Kyle Rausch, the executive director of Study Abroad at the University of Illinois in Chicago, shares his perspective on the seismic shifts and challenges faced by the education abroad sector in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Kyle Rausch, the executive director of Study Abroad at the University of Illinois in Chicago, shares his perspective on the seismic shifts and challenges faced by the education abroad sector in the aftermath of the pandemic.
As the echoes of the pandemic reverberate across industries, the education abroad sector finds itself at a crossroads, grappling with unprecedented challenges and transformative shifts in its long-term strategies and goals.
The traditional landscape of international education has undergone a profound transformation as virtual and hybrid programming redefines the industry’s value and possibilities. What was once considered a consolation prize has now become an essential and innovative aspect of education, prompting a critical examination of how professionals in the field are adapting to these changes and the broader implications for the future of international education.
In the Forum on Education Abroad’s recent State of the Field Survey, key findings from the 2022 survey showed that 56 percent of respondents were actively or recently seeking new positions, with compensation, organizational support, and pathways to promotion being crucial factors.
The survey also revealed a concerning lack of staffing in education abroad departments, with 80 percent expressing insufficiency. Despite a post-pandemic rebound, almost half reported lower staffing than pre-pandemic, leading to a loss of institutional knowledge.
The data indicated a risk of losing experienced professionals, stressing the need for passion retention and adequate training to prevent burnout.
The panelists highlighted the importance of advocating for diversity and fostering open conversations to support colleagues.
Kyle Rausch, the executive director of Study Abroad at the University of Illinois in Chicago, in an interview with MSM Reporter, shared his perspective on the seismic shifts and challenges faced by the education abroad sector in the aftermath of the pandemic.
From the challenges of resuming progress amidst reduced budgets and workforces to the imperative of addressing systemic disparities, Rausch provides insights into how the sector is navigating this complex terrain.
How has the pandemic impacted long-term strategies and goals in the education abroad sector, and how are professionals adapting to the changes?
Like with other industries and fields, the pandemic has impacted education abroad in major ways. Prior to the pandemic, the field was focused on increasing access to education abroad. With the pandemic effectively putting a stop to all international mobility activities, institutions and organizations are now trying to resume progress toward this goal while contending with reduced budgets and workforces. With many professionals having been laid off or switched fields, there is also a need to help prepare the influx of newer professionals for work that has become specialized, and which requires a diverse skill set.
Finally, the pandemic made especially clear the numerous disparities that exist for underrepresented communities. This holds true for education abroad. As we seek to resume our work we are doing so in a context that makes evident the equity and access issues facing our field.
Recent survey showed that 56 percent of respondents were either currently or had been seeking a new position in the past year. What do you think are the main reasons behind this high percentage, and how can the sector address this issue?
The Great Resignation touched every field. Amid layoffs and time spent quarantining at home, people reflected on what really matters to them and the importance of work-life balance. For those who have remained in the field, we have been facing high levels of burnout due to fewer staff and increased responsibilities, especially regarding risk management. These aspects, coupled with the significantly lower salaries paid to higher education professionals as compared to other industries, have prompted many to consider a career pivot.
It is perplexing to me how a field that places emphasis on higher education and having a specialized skill set that includes foreign language skills, intercultural competencies, risk management, legal, marketing, and financial expertise finds it ethical to offer salaries that are below competitive market standards in other fields.
In our focus groups, the phrase “doing more with less” was a constant as professionals continue to be tasked with duties that are not reflected in their position descriptions…or compensation.
For too long, higher education has relied on a “passion tax,” or the notion that many come to the field because of their belief in the importance of education and are then taken advantage of. With private industry offering significantly better compensation, benefit packages, and flexible work arrangements, the field must modernize and correct its unethical practices of poorly compensating and overworking its dedicated workforce or retention of staff will continue to be an issue.
Inadequate staffing emerged as a central concern, with 80 percent of respondents indicating they lacked sufficient staffing. How has this impacted education abroad departments, and what are the potential consequences of this staffing shortage?
Insufficient staffing of education abroad departments has created issues such as burnout and retention of staff. Caseloads for advisors have increased substantially as have the duties they are now being asked to do. At many institutions, including my own, education abroad offices are being tasked with the oversight of health, safety, and risk management protocols for institution-wide international mobility activities, no matter if these activities relate to student travel or not. No additional compensation, title changes, and more importantly, training and education are being given to staff, though.
Similar trends can be seen regarding education abroad professionals being tasked with overseeing the negotiation of legal agreements, marketing, and accounting and financial management. Whereas in the past, education abroad professionals were focused on student advising and intercultural preparation, now they are being considered risk managers, mental health professionals, and legal counsel. These represent areas of significant liability for institutions, so by having improper staffing levels and not ensuring that individuals with the requisite education and expertise are overseeing these aspects, they are opening themselves up to gaps in their duty of care. Additionally, this is pushing exhausted and overwhelmed professionals out of the field.
Given current staffing challenges, what innovative solutions or approaches do you believe could help address the shortage of qualified personnel or manpower itself in international offices?
I don’t believe that there is a shortage of qualified personnel so much as there is a lack of resources being committed by senior leaders at institutions of higher education to appropriately staff international offices. Although international education goals are often cited in institutional mission and vision statements, when it comes time to allocate money to increase staff and provide competitive compensation, international offices are frequently overlooked.
To improve candidate pools for vacancies, position descriptions can be adjusted to better reflect the specialized skills and responsibilities these positions now require, while also reconsidering the education required and what constitutes relevant experience. For instance, is a master’s degree and experience studying abroad truly necessary for an entry-level advisor role? I would argue they are not essentials – especially if an institution isn’t willing to pay competitively for this education and experience.
Another idea is to explore cost sharing with campus units. For academic units that express a desire to grow international education opportunities for their students, there could be an interest in hiring for a position that is funded jointly by the centralized international office and academic unit. In addition to the financial benefits such an arrangement can bring, this model helps to embed international education within an academic unit as opposed to being an afterthought.
Moreover, with there being a greater variety of modalities for international education activities (e.g. COIL and virtual exchange) there are opportunities to reimagine traditional international offices and the kind of programming they oversee.
Offices that focus on high-impact practices such as research, internships, and other experiential learning activities are likely to receive increased funding support and international education can be a natural fit for these offices.
How do you see education abroad professionals collaborating with policymakers and other stakeholders to influence decisions that impact the field?
We can collaborate with policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure they understand the full scope of our work and how decisions they make may have unintended consequences for a field that many know little about. A great example of this occurred this year in reference to the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter GEN-23-03.
The guidance the letter had regarding third-party servicers would have had a detrimental impact on international mobility activities. The field was quick to action, though, and helped educate policymakers on the realities of the field and how it operates thereby gaining confirmation that international education activities such as study abroad would not be subject to these guidelines.
Burnout is a prevalent issue among education abroad professionals. What steps can organizations take to foster a healthier work environment and prioritize the well-being of their staff?
The simple answer is to hire adequate levels of staff. Doing more with less has, unfortunately, become a hallmark of higher education. Portfolio and advisee assignments should be made based on data and what constitutes a realistic program and/or advising load for individuals in relation to other responsibilities they may have.
Beyond staffing levels and appropriate workloads, organizations can ensure they have empathetic people who trust their staff in leadership roles. Leaders who foster a work environment that prioritizes collegiality and well-being are essential. Although they may not be able to control compensation, they can promote autonomy in work and allow for flexible work arrangements. There is no substitute for a compassionate, people-centered leader.
How do you envision the education abroad sector playing a role in addressing broader societal issues such as racial injustice and global threats?
Education abroad is one of our most important diplomatic tools. Direct, people-to-people engagement can lead to greater curiosity, empathy, and understanding across differences. In order to solve today’s most pressing challenges such as racial injustice, access to healthcare, and climate change, we must seek to be compassionate and understanding across differences, willing to cooperate across racial, ethnic, religious and national divisions for the greater global good.
With its ability to make the “other” or “different” more familiar and less threatening, education abroad is uniquely positioned to help graduate globally minded students who will be prepared to address these and future issues.
What are some potential strategies that institutions and organizations can implement to attract and retain top talent in the education abroad sector?
Over half of respondents to the Forum on Education Abroad’s 2023 State of the Field Survey indicated that receiving better compensation and benefits would help retain them at their current institution or organization.
However, it’s not just money that people are looking for 41 percent of respondents indicated that organizational support and culture are important retention factors. Balanced workloads, adequate resources and staffing, and work autonomy all contribute to employees’ desire to stay in their current role as work-life balance has become increasingly important since the onset of the pandemic.
How can education abroad professionals leverage nuanced, actionable data from the survey to make informed decisions and improve their programs and services?
I believe that the best way the data can be used is to support advocacy efforts as professionals seek to manage up and request changes that are long overdue in the sector. Sharing data about workload, skills required, and compensation can help leaders understand the challenges facing modern day international education offices compared to the outdated misconceptions leaders often have about the work in which these departments are engaged.
Data can provide a framework for further benchmarking against peer institutions and inform proposals for reorganizations and/or staffing changes. As a field, we must collectively demand better for ourselves and our teams while becoming better at highlighting the important work we do and its connection to institutional and organizational goals and values. If we position international education as essential to the educational enterprise, then we stand a much better chance of being at the proverbial table when decisions about resources are made.
