Hokkaido University to award
honorary degree to Scott

by Kay Scanlan, special to the Chronicle

David K. Scott

hancellor David K. Scott will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan early next month. He will also deliver a keynote address later in the day at a symposium titled "International Student Exchange in the 21st Century: Towards a New Cultural Confluence." His keynote speech is titled "Learning Without Boundaries."

     Scott said the Feb. 7 symposium is part of the celebration of the quasquicentennial of Massachusetts Agricultural College President William S. Clark's visit to Japan in 1876 at the invitation of the emperor. Clark and his colleagues were instrumental in creating a new agricultural college, now the University of Hokkaido, modeled after the new land-grant college in Amherst, now the University of Massachusetts.

     Thus began the international dimension of the UMass mission, which, Scott said, "has been imaginatively advanced by Barbara Burn and her staff." Burn is associate provost for International Programs. Burn will join Scott on the visit to Hokkaido as will Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst) and Sue Root, president of the Hokkaido Massachusetts Association.

     Burn said that Scott has been a strong advocate of international programs during his tenure as chancellor. He has visited UMass programs in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Ireland, England, Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, Australia, Mexico, Spain, and others.

     Also, she pointed out, the number of exchange programs has increased significantly, with 58 added between 1996 and 2000, as part of the "Strategic Action" plan.

     "We live in a global society," Scott said. "Few aspects of education are more important than preparing students for full participation in this new world. President Clark recognized this 125 years ago. Today, it is no different, except perhaps even more important."

     "People usually speak of global issues in economic terms, but it will be global education connecting peoples, cultures, and institutions that will ultimately be the key to a better world.

     "It is sobering to remember the creation of the much-touted Global Village has a long road ahead. If we think of that world village as composed of 100 people, the fact is that barely one of them would have a higher education degree, 70 would be illiterate, and, as Hampshire College president Greg Prince recently stated, not one would own a computer."

     Scott has worked on world issues in education on many fronts. In 1995-96, he chaired the American Council on Education's Commission of International Education. The Commission produced the report "Educating for Global Competence: America's Passport to the Future."

     In August, Scott was elected to the 20-member administrative board of directors of the International Association of Universities at the IAU's 11th General Conference held in Durban, South Africa. IAU's 650 members come from educational institutions in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

     Scott said the IAU enables universities to look beyond the limits of their own campuses, cities, or countries, in order to work together to make a difference worldwide. He said: "As the title of the Durban meeting of the IAU suggests, universities truly must be Gateways to the Future."

     Scott is also a councilor of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE), which includes 378 member institutions from 24 countries in eight regions: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Andean countries, Brazil, and the Southern Cone. Scott is deputy vice president for the U.S. region. The IOHE provides cooperation between member institutions and fosters the development of higher education in the Americas. It is the educational equivalent of the NAFTA of the future, emphasizing that education will be a key ingredient in the larger cooperation between countries.

     "Our partnership with Hokkaido began in 1876, shortly after the University of Massachusetts was established," said Scott. "Both the US and Japan were undergoing major transformations, with the US emerging from a Civil War and in Japan the old government of the shoguns had ended, replaced by the energetic Meiji regime, which set itself the task of reform. Today, the nations of the world and world of education are in transformation once again. Our old partnerships as well as new ones we have forged with international networks like IHA and IOHE will play a key role. As Senator Fulbright once noted, education is a slow moving but powerful force. It may not be fast enough or strong enough to save us from catastrophe, but it is the strongest force available."