Help students see the world on campus

WHAT:

The Study Abroad Office is in the process of scheduling events for International Education Week 2017. If your department would like to sponsor an event for IE Week, please contact the Study Abroad Office no later than Friday, Sept. 1, for inclusion on the official IE Week poster and other promotional materials.

WHEN:

IE Week 2017 will take place from Wednesday, Nov. 1, to Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017.

WHY:

Held every year, International Education Week lets students celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. – Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, IE Week is part of Augusta University’s ongoing efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the United States.

A valuable learning experience, IE Week can be so much more for students.

According to the Institute of International Education, the United States attracts more international study abroad students than any other country (Nearly 700,000 in 2009). Conversely, according to State Department statistics from 2015, there are only 125 million valid American passports in circulation.

That figure, while impressive at first glance, means that roughly two-thirds of Americans cannot currently, and may never choose to leave the U.S. While the U.S. continues to be a destination for international students and academics, American students (and faculty) cannot afford to be “homebodies” if they want to be competitive in world markets.

For many, the first step to a more global perspective could be participation in or attendance at your department’s sponsored event.

Contact Maria Darley at 706-729-2306 or mdarley@augusta.edu for more information.