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Feb. 3, 2006
Sailing Around the Flat World
The Scholar Ship was unveiled Thursday — a collaboration between Royal Caribbean Cruises and six foreign universities, the ship will take up to 700 students from different continents on a 16-week trip where they will work through intercultural courses of study.
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The program is a corporate subsidiary of Royal Caribbean, and the academic programs will be led by Macquarie University in Australia. The maiden voyage of the ship — which will have libraries and lecture halls where the casinos and ballrooms were — will be in January 2007, and there are still many details to be worked out, including filling out a faculty.
Joseph Olander, president of the ship and former president of Evergreen State College, in Washington State, said he expects to have undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs on board. Academic programs will be organized into five “learning circles” : international business and communications, sustainable development, conflict studies, global cultures and social change, and worlds of art and culture. Olander said that, rather than imitating Semester at Sea, which is “quintessentially for American students,” he said, he wants “a transnational community” and classes that urge students to take a global perspective.
Students, who will be taught primarily in English, will pay $19,500 for the classes and cruise, and will have eight port stops as they circumnavigate the globe, beginning and ending in Athens.
Olander said there will be one professor for every 20 students, and that he hopes to raise some money for scholarships. “The price tag is reasonable for what they’re getting ... but we’re talking about middle class families being able to afford this,” he said.
What students are getting in the classroom will be determined by a group of six “academic stewards”: Macquarie; Al Akhawayn University, in Morocco; Beijing Foreign Studies University; Peking University; Tecnológico de Monterrey, in Mexico; and the University of Ghana. Olander said an American partner should be on board within months.
Macquarie will be issuing the transcripts, so, for American students, their home institutions will have to take Macquarie credit if they want credits to transfer.
Exact courses are not yet available, and there are few wakes for the Scholar Ship to follow in. “The world of global higher education, transnational initiatives like this is like the Wild West, or the Wild East, you really don’ t know what’s going on,” said Philip Altbach, director of Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education. “The institutions they’ve lined up are an impressive list, but what’s their commitment to it?”
A quote on Scholar Ship’s Web site from Marjorie Peace Lenn, executive director of the
Center for Quality Assurance in International Education in Washington, and a frequent consultant for both for-profit and non-profit institutions, calls the program “truly innovative.”
Said Altbach, “it might be fine and innovative, and it might be another money-making scheme.”
To ensure American students of quality, Semester at Sea has had the University of Pittsburgh as its academic sponsor for the last 20 years, through which academic credits have been issued. Starting next summer, credits will be issued through the University of Virginia.
Lenn said that “it’s ridiculous to compare [Semester at Sea and Scholar Ship] because they are on boats. This is a future way in which higher education will be globalizing.”
Nonetheless, Les McCabe, president of Semester at Sea said that “their model of scholarship was based on our model. They came to us four or five years ago to find out what we were doing.”
McCabe pointed out, though, that one “major distinction” is that “Scholar Ship is something being developed by a cruise line.” Semester at Sea, which primarily serves American students, is a private non-profit group. McCabe added that Semester at Sea has begun to market to European students, but that part of the reason Semester at Sea hasn’t had large international student populations is because it’s difficult to ensure that credits will transfer to foreign institutions.
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Comments
Jet Set Globalization
“Students, who will be taught primarily in English, will pay $19,500...
“The price tag is reasonable for what they’re getting ... but we’re talking about middle class families being able to afford this.”
“This is a future way in which higher education will be globalizing.”
In a world in which the vast majority of the humans on planet earth cannot afford USD 19,500 for a four-month cruise, this is hardly a viable means to globalize education.
This is not to say that Scholar Ship is a bad idea. Only, let’s not tout it for what it isn’t. Undoubtedly, the students on this tour will form relationships, start romances, and have adventures that will affect them profoundly. Hopefully, for the better.
The globalization of education is being driven by the Internet and initiatives like Free Curricula Center. To reach a truly global audience, education must cost significantly less than USD 19,500 per semester.
Chydenius, Senior Fellow at Free Curricula Center, at 8:45 am EST on February 3, 2006
Scholar Ship
Where do I get an application to teach? Any adjunct, or online positions? A wonderful idea.
Teri, Associate Professor, at 9:55 am EST on February 3, 2006
I am with Chydenius. This is an overpriced education. American schools are reluctant to join because they know that they might be dragged down by schools with lower standards. And, let’s face it, this is a cruise.
The students will probably all just exist as cliques, except for sexual conquests. The food will be prepared by the staff, and everyone will be guaranteed a grade.
Larry, at 3:05 pm EST on February 3, 2006
One word: iceberg
Longtime prof, prof at Univ. of Georgia, at 3:30 pm EST on February 3, 2006
Our Commitment
As Pro Vice Chancellor International, I can state with great confidence that Macquarie and our counterpart academic stewards are taking all appropriate measures to ensure that The Scholar Ship is a serious academic endeavour with very high standards. The Scholar Ship is a great example of universities globally taking the initiative in a highly collaborative way to ensure global outcomes for our students.
Tony Adams, Professor at Macquarie University, at 8:40 pm EST on February 6, 2006
Program origin
I stand to correct Mr. McCabe’s comment that The Scholar Ship was started by a cruise line. We are thankful for the comprehensive funding and operational support of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., but the conception and development of our program pre-dates RCCL’s involvement by a number of years. Mr. McCabe knows this very well.
Ronald Zighelboim, Managing Director at The Scholar Ship, at 8:20 pm EST on March 16, 2006
It would appear that Mr. Zighelboim misinterpreted my point. I did not say Scholar Ship was “started” by a cruise line. In fact it was started, as he well knows, based on an idea presented to him by an alumnus of our program. However, what I did say, was that it was being “developed” by a cruise line, or at least that is the impression given based on press releases of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and its presence on Celebrity Cruise Line’s web site. Regardless, we wish the program success with its intended purpose.
Les McCabe, President at Institute for Shipboard Education, at 3:35 pm EST on March 30, 2006
Semester at Sea
As a recent Semester at Sea student, I obviously am very interested in hearing what the Scholar Ship had come up with. While I commend the organization for continuing the idea of a global, multi-cultural approach to education, I’d like to remind everyone that it is just that, a continuation of an already existing concept. According to the Macquarie University pro-vice Chancellor, Professor Tony Adams, “no one has ever done anything like this before.” I stand to correct Professor Adams and others who have been mislead on the issue. The idea of a floating campus has already been done, and its been done so magnificently well. I say this not to discourage the Scholar Ship with their endeavors, but to remind them not to conveniently forget that a similar program has already successfully sent thousands of students around the world. To say that this “new idea” is one of a kind is to insult those who have committed their lives to the idea. Varying the program by changing the demographics of the students does not give the Scholar Ship permission to claim this as “a new model for international education.”
Katie Brown, University of New Hampshire, Semester at Sea Spring 2005, at 2:25 pm EDT on May 23, 2006
As a former student at TESC I can state without reservation that Mr. Olander is one of the most inspiring educators on This Dying Earth. The cruise sounds like more fun than Showboat World.
haxo Anglemark, Sea Dragon Conqueror at Cosmopolis Institute of Piracy, at 9:45 am EST on November 27, 2006
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International Education at Sea!
Excellent opportunity for international students to live,work and learn...together....! Self contained....learning classroom!
Should be interesting to watch,study, improve....but I bet it will last!
Marylouise Fennell
Marylouise Fennell, Senior Consultant at Council of Independent Colleges, at 6:55 am EST on February 3, 2006