ASIA COUNCIL
University System of Georgia -- Council on International Education
Minutes of the meeting held March 26, 2004
Clayton State College and University

Dan Paracka (Kennesaw State University) called the meeting to order at 1:15 PM. Also present were Farley Richmond (University of Georgia), Thomas Howard (Armstrong Atlantic State University), Salli Vargas (Georgia Perimeter College), Sheila Phillips (Darton College), Thomas Dolan (Columbus State University), and Baogong Guo (Dalton State College). Dwight Call (Georgia College & State University), was in attendance intermittently due to conflicting demands for his presence at a simultaneous meeting of the System Council on International Education elsewhere in the building.

Minutes of the previous meeting were approved, and the following items of new business were taken up.

1. Dan Paracka reported on the morning session of the System Council on International Education’s meeting. He mentioned some activities of other regional councils that the Asia Council might consider emulating. These included a collection of articles published by members (Americas Council), a detailed report of goals, principles, bylaws and past achievements (Europe Council), and a model Organization of African Unity meeting for students (Africa Council). In this connection he handed out a preliminary version of a possible “goals and priorities” statement.
   
   
2. Farley Richmond presented a proposal for a faculty development seminar in India in May 2005, titled Forces of Globalization: Culture and Technology in India, developed by him and Marc Gilbert with some input from Thomas Howard. As presently conceived the seminar would last three weeks, with most of the time spent in Bombay, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. The focus would be on India’s rapidly growing high technology sector and particularly on that sector’s links with American business, as in the outsourcing by US companies of various back-office functions, as well as software development. The target market of participants would include not only members of humanities disciplines but also people involved in business and public policy education. A variety of pre-trip contacts with Georgia-based high technology companies is envisioned, with the idea that participants would get a good idea of both sides of this international link.
   
   There was a fairly lengthy discussion of the proposal and a number of questions.
   
   Could people who are not USG faculty apply? (Three high school teachers in Athens have shown interest.) The consensus was that USG faculty would have priority, but if there is room Georgia high school teachers and non USG professors could also go.
   
   What would be the optimal number of participants? Probably in the low twenties, with 7 or 8 participants for each of up to 3 leaders.

   How many pre-trip meetings would there be? and where? This remains to be worked out. Atlanta would clearly be the most likely location, but participants from other cities in the state might be expected to make contact with local companies that have links to India.

   Since May is notoriously the hottest month in India, would there be a chance of doing the trip at any other time of year? The heat problem, and accompanying increased costs of making sure all facilities are air-conditioned, must be acknowledged, but experience has shown that it would be difficult to recruit enough participants during the Christmas vacation or later in the summer. There is also the problem of higher airfares at these more desirable seasons.

   In general the council’s response to the proposal was favorable. Dan Paracka will consult with Marc Gilbert on a more detailed budget and then forward the proposal to Rick Sutton.

3. Study abroad programs:
   
   a) Japan. Dwight Call reported that the program he and Suresh Gopalan had proposed had to be cancelled for this year because there had been only four sign-ups, not sufficient to justify the time and expense of going forward. He thought the biggest problem might have been the intensive language study component and said he would try again next year, with a focus on traditional arts (including martial arts) and no language program. Ritsumeikan University would still be the likely institution for this program.
   
   b) ) India. Farley Richmond and Salli Vargas reported that they are going ahead with their program, scheduled for May 13 to June 23, 2004. Ten students (8 from UGA, one from GC & SU, and one from Kennesaw) have signed up. This will be a humanities program, with attention to painting, performing arts, history, literature, and Hindi language training. There will be stops in Delhi and Mumbai, and three weeks in Kerala. The leaders plan to make a video of the experience to serve as a recruiting tool for later trips.
   
   c) China. Baogong Guo reported that the program he had organized with Wilson Huang (Valdosta) had been cancelled due to too small a number of sign-ups. They did have five students and thought this might be just enough, but then one dropped out,

   The cancellation or postponement of the Japan and China programs led to some general discussion about more effective recruitment, including the possible effectiveness of more professional-looking brochures (aimed at parents as much as the students), but there were no definite conclusions.

4. Dan Paracka announced that the China language program is a go for this year (after being cancelled last year because of SARS). It will be directed by Yan Gao from Clark Atlanta.

5. Baogong Guo announced that he will be participating in a Fulbright trip to China, with a focus on the western part of the country. This trip is being organized out of Reinhardt College.

6. Dan Paracka announced the tentative dates for next year’s meetings as: 9/17/04, 12/10/04, and 3/25/05.

The meeting adjourned about 3:15.

Thomas F. Howard