NC State to Boost Study Abroad

NC State’s Office of International Affairs has joined a national effort to double the number of students who study abroad by the end of the decade. The Generation Study Abroad initiative, spearheaded by the Institute of International Education, or IIE, is also working to increase student diversity in study abroad programs.

NC State has committed to growing its study abroad program 50 percent by 2019.

To meet the goal, the university will raise $1 million in new endowment funds for study abroad scholarships, expand the effort to help student integrate global experiences into their degree programs, and strengthen discipline-specific global competencies.

NC State will also expand and enhance its transfer credit database to facilitate the approval of study abroad courses and create new systems through its travel authorization process to better track and support graduate students engaged in global research.

The Office of International Affairs and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity will work together to increase the number of minority students studying abroad by 50 percent.

As part of that effort, NC State will establish a new scholarship for underrepresented students, engage scholarship recipients in extensive peer outreach, and develop additional highly structured short-term study abroad programs for students who have limited or no prior international experience.

“There are few experiences that are as transformative to the development of a student as study abroad. A full immersion in another culture heightens our cultural sensitivities and opens our minds to the complexity of the world,” says Chancellor Randy Woodson. “And study abroad increases the competitiveness of our students as they seek employment upon graduation.”

NC State students can choose from more than 400 programs in 60 countries worldwide. The Study Abroad Office, with support from other campus units and donors, provided more than $220,000 in scholarships to study abroad students in 2013-14.

More than 1,000 NC State students study abroad each year.