International Educational Exchange

This book examines the origins of higher learning, and then traces education exchange to the aftermath of World War II, when the United States was internationally recognized as the epicenter of critical thinking and scientific discovery. As centers of learning arose in the ancient world, the gathering of students they drew invariably included “foreigners”—those not native to the immediate local area. Then as now, inquisitive minds compelled humans to explore, crossing borders to seek enlightenment in faraway places before returning to their homelands. Few societies have been so remote that they could not be affected by the acquisition of imported information. The number of international students and scholars in the United States now exceeds one million. This book narrates the complex and colorful history of intrepid individuals, inspired programs, and world events that have given direction to the path of education exchange, as well as the global dissemination of American scholarship.

This open access book presents deep investigation to the manifold topics pertaining to global university collaboration. It outlines the strategies King Abdulaziz University has employed to rise in global rankings, and the reasons chosen to collaborate with other academic and research institutes. The environment in which universities currently exist is considered, and subsequently how an innovative culture might be established and maintained to enable global partnerships to be implemented and to succeed is discussed. The book provides an intense focus on why collaboration is a necessary ingredient for knowledge transfer and explains how to do it. The last part of the book considers how to sustain partnerships. This is because one of the challenges of global partnerships is not just setting them up, but also sustaining them.