors contributing to the delivery of academic coursework. In addition to course goals and objectives, this also includes such elements as course structure, hours/scheduling, delivery method (e.g. online or face-to-face), class size, etc.

CHALLENGE: The AEI must conduct regular analyses of our specific learners' needs and then make appropriate changes in the curriculum. This process needs to integrate the expertise of AEI faculty. At the same time, AEI faculty, staff, and administrators must ensure that any proposed change functions within the constraints of AEI’s stakeholders, such as its accreditation body, UO admissions, and the US Department of Homeland Security.

2. Assessment:

The AEI must strengthen the validity, reliability, and efficiency of its assessments of students and programs by collecting data that will inform the AEI’s decisions on curriculum and instruction and provide evidence of its ongoing improvement.

CHALLENGE: Assessment at present is diffused, particularly within the IEP and AEIS, specifically around student assessment. Within these programs, there is a need for more institutional oversight of key assessments across levels and sections to ensure that assessments meet the AEI’s high standards and that student success on the assessment clearly demonstrates achievement of applicable learning objectives. The AEI must ensure that its assessments of students, faculty, staff, and administrators provide valid, reliable data that is useful for demonstrating its strengths and weaknesses and informing future directions. This data must be compiled in accessible formats.

3. Scholarship:

Scholarship is essential to the AEI's role within a research university, and is an engine for growth and for extending the unit's international reputation. Scholarship contributes to the creation of new knowledge and energizes teaching. Within the AEI context it may include developing papers and presenting workshops about classroom-based research and teaching techniques.

CHALLENGE: Career track instructors are challenged to balance scholarship with teaching, service and administrative responsibilities. Adjunct instructors are challenged to find ways to integrate scholarship opportunities with their teaching workloads. The AEI needs to identify research areas strategic to its mission and mentor faculty into relevant research projects. Career track faculty need to develop their scholarship records and profiles for successful promotion.

4. Student Enrollment:

In keeping with the UO mission to diversify our international enrollment, the AEI needs to recruit students from more areas of the world in all of its programs. Diversification is key to creating financial stability, and internationalization makes for a more nuanced and international teaching and learning experience.

CHALLENGE: In the past five years, AEI’s enrollment has grown rapidly, driven primarily by an increase in students from two countries. While the AEI appreciates the strong relationships it has, it is overly dependent upon the resources of those countries. The AEI is concerned that if there are political or financial changes in those countries, our IEP and AEIS programs will suffer. Also, having a two-country majority in the classroom does not allow for the richest possible linguistic and cross-cultural experience for our students. The AEI’s current enrollment does not reflect the reality of the demographic of the world’s English Language Learners.

5. Funding Diversity:

To ensure fiscal strength for many years to come, it is important that all AEI programs have a diverse portfolio of funding options. Multiple streams of funding reduce the AEI’s risk when global economic and Oregon state economic realities shift and change. Funding options include government grants, UO & CAS financial support, private sector support, donor support, partner institution support, and program tuition/fees.

CHALLENGE: Establishing new funding streams requires significant investments in time and money without any promise of a return. The AEI must continue to maintain current funder relationships and serve current students with the highest quality, while judiciously investing in broadening our scope to include new sources.

6. Partnerships within the UO:

In recent years, the UO has committed to a significant increase in the number of international students on campus. The AEI plays a crucial role in helping the UO to meet this goal. As a result, the AEI’s visibility has increased within the UO. However, the AEI needs to expand its role in UO’s globalization efforts, and ensure that the UO as a whole understands the value that the AEI brings to the planning and implementation of a truly globally-oriented university.

CHALLENGE: Given the growth in international students, it is difficult to grow fast enough to meet the increased demand while sustaining the integrity and quality of AEI's programs. We want to pursue these partnerships, in spite of these growth challenges. This growth disproportionately affects the AEI in relation to the larger University, so the AEI needs to have established partnerships that are needed to sustain growth while maintaining quality.

7. Healthy Work Environment:

AEI faculty and staff are committed to sustaining excellence, and this can sometimes lead to frustration when barriers arise or when hard work is not recognized. To sustain a high level of commitment and energy, AEI faculty must be encouraged and supported to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

CHALLENGE: Because growth has put increased demands on AEI faculty, they are at risk of high stress and burnout. AEI must balance its finite resources to ensure the commitment and energy of its faculty and staff.

8. Organizational Management:

Recent rapid growth has caused the AEI to change how it manages its organization. In Fall of 2007 the AEI served 400 students in the IEP and AEIS programs combined; in Fall of 2012, it served over 1000 students. The previously successful organizational structures are no longer sufficient to serve the current number of students, faculty and staff. During the past two years, the AEI has undergone a restructuring process; this process created new systems to address stresses associated with that growth. However, as the AEI continues to grow, it will need to maintain and extend an effective organization. Managing extended growth requires adequate and ongoing training for faculty and staff.

CHALLENGE: The AEI needs improved internal systems to accommodate past and future growth. An example of this is updated internal communications procedures. In addition, the AEI needs be ready to adopt new systems and strengthen its ability to adapt.

CHALLENGE: There are many services the AEI offers to the UO that are not always recognized within the larger context of how they help the UO become a globalized university. Without a place at the table, AEI won’t be able to provide the perspective needed to plan effectively for increased international enrollment. At present, the greater UO community is not fully aware of the services and expertise the AEI has to offer in kind toward this larger goal.

9. Space and Facilities:

Lack of office and classroom space is affecting AEI’s ability to deliver quality education and administration. The AEI currently does not have enough places to put students for courses or faculty and administrative offices; there also is not enough space for collaboration, and meetings. In the short term, The AEI is renting off-campus classroom space for IEP courses, and scheduling three-hour classes in three different rooms, forcing students and instructors to move classrooms every hour.

CHALLENGE: Lack of space leads to poor service to students, due to inefficient arrangement of classroom space, lack of technology, and loss of cohesion.