And performing a surgery with the door wide open with the body cavity exposed on the table?

Normal.

“We saw things we wouldn’t normally see in the U.S., (such as) liver transplants,” said Patrick Pavwoski, a second-year medical student in the College of Osteopathic Medicine who studied in Egypt. “But we had the opportunity, and we jumped on the opportunity while we were there.”

John Hudzik, former MSU vice president for global engagement and strategic projects, said it is necessary for faculty and students to participate in programs overseas, even during times of a slumping economy, to learn about these cultural differences and more. It’s still necessary during times when other schools are seriously considering their roles as international institutions.

“We’ve really done our students a disservice if we just think domestically,” said Hudzik, who previously held a position as president and chair of the Board of Directors of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. “What employers want from us is, increasingly, a student who is globally aware. That’s just not a few students who happen to major in ‘international whatever.’ It’s important for everyone.”

Beyond borders

Traveling overseas isn’t an excuse for a vacation anymore.

In 1956, MSU officials established the Office of International Studies and Programs — a small, yet significant leap into the international realm at the time — and has since grown to about 1,400 faculty members who span every continent, said Jeffrey Riedinger, dean for international programs and studies. From limiting the infection rates of tuberculosis in India’s wildlife population to partnering with the University of Malawi in Africa, international collaboration between universities’ faculty now is the norm for the East Lansing-based institution.

Although some might question a public university’s position to get involved with world affairs, Riedinger simplifies the complex matter. International solutions to problems can bring real change to people’s lives in the state and across the country, he said.

“The challenges that face the state of Michigan are not unique to the state or even the country,” he said. “They are certainly global, and we don’t know everything.”

About 6,500 miles away from Beaumont Tower, researchers in China attempt to exchange germ plasm on potatoes to discover breakthroughs in disease-resistant foods. Should advances be made overseas, the knowledge has the potential to return to the state, Riedinger said. Because knowledge is power, educators and community extension groups could better connect small farmers to local, regional and international markets, ultimately becoming more competitive in their fields, he said.

Weijun Zhao, director of the MSU China Office in Beijing and the MSU Office of China Programs, said an evolving world requires partnerships to increase knowledge.

“With information technology development, the whole world has become very small, like a world village,” Zhao said. “Economically, China and the United States have become a very important partner. For MSU to become one of the best universities in the United States, we need to engage globally and with other universities.”

A diverse research program portfolio in a changing world can give an institution the upper hand in succeeding overseas and bringing ideas back home, Hudzik said. It’s important for MSU and its students to be a resource not only for the world, but the nation and state, he said.

“How do we afford it? Well, turn that question over and think about the real future for the state of Michigan — how can we not afford it?” Hudzik said.

Making cents of the world

Even during a difficult economy, MSU remains on a path to strengthen and grow international research initiatives during the next 10 years, Riedinger said.

Although the university’s international efforts — the cost of which is comprised mostly of international travel costs and varying faculty salaries — touches many locations, each are affected by the bottom line, he said.

“If we focus on a 50-year history in international engagement, the university has been doing this through flush times and not-so-flush times,” Riedinger said. “This has not been the first and unfortunately not the last time (we will go through economic difficulty).”

After several months of financial difficulty in Dubai, MSU officials in July ended the university’s undergraduate MSU Dubai program about two years after its inception. Riedinger said the experience hasn’t changed MSU’s mission to have an international presence. The location for the university extension at first appeared to be an opportunity for students and faculty. Many other projects remind officials of the university’s success internationally, he said.

“It’s a cautionary tail about launching a major new initiative much before the world’s economy collapses,” Riedinger said of the closure. “It’s not altogether clear that anybody else out there could have told us the economy would suffer a downturn and MSU Dubai would undershoot enrollment targets.”

Ending the five undergraduate programs in July cost the university an estimated $1.3 to $1.7 million, which will be paid by using unrestricted income from the university’s investments. Enrollment for the campus was expected in the 400 to 800 range, but the final count was no more than 85 to 90 students. It is expected MSU Dubai — which still has a functioning graduate research program — will operate as an extension to MSU’s growing research initiatives and freshmen seminars. And if the economy improves, a reintroduction to undergraduate programs could occur. But there is no set date, Riedinger said.

“The collapse turned out to be overly ambitious in terms of the number of undergraduate programs in Dubai,” he said.

A look back on MSU’s engagement shows that historical contracts and grant data suggest the university annually has received $20 to $40 million each year in external funding to support faculty’s international research. And recent reviews of the data might suggest those numbers might be doubled — numbers that show no real sign of rapid decrease, Riedinger said.

Brian Whalen, president and CEO of Forum on Education Abroad, said a number of universities across the country have experienced cutbacks in budgets as well as staff travel and support. But deep cuts because of the economy have not changed many positions on global studies.

Still, for a university to jump on the international bandwagon simply because others are doing so is neither effective nor economical, he said.

“We say, ‘Are you not only talking the talk, but walking the walk?’” Whalen said. “Not only (should it be) expressed by rhetoric, but by having the resources and the budget model to sustain that activity in a quality way.”

Reaching out

Besides MSU’s worldwide research efforts, undergraduate students have numerous opportunities to go global before leaving the university with a degree in hand.

With more than 260 programs in almost every college, students should seriously consider taking off a semester in East Lansing and gaining “real-world experience,” said Cheryl Benner, communications manager for the Office of Study Abroad.

Almost 2,700 MSU students studied abroad last year, she said.

“It’s one thing to go over and get experience in a particular field, but then it’s another thing to go abroad and put it on a resumé,” Benner said.

For about two weeks in August, Pavwoski and 40 other students, led by Reza Nassiri, director of MSU’s Institute of International Health, spent two weeks studying poverty-related diseases in Egypt, Pavwoski said.

After taking an abroad program in London as an undergraduate to learn about health care systems, the hands-on experience in Egypt brought everything full circle — even the liver transplants and open body cavities.

“To see these things in real life — it’s so much better than reading them in the book,” Pavwoski said. “It really reinforced the information I was learning.”