Globalization of School Psychology Training: A Collaborative International Model

Abstract

The changing world in which we now live demands that school psychology alter its training curriculum assumptions, content, and methods to prepare practitioners for meeting the challenges of life in a global community. The University of Nebraska at Kearney’s (UNK) Department of Counseling and School Psychology has brought an international perspective to its students through the International Collaborative Research Initiative (ICR). This article will describe how a simple Memorandum of Agreement between UNK and international counterparts has evolved some 10 years later into a comprehensive program with international collaborative teaching, scholarship, and service. Accomplishments achieved due to the ICR will be discussed at the student, faculty, program and university levels. The creation of the ICR has led to a compilation of endeavors that has served collectively to “bring the world to UNK” in a very cost effective and sustainable manner.