UMUC Increases its Global Reach—and Everyone Benefits

By Wil McLean
Special to FYI Online

Lynne McNamara

For more than 20 years, UMUC has been developing and fostering relationships with colleges and universities around the world. Today, that tradition continues—and is growing, increasing educational opportunities worldwide while enriching the educational experiences of UMUC students.

Just in the past four years, UMUC has initiated partnerships with nine schools in other countries—in Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, Spain, Finland, Hong Kong, Egypt, China, and Mexico.

Lynne McNamara, director of International Relations at UMUC, has had a busy summer working to expand UMUC's already broad reach. Since May 2002 alone, three schools (the American University in Cairo, Egypt; Fudan University in Shanghai, China; and Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico) have signed letters of interest and are discussing services that can be traded between the schools. Monterrey Institute signed its letter of interest in September 2002 and talks are well underway already.

"Discussions include development of a shared course in an area of cultural interest to UMUC," said McNamara, "and [Monterrey Institute] wishes to start a trial program in spring 2002 of a group of students taking UMUC online classes."

In April of this year, Hong Kong Polytechnic University also signed a virtual letter of interest with UMUC. Since then, the university's China Business Centre was the primary organizer for UMUC's Executive MBA field trip to Asia in September 2002. The Executive MBA program also offers a field trip to select countries in Europe, organized through the University of Antwerp, Belgium, McNamara said.

In addition, McNamara said, "discussions are underway to begin a pilot project with Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Cyber University to market our online MBA degree to potential students in Hong Kong, including their own graduates."

In Europe, UMUC offers a Master in Distance Education degree in partnership with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. Classes began in spring 2001 and have already made an international impact. To date, almost 400 students have signed up for classes, 54 percent from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and the balance hailing from Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Irkutsk State University, Baikal Institute of Business & International Management, and the Siberian American School of Management have been partnering with UMUC for more than a decade.

"Our relationship began in 1991 with a 'two-plus-two' program: the first two years of coursework were taught by the Russians and the last two years taught by UMUC faculty face-to-face at the Russian institutions," McNamara said. "When the economic situation in Russia changed in the late 1990s, the arrangement was altered. Today, the Russian students take 120 credits from their institution combined with 30 UMUC credits online to get a dual bachelor's degree. Since 1995, 540 Russians have received UMUC degrees."

But UMUC's longest-running international partnership is with Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xian, China. Since 1983, UMUC has hosted 23 visiting professors, with another expected this school year. In return, "UMUC, through UMUC–Asia and UMUC–Europe, has sent visiting U.S. faculty to teach English conversation courses for three to five weeks each summer over the past nine years," McNamara said. "All expenses are covered by NPU."

UMUC plans to continue to aggressively develop international relationships through faculty exchanges, visits by scholars, dual degree programs, and international field trips. New activities, McNamara said, may include development of shared courses, shared marketing of UMUC courses and faculty, joint programs, and articulation agreements.