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The role of federal programs in internationalizing the United States higher education system from 1958--1988
Abstract
The study posed the general question: How has the historical federal relationship with higher education affected the institutional capacity of the U.S. higher education system to sustain and expand its international dimension, to internationalize? Two federal programs were identified for their explicit interest in building higher education's institutional capacity in the international dimension between 1958 and 1988. National Defense Education Act, Title VI programs administered by successive federal education agencies were treated in depth. Agency for International Development programs administered by the foreign affairs agencies were highlighted as a counterpoint to Title VI. Two further guide questions helped analyze the evolution of the policy arena. First, how effective were the federal case programs in achieving their legislative aims per se? The theoretical framework was triangulated from three veins in the literature, i.e., public policy implementation effectiveness, diffusion of innovations and higher education organization. The basic tool was legislative case history. The period was 1958-1980. Second, what did higher education institutional participation patterns in the case programs reveal about the effectiveness of these case programs and their influence on the international capacity of the higher education system? This was answered in terms of specific definitions of internationalization. The participation and funding patterns of 506 institutions and consortia of higher education in the two case programs from 1969-1988 were analyzed in terms of regional dispersion within the U.S., ownership balance and institutional diversity. Institutional diversity was analyzed in depth for Title VI. The study revealed a series of policy choices and decisions as the policy arena developed. It confirmed an important but not dominant role of federal programs in sustaining higher education's international capacity. Internationalization depended on higher education itself. Federal resources rarely matched policy goals. Over the thirty years, the case programs most directly contributed to international capacity in research universities, less directly in other higher education groups. The study suggests that barring massive concerted advocacy or a unique policy catalyst, the higher education system can best increase federal resources for internationalization by stretching existing channels rather than creating new ones.
Subject Area
Higher education|Education history|Public administration
Recommended Citation
Ruther, Nancy Lynn, "The role of federal programs in internationalizing the United States higher education system from 1958--1988" (1994). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9434528.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9434528