Investigation of the status of international education in colleges of education at land-grant and state universities

The increasing interdependence among nations in this world has created a growing need for internationally educated citizens. Indeed, international education is becoming an integral part of the complex educational process.;The quality of international education at Colleges or at Schools of Education in public higher institutions of learning reflects the understanding of the significance of international education by administrators of these institutions as well as their efforts towards that end. Education provided at universities also has the potential influence upon the quality of international education at elementary and secondary schools. The problem of this study was to investigate the nature and the scope of the internationalization of teacher education in the three dimensions of curriculum, research, and public services. The purpose of this research is not only to construct an in-depth description of efforts to provide international education by these institutions, but also to provide information for the improvement of international education through disclosure of the pragmatic deficiencies of international education practices. A large body of literature was reviewed to promote awareness and understanding of the related research.;The population of this study is land-grant and state universities in which there is a College of Education or a School of Education. The samples for this study were chosen from two sources: (1) members of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and (2) the 1991 Higher Education Directory. One hundred and sixteen universities with education colleges/schools were studied. The instrument for this study was a 35-item questionnaire, mailed to the deans of these institutions. Fifty-three education colleges/schools participated. Response rate was 45.7%. Respondents came from forty out of the forty-nine states initially selected. Geographic representation was 81.6%.;Seven hypotheses were established to test the differences across institutions in terms of emphasis on international education commitment, modification of international education curriculum, provision of opportunities for faculty and students to be exposed to international education, and development of international and external resources. The General Linear Model procedure was chosen to perform a one-way analysis of variance to test hypotheses.;No significant differences were found for five null hypotheses including geographical region of institution or size of city in which the institution was located. There was a significant difference indicated in each of the other two null hypotheses. Findings were presented, and recommendations made regarding internationalization effort in teacher training programs and for future research.