Costa Rica's higher education institutions' internationalization process has always been a model of different practices and approaches from public and private universities. However, during the recent pandemic, both types of higher education systems again adopted other academic and international partnership continuity methods.
The COVID19 pandemic paralyzed all global mobility and posed severe challenges to the educational system's international advancement and stability. When analyzing the international student presence in half of the Global Edu consortium institutions, over two-thirds of the institutions had to respond quickly to student recalls and the global crisis.
When asked if institutions had international students on campus:
Some member institutions faced the educational delays of not having robust Learning Management Systems or faculty prepared for virtual environments. However, the vast majority quickly transitioned to virtual instructional environments, ensuring academic continuity, and eventually implementing hybrid modalities of participation at the pandemic's peak.
When asked if the institution was able to ensure academic continuity:
Amid the pandemic, each institution's mission, values, self-image, program strength, and organization leadership (Davies, 1992) proved essential for strength and resilience. Institutions quickly found support from leadership to implement different virtual meeting platforms, regular communication with students to support them in academics and health issues, and active use of other LMS. Although borders were closed and in-person mobility stopped, institutions found innovative ways to develop and deliver international education experiences. New modalities democratized opportunities and offered options to students who, in other circumstances, wouldn't have had the possibility to travel abroad due to travel restrictions, economic hardships, contagion vulnerability, physical disabilities, or other limitations.
Albeit the global context challenges, one of the Silver Linings of the pandemic was the quick disposition of international partners to engage in a high level of international cooperation. As a result, many international partners were open to implementing COIL projects, moving forward with grant writing, and even registering students to complete international online courses offered by Costa Rican institutions.
Some institutions continued participating and presenting in virtual conferences in education abroad, such as Diversity Abroad, The Forum on Education Abroad, and NAFSA.
Although most international offices at the Global Edu consortium institutions suffered partial or total staff and faculty reductions, Costa Rica's international cooperation tradition for structuring educational projects enhanced the country's capacity to reactivate international mobility. Many member institutions focused on program development, strategy, and partnership strengthening activities. Over two-thirds of the membership continued to communicate with international partners actively, and some were even able to establish new ones through projects, research, and new course proposals. Global education initiatives in virtual conferences and events were essential for establishing new partnerships and networking opportunities.
By Spring 2021, Costa Rica again received an on-campus cohort of international Study Abroad students implementing the innovative educational hybrid modality trends established to create continuity of education abroad.
The immediate steps taken by the government and the Costa Rica healthcare system offset the pandemic's disastrous impacts.
Once again, Costa Rica's renowned tradition of establishing strong alliances was critical in receiving international aid for vaccination and eventually being able to safely attract global education mobility and even tourism during these difficult years. Furthermore, the country's context is relevant when analyzing internationalization opportunities because all international activities and projects depend on stability, accountability of management, and safety. Therefore, it is essential to consider the scope of institutional internationalization as a comprehensive process that integrates all aspects of a country's educational system and socio-economic context. As a result, one of the Global Edu member institutions, another private university, and two public universities in Costa Rica received the 100K Strong Innovation Fund Grant to Build Partnerships and Training Programs with U.S. institutions.
All Global Edu member institutions are private universities and therefore do not receive government funds. All initiatives require efficient financial planning of operations, and with a global lockdown, many international offices faced staff cuts and closures. However, the pandemic forced us to think creatively to take advantage of the technological resources available to keep education accessible and meaningful. More importantly, it taught us to truly value collaboration (especially international collaboration) as it is the most powerful strategy when facing uncertain times because it is in the diversity of talents, perceptions, and ideas that we can thrive. Although no relief funds were available for private universities, the Government, through PROCOMER, the Costa Rican agency promoting the export of goods and services, supported international education through networking opportunities and organizing webinars during the pandemic.
Global Edu member universities have always prioritized internationalization as part of their strategic plan to offer innovative academic programs despite the initial obstacle of not having the government's funds or support. Collaboration amongst the Global Edu consortium member universities has enhanced the quality of internationalization processes of higher education in Costa Rica. The pandemic challenged Higher education institutions in many ways, but this allowed international educators and IE practitioners the opportunity to widely expose the importance and the appropriate mechanisms and strategies for a well-rounded and comprehensive approach toward the internationalization of higher education.
Some of the Global Edu institutions' leadership participated and achieved professional certification in Standards of Good Practice facilitated by The U.S. Forum on Education Abroad during the pandemic. In addition, global Edu hosted multiple workshops in 2021, including a seminar on the Internationalization of Higher Education facilitated by U.S. partners.
Although it is impossible to cover all the diverse processes, experiences, and resilience strategies each university developed, Global Edu members veered quickly to virtual and hybrid modalities. They continued to offer valuable programs for international students. At one university, a cohort of 21 international students enrolled during the Fall to take entirely virtual Spanish as second language levels transferable as credits in U.S. higher education. In addition, faculty were eager to train instructional design and online implementation methodologies in virtual environments. Private university faculty do not receive a fixed yearly government salary, and the halt in mobility and inability to offer international curricula for exchange and study abroad students created cases of unemployment. However, Global Edu institutions did not give up on providing high academic programs. This resilience effort demonstrated the impact of facilitating online and hybrid modality courses to develop programs as an alternative option during the global turmoiled. Administrative authorities supported participation in virtual education abroad conferences to amplify and sustain partnerships.
Although we have once again confirmed students’ preference for the in-person, whole immersion experience of education abroad, the efforts of adaptation and the collaborative work developed have yielded valuable lessons in growth and innovation.
Reference mentioned:Davies, J. L. (1992). University strategies for internationalization in different institutional and cultural settings: A conceptual framework. In C. B. Klasek (Ed.), Bridges to the Future: Strategies for internationalizing higher education (pp. 177–190). Association of International Education Administrators.
About the Author
Dr. Alejandra Barahona