George Rupp, president of The International Rescue Committee, keynoted the 2007 Presidents Institute, and offered three long-term strategies that college and university presidents can pursue to combat the “long-established pattern of provincialism that plagues American public life today” and also help build educational quality. He urged presidents to devote greater faculty and curricular resources to language and culture; increase on-campus diversity; and enhance opportunities for study abroad.

“Our students must do the hard work of learning about others who are different from us. They need to know more about the Mideast and large countries such as China and India that will play an increasingly major role in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South America are becoming vocal in their disenchantment with the United States. Europe is asserting its economic, political, and cultural differences from the U.S. and the euro is rapidly becoming an alternative global currency.”

Yet American students are woefully unprepared in basic language and cultural studies, according to three recent reports Rupp cited. A National Geographic Society survey of American 18–24 year olds found that 30 percent were unable to locate the United States on a world map; a survey by the Asia Society found that 25 percent of college-bound high school students did not know the name of the ocean that separates the U.S. from Asia; and an American Council on Education survey showed that fewer than 1 percent of American graduate students are studying a language deemed critical to U.S. national security.

“It will be difficult to respond to the challenge to offer a more global curriculum, which requires a more globally informed faculty, as well as tough choices among competing studies. Tradeoffs will have to be made.” But, he added, colleges and universities have substantial resources to address provincialism.

He strongly recommended that colleges and universities participate in consortia to broaden language offerings beyond French and Spanish. “Can we claim to offer an education for the 21st century if we don’t offer key languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, and Swahili?” he asked. In addition, institutions should offer at least a few courses that exemplify globalization and its impact on the U.S. and the world—courses that require serious engagement with the languages and cultures of other countries.

Rupp also stressed that colleges and universities must do all they can to diversify their own student bodies. “Having a diverse campus that includes international students from around the world and exposing students to diverse opinions and perspectives by cultivating a curriculum that represents minority perspectives other than American traditions” will go a long way to counter provincial attitudes, he said.

Finally, college and university presidents should encourage undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members to study abroad. Citing his own experiences studying in Germany and Sri Lanka, Rupp said students gain an “enormous benefit from living abroad—they learn about historical patterns and traditions different from their own and attain a bifocal vision that allows them to see their own core values and traditions more clearly and with a different perspective of the world.”

In closing, Rupp stressed that “learning about traditions different from those in America will not by itself change provincialism—but it can play a significant role.”

His address was based in part on his new book, Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community, published by Columbia University Press and available in most book stores.