unity to connect with students through experiential learning in an international context.

As Education Abroad continues to offer traditional programming to students, it also seeks new ways to meet the needs of a diverse student body. Global Intensives allow students who are otherwise limited by finances, work commitments or family obligations to have an international academic experience. It also serves as a way for students to get their feet wet and hopefully consider a longer experience abroad in the future.

Although short in travel length, Global Intensives take advantage of the full semester of learning to introduce students to a new culture, visit the country of interest and debrief and understand the course material and the host country post-travel. These programs also leverage the benefits of a small-group experience that allows students and faculty to build strong connections.

For faculty, Global Intensives provide a way to enhance teaching, research and service and can augment global competence—which, in turn, can be passed on to students. They also deliver a fully-supported method to travel and conduct academic work abroad.

Global Intensives will be managed by Education Abroad, whose staff will work closely with faculty to plan the program logistics such as student recruitment, group flights and on-site support. The international travel component of the course will be 10 to 12 days in length and take place over spring break, after finals in May or over fall break.

This new course model helps ensure a broader range of students than ever before are able to take advantage of international opportunities and represent CU around the world. The university has already seen success on a smaller scale in the Leeds School of Business and in the Student Academic Success Center (SASC).

Through Leeds’ commitment to ensuring 100 percent of their students have an international experience before leaving CU, the school launched the First-Year Global Experiences (FGX) in 2014. Since then, over 800 Leeds students have gone abroad with CU faculty. SASC just completed the second year of their First-Year Writing and Rhetoric Global Intensive in the Dominican Republic with intentions of offering it annually.

Education Abroad will continue to pioneer ways for our students to push outwards, to expand their education through global connections and prepare for a career in a global society by offering high-quality, culturally-rich international opportunities.



 

Last Updated December 2017