While most Higher Education Institutions have traditionally fostered study abroad programs in the Junior year of an undergraduate’s four year college experience, few Universities have ventured to offer first year students the opportunity to study abroad .
In an effort to instill High Impact Practices from the onset of the undergraduate’s University experience, my Institution began its “Global Passport Program” a little over a decade ago..The Program is committed to the validity of experiential education opportunities that offers students direct, sustained engagement with faculty and administrators, in a foreign classroom setting with their peers, with whom they form a bond initially in a local classroom setting.
Thus, early on in their tenure at our Institution, the intellectual and social development of the student cohort is enriched, while the ties to the Institution and its program are reinforced.
This presentation will share my experience piloting the Global Passport program for Italian language learning at my Institution over the course of the past decade, pointing out challenges and benefits to OTE Programs (Other than English) at the Higher Education level.
Keywords |
Study abroad, High impact practices |
References |
Bonet, Giselle and Walters, Barbara R. “High Impact Practices: Student Engagement and Retention”, 2016. … Looney, Dennis and Lusin, Natalia. “Enrollment In Languages Other than English in US Institutions of Higher Education”, 2018. |