From Oct. 6-10, 2014, West Chester University will be sending 25 faculty and 16 students to participate in the biennial Knowledge Crossing Borders conference of higher education, which will be held in Heredia, Costa Rica at Universidad Nacional.
The conference will include four days of presentations discussing contemporary issues that effect higher education worldwide, such as food supply, peace, and environmental sustainability. There were also be a Global Presidential Conclave on the future of higher education, where leaders from institutions around the world meet to discuss how to address issues facing higher education and move forward together.
Knowledge Crossing Borders developed as a result of a partnership between West Chester University and Universidad Nacional, and since 2010 has occurred once in Costa Rica, and once here at West Chester University. Following the 2010 conference, it was decided that Knowledge Crossing Borders would occur every other year, alternating between the two schools. The 2012 conference, which was the first and only at West Chester to this date, hosted leaders and executives from 25 countries around the world.
The conference provides the opportunity for countries to work together in person to find solutions to pressing problems threatening the future of higher education. This is especially true at the Presidential Conclave.
The conclave is a round-table discussion among not only institutional leaders from around the world, but also experts in various fields related to higher education. For instance, in 2012, Microsoft sent representation to the conclave, to discuss and take ideas on how technology can be best utilized in the future of higher education.
Six major issues that are deemed the most important worldwide will be discussed, with the experts providing the background and the presidents of the institutions discussing possible solutions. In 2012, one of those issues was ethics, and the obligation to prepare generations to reason and make decisions based on fundamental ethical values. Other topics have included environmental sustainability and economic development. They are not all inherently higher education issues, but issues that can alter the face of higher education throughout the world, which is why it is so beneficial to have global representation discussing these issues all at once.
“It is important that we work together,” said West Chester University president Greg Weisenstein. “We have limited resources to solve problems, so by duplicating efforts across countries, and bringing people together to share knowledge really advances programs that can influence quality of life around the world.,” he said.
“A major part of the mission of higher education is to address the issues nationally, internationally, and globally. Working together makes it much easier to advise a solution.”
Knowledge is not just crossing borders at the conclave. The entire conference will be a sharing of research from professionals and students around the world, and that is one of the biggest goals of the conference: to discuss.
“We have started conversations that are important conversations to start, and that has led to research and collaboration [between] people with similar interests and passions,” Weisenstein said. “We have gotten people to work together to discuss.”
“We are moving forward, building on these themes,” said Mell Josephs, executive director of Student Services Incorporated at West Chester University.
Perhaps just as importantly, the conference directly provides incredible opportunities for students receiving higher education. Being in one place with institutional leaders from so many other countries leads to collaboration between those countries, and often times opportunities for students to spend time studying internationally, which is hugely beneficial to students, both now and in their future careers.
“I have never been to any other country I couldn’t bring back something useful to use here—even the most impoverished countries,” Weisenstein said. “There are a lot of benefits of Knowledge Crossing Borders for West Chester University, and one of them is to create more opportunity for students to get that international experience.”
For more information on the upcoming Knowledge Crossing Borders conference in Costa Rica, please scan the QR code below, or type http://www.wcupa.edu/kcb into your web browser.
Kenny Ayres is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies with a journalism minor. He can be reached at KA739433@wcupa.edu.