I was invited at the beginning of May to participate in a delegation of Northern Virginia Community College administrators traveling to Morocco at the behest of the Moroccan Government. Our two governments are on very friendly terms, having signed a free trade agreement in 2004. Morocco is characterized as a constitutional Monarchy. As a result of this goodwill between the US and Morocco, our systems of higher education are collaborating on improving our systems of higher ed as well as workforce development. As NOVA is an elite provider of both, various Moroccan ministries had over time expressed a keen interest in many levels of mutual cooperation and benefit.
I boarded an Air France flight on Monday, June 1 with a Campus Provost, the Vice -President for Global Affairs, two division deans, the Project Director for International Student Initiatives, and a Special Assistant to the College President on Career and Technical Education. The flight was to leave for Paris at 6:45pm where we would catch another Air France flight to Rabat, Morocco, the seat of Moroccan Government. We were delayed for a couple of hours on the tarmac, for me bringing back memories of a 6 hour wait at Dulles, in the snow, on the way to visit my colleagues at SVRIA in Saratov, Russia, this past February. I knew a couple of my NOVA colleagues fairly well. We sat in proximity to each other in Economy Plus----graciously paid for by the college as 3 of us are well over 6 feet tall. (I am the shortest of the 3!) This marks the first time I have ever flown in anything other than economy class and I have done some traveling in my life. I was the only full time faculty member in the delegation, having been invited to possibly utilize business and entrepreneurial strategies to assist the group. As you will read in later posts, we get along well together, giving me a (for me) rare positive perspective on college administrators---who usually tend to stoke my critical nature. These colleagues are highly intelligent, collaborative, friendly, humble, and most importantly willing to listen to me, despite my crabby disposition at times. I believe I've made some real friends on this trip and that is for me in a sense, sacred. We also, over the next few days, begin to make some extraordinary progress in terms of understanding what we each do....as well as to strengthen intra-campus cooperation. All of us have different agendas, but share our thoughts freely and without rancor. Perhaps it is the commonality of "close quarters", but I find myself refreshed at the camaraderie and production of new ideas. These relationships, forged by our mutual goals, can only add immense value for our students who are entering a global economy that places a high premium on cultural literacy.
