IMET Feasibility Study and Implementation: Maximizing the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy Experience for International Students at the Naval Postgraduate School

摘要

The purpose of this MBA Project was threefold: (1) to assess prior proposals to alleviate problems that International Military Students (IMS) at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) experience, (2) to identify any new needs or problems they face in the areas of academic support and quality of life, and (3) to determine the feasibility of any recommendations proposed to address these needs/problems. The author conducted a survey of 20 IMS out of a possible 55 IMS in the NPS's Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP). The survey was intended to gather critical information on the IMS to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of their problems. The survey revealed the need for more computer facilities in the library, greater access to home-country resources in the home-country language for news and research, more opportunities for improving quality of life, and the establishment of a faculty workshop that would help new instructors understand the distinct status of international students and communicate better with them. Some of the quality of life recommendations were to organize more trips for the IMS and their families, improve health care for IMS families, enrich the welcome package for IMS, create a web site for comments by IMS, and provide IMS with the equivalent U.S. rank insignia upon their arrival to NPS. Lessons that can be extrapolated from this study are identified and recommendations are proposed to ensure the maximization of the learning experience of the IMS at the Naval Postgraduate School.