The university is looking to expand internationally and make changes to its study abroad program.

As a university, NIU hopes to send more students abroad, as well as bring in more students from other countries. Raymond Alden said with a more global economy, NIU wants to become more proactive in engagement with other countries.

Alden was formerly the provost but is now vice president of International Affairs, a position created last month by NIU President Doug Baker. The position was created so Alden could “work closely with each dean and vice president to further develop NIU as a truly global university,” according to a NIU release.

“Things are changing so rapidly, and so many things are on a global scale,” Alden said. “Everyone is now becoming part of this global economy; therefore, we want to be known beyond just the Chicago land region in being a real innovator in education, in outreach and engagement, so this helps our image.”

A key change in the study abroad program is to send a faculty member to the visiting country and teach a course to NIU students as well as students from that country.

After that course, NIU would invite those students to come to campus for another course. Alden said this change will provide a safety net for students academically and socially.

“It’s not, ‘We’ll throw you out there and hope you do well in the other country’ because there’s always going to be a faculty member there who you can call on,” he said. “So they get that kind of interaction and cross-cultural experience and then invite the other institution to send their students here. And I think that is a much more proactive, much more meaningful experience.”

This type of study abroad would also benefit students who choose not to travel.

“When their students come here, people who did not want to travel with that faculty-led study abroad still get to interact with their students when they come here,” Alden said.

Alden said this type of program would also be less expensive for students traveling because it would generally be a four- to six-week course.

For students coming to NIU from other countries, there are a lot of opportunities here, said junior psychology major Maria Senf, who is from Germany.

“I really like it here because you can do some many activities. There’s so many organizations. You can be so involved here,” Senf said.

Alden views adjusting to culture and language differences as being the biggest challenge, but Senf said she didn’t have trouble with that because of her background.

Alden said China is a country that is evolving quickly and could be an important country in NIU’s international growth. Mechanical engineering professor Milivoje Kostic has had interaction with Chinese people through a series of presentations he has done in China and said NIU and China could be a good match.

“China is a country to watch. I think that is why NIU is talking about strategic initiatives internationally, but [it] focused on China because it’s the largest country and fastest developing country,” Kostic said.

Kostic said it could be a win-win situation for both countries, and that is why it is has a good future.

“The Chinese are very interested to get Western experiences and they like to send students, and faculty to get experiences in America more than any other country,” Kostic said.