Greet Provoost
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi’s director of international programs is among 40 individuals selected worldwide to assist the Institute of International Education with a new pilot course focused on internationalization at colleges and universities in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar.
Greet Provoost will serve as a mentor for “Connecting the World: International Relations at Higher Education Institutions,” a 20-week course designed to help institutions understand the role of international offices and how to create and manage an office within existing infrastructures.
“We are working with individuals in a country where people have not generally had much global interaction,” Provoost said. “The course is about the purpose of campus internationalization, establishing an international office and the role it can play in international education and linking with other institutions, establishing an international presence and achieving related institutional goals.”
The pilot course combines face-to-face instruction with interactive technologies and mentoring to cover topics ranging from cross-cultural communication, facilitating faculty and student exchange, hosting international delegations and developing international collaboration. As part of the course, Provoost communicates weekly with her two mentees, faculty members from the University of Pharmacy and the University of Computer Studies in Yangon, Myanmar, who were selected to take a leading role in their university’s internationalization efforts.
Mentors were chosen based on their expertise and experience. They represent countries including the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, Thailand, Sweden and Switzerland.
Provoost said that participating in the program as a mentor is a wonderful opportunity, both for her personally and professionally, as well as institutionally.
“We’re operating a well-established International Programs Office as part of the Office of Global Engagement here at the University of Mississippi,” she said. “To help someone understand where to begin with campus internationalization is absolutely fascinating to me. The course I.I.E. has developed is comprehensive and can also help with the professional development of staff members here who are new to the field of international education.
“Needless to say, I harbor a hope that possible collaboration between the University of Mississippi and the universities my mentees represent may result from all as well.”
Provoost will continue to mentor the faculty members in Myanmar until April, and then informally through November.