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Our Goal What is the Objective? One of the barriers to Hispanic study abroad is home institution readiness.Many HACU institutions have not had the opportunity or the financial means to build large study abroad departments or take the institutional steps needed to promote study abroad to their students. We want to make it easier for even the smallest institution to be able to provide a robust study abroad offering to its students in terms of program offerings, internal processes and administrative systems. How Was This Developed? The management team at Global Learning Semesters has decades of experience in study abroad and international education. We have built major institutions serving international students and served in administrative roles at sophisticated study abroad offices. Currently, we are highly involved in setting the best practice standards in the study abroad field.Our staff has served on the Standards Committee of the Forum for Education Abroad and in lead Training roles for the NAFSA Academy. Internally, we have been implementing the upcoming best practice standards Over the Summer 2006, we conducted a small pilot study with HACU to understand the needs of HACU institutions as they relate to study abroad. Our conclusion was that there was a lot of enthusiasm and energy related to the topic but, in many cases, the institutions were hindered by a lack of resources, expertise or time to achieve their objectives. We have decided to take the expertise and technological tools that we have built in-house at Global Learning Semesters and make it available to HACU What are the Components of the Capacity Building Program? There are two main components to the capacity building:
Is This Capacity Building Effort Just for Global Learning Semesters Programs? Absolutely not!The training seminars are focused on best practices of general study abroad office administration, not Global Learning Semesters programs. The technological tools are designed to allow universities to use multiple providers of study abroad programs. We strongly believe in openness and choice for students when it comes to study abroad. Each programs and provider has a different approach and objective. No program or provider can be right for every student and not every student is right for every program. We anticipate that, by participating in this initiative, institutions will be able to give their students more, not fewer, choices. What Types of Institutions Can Benefit from the Capacity Building? We anticipate that different types of institutions will take advantage of the capacity building exercise in different ways.Larger universities with more sophisticated study abroad operations can use the training seminars for junior staff development and technological tools to enhance office productivity. Smaller institutions can use these same initiatives to create a well-functioning study abroad office using limited staff resources and minimal out of pocket costs. We view this as a collaborative exercise and hope that HACU institutions that have been successful in helping Hispanic students study abroad will use this initiative to share their best practices with other HACU members. How Much Will This Cost? There is no cost to this capacity building program. Both the training and technological tools are provided as a part of the Hispanic Global Alliance partnership.Staff who attend training seminars are responsible for their travel costs. |
