VCU news

By Brian Nicholas
VCU Career Services

Joe Testani, director of Virginia Commonwealth University Career Services, has been selected for the 2014 Fulbright International Education Administrators seminar in Germany this October. Testani is the first higher education administrator from VCU selected for the program.

He will join 20 higher education administrators handpicked from applicants throughout the United States for a two-week seminar focused on German higher education practices, particularly within career services, alumni relations, development and international education.

The program’s first week provides participants with an introduction to Germany and its higher education system. Testani and three other administrators will then travel to several other German cities for an in-depth look at the country’s model of student career and professional development. The seminar concludes with a meeting of other American administrators participating in a similar French Fulbright program.

Testani believes this opportunity will enhance his understanding of how career services fits within the increasingly globalized student experience.

“It’s been interesting to see how VCU is looking at internationalization. I’m curious if the operations of [German] institutions are vastly different or similar to how we do our work here,” Testani said. “How do they solve the problem of student engagement or how do they look at employer interactions? What are the ways to gain best practices from a very different perspective?”

The Fulbright program is one of five cultural exchanges aimed at providing higher education professionals the opportunity to create “empowering connections with the societal, cultural and higher education systems of other countries.” Four similar programs targeting senior-level administrators in international education exchange, foreign admissions advising and study abroad are held each year in France, India, Japan and Korea.

“The opportunity to actually meet people that do the work I do somewhere else is fascinating,” said Testani.

He departs for Germany on Oct. 3.

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