UAlbany Professor Travels to Dubai to Study How Universities with International Campuses Impact Foreign Economies

School of Education Professor named prestigious Fulbright New Century Scholar

 

ALBANY, N.Y. (June 12, 2009) -- University at Albany School of Education Professor Jason Lane will travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to examine why universities and colleges open campuses in foreign countries. Lane will focus on how the institutions influence a country's economy, as well as how graduates are accepted into the country's workforce. Lane will conduct his research as a 2009-2010 Fulbright New Century Scholar (NCS), joining 35 international academics comparing research on how universities can expand their roles in generating solutions to global challenges, advancing economic and community development, and improving quality of life.

"We congratulate Professor Lane on his selection to this highly competitive program, one that will afford him the opportunity to enrich the global conversation on how universities impact society," said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Susan Phillips.

"Universities no longer function simply as resources for education and training,� said Lane. �By serving as economic drivers in communities within other countries, these institutions are in a sense rewriting the theory of a university."

For six weeks, Lane will document the practices of several institutions by meeting with regional policy makers and university administration in Dubai, which currently houses nearly 25 college campuses from other countries, including the U.S., Australia, Russia and the United Kingdom.

The Fulbright NCS program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, provides a platform for a group of exceptional scholars to focus on a single issue of concern to people, institutions and governments worldwide. This year's scholars, who represent 23 countries and a range of academic disciplines and professional experiences, will pursue projects in the United States and partner countries, focusing on equipping universities for meaningful roles in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic capacity-building.

They will come together three times during the program year, twice in Washington, D.C., and once in Berlin, Germany, to explore the similarities and differences in how universities from around the globe serve as centers for education and innovation.
UAlbany's Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies is home to the Comparative and International Educational Policy Program, a Ford Foundation-funded research and training center on global studies in education policy, and the Program for Research on Private Higher Education, which conducts and publishes original research, gathers and organizes global data, and trains young scholars.

The UAlbany School of Education is one of the oldest public schools of education in New York State. It is the second largest school at the University and consistently ranks among the best graduate schools of education in the nation. Students pursue studies in educational leadership and policy, educational technology, literacy, elementary, secondary, and special education, and counseling, school, and educational psychology.

The federal Fulbright Program is the flagship international exchange program in the United States. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 294,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

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