Welcome to the New International Journal Welcome to the New International Journal 1 Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Posamentier, Alfred S. (2014). Welcome to the new international journal. Global Education Review, 1 (1). 1-2. Welcome to the New International Journal Alfred S. Posamentier Mercy College, New York With the rapid increase of global communication, cultural differences around the world provide a variety of solutions to common problems. Through an exchange of a wide range of international ideas – which can evolve from cultural, political, and linguistic differences – we can better address issues of mutual concern. With my involvement in countries such as England, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, and Argentina, I became radically aware of how important it is to address analogous educational issues internationally over the past several decades. Substantive discussions with key educational decision makers in these countries have provided many new keen insights into local issues – demonstrating the power of international dialogue in approaching educational challenges. As a Fulbright professor at the University of Vienna a few decades ago, I had the opportunity to meet educational leaders and exchange ideas with them, some of which have led to some interesting programs locally. For example, a New York City science and mathematics teacher shortage that existed from 1998 until 2008 was somewhat abated by bringing about 600 Austrian teachers to teach in the New York City public school system. Virtual Enterprises, a now national program exhibiting entrepreneurship concepts to high school students, got its start when the New York City high school superintendents visited Vienna and observed a program called “Practice Firms,” and had it replicated in New York City. The program has since been extended to hundreds of high schools nationwide. This is just a smidgen of evidence that international cooperation can mutually embellish our educational systems, since in each case countries involved benefited greatly. The question then arises, how can international cooperation be encouraged at the higher education level? Having had the good fortune of establishing an quarterly education journal, The New Educator, at the City College of the City University of New York, it became apparent that an international journal would be a fine way of linking academics with similar interests, yet from different countries, and with a variety of cultural and political backgrounds. As English has become the lingua franca of the world, it is a lot easier to communicate across borders. Despite the common language, there are clear differences in definitions of educational issues. For example, bilingual instruction has different meanings in various countries; inclusion can be interpreted in different ways; and methodology, pedagogy, and didactics are defined variably by country. Every field of education can benefit from international 2 Global Education Review 1(1) exchange. This is why we are launching the online journal Global Education Review. Each issue of this quarterly journal will be defined by a special topic of general interest to educators. For every article we encourage joint authorship by academics from various countries so that not only is the theme of the article presented, but it will be discussed in a broad fashion taking into account cultural, political and linguistic differences. As with any academic initiative, success depends on the genuine involvement and motivation of the individuals involved in the project. To launch such an ambitious endeavor as creating a new international online journal requires the complete commitment by the faculty of the host institution. Therefore, after floating the idea to a number of faculty members, Dr. Melvin Wermuth’s enthusiastic reaction and fine leadership – encouraged further by several colleagues – this online journal began on its path to publication. When the idea was brought to the entire faculty at the Mercy College School of Education, the unanimous endorsement allowed the project to move forward expeditiously. Now, after two years in preparation, the online journal, Global Education Review, is being launched with this first volume. It is our hope that readers will not only find the contents interesting but also useful, since all topics will be covered from a multinational viewpoint – adding a global perspective to the myriad of educational issues the journal intends to cover during the next few years. A wonderful international Advisory Board has been established to help shepherd future volumes along, so that a broad outlook of topics of international interest will be presented. Aside from providing exciting new perspectives to uncommon educational challenges, the journal encourages academics from around the world to co-author articles for future publication in the Global Education Review. One should not lose sight over some really interesting byproducts that can evolve from this journal. New international cooperations between and among academics around the world can not only lead to a myriad of unanticipated research projects, but could also result in some creative new grant applications, which could generate interesting educational findings, leading to innovative educational projects. In short, we hope that this journal will open up an international door to academics around the world, so that we can improve education for youngsters everywhere. We at the Mercy College School of Education are therefore delighted to welcome you, not only to the inaugural issue of Global Education Review, but also to future issues, which we hope will bring the world closer educationally. About the Author Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D., is Dean of the School of Education and professor of mathematics education at Mercy College, New York. He has authored or co-authored over 55 books.