UD's study-abroad affairs serves as civic model

The University of Delaware's successful approach to supporting faculty led study-abroad programs is being highlighted as a best practice for the University Leadership Council of the Education Advisory Board. The ULC's members include senior academic leaders at more than 200 universities nationwide, including UD.The Advisory Board Company, the parent company of the Education Advisory Board, is a Washington, D.C.-based firm that provides research reports and best practice programs to executives in health care and higher education.

UD's one-stop shop approach is part of the ULC program Innovations in Supporting Faculty-led Internationalization Efforts,which has been offered as both a seminar and a Web conference to higher-education executives.At the University of Delaware, we provide tools and templates to faculty at each stage of the process, from planning a study-abroad program to post-program evaluation,” said Lesa Griffiths, director of the Institute for Global Studies (IGS). The IGS fosters the development of global studies at the University, including 80 study-abroad programs in 45 countries.We currently have a cadre of over 100 faculty members leading study-abroad programs, which is indicative of the faculty's commitment to global education,Griffiths noted.

Comprehensive administrative support is key to the process, Griffiths said. Once the one-stop shop approach was instituted at UD in 2001, the number of faculty-led study-abroad programs began climbing rapidly, and student participation more than doubled, increasing from 700 students in the 2001-2002 academic year to 1,700 students in 2007-2008.Today, 40 percent of UD students participate in a study-abroad program before they graduate, Griffiths said.The University of Delaware currently ranks third among all public and private doctorate research institutions in the United States in the number of undergraduates participating in short-term study-abroad programs, according to the Institute of International Education.Such programs, ranging from two to eight weeks long, serve the largest number of Americans studying abroad (56 percent).