CIEE Selects Four Colleges to Each Receive $1 Million Grant To Lead Change in Study Abroad

Arizona State University, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Northeastern University, and UC San Diego to launch bold study abroad programs to improve student outcomes

CIEE has selected four nationally recognized institutions of higher education to receive $1 million over four years to establish new study abroad programs that will advance institutional goals while improving student outcomes. Each of the four winners pledged to match CIEE’s $1 million grant resulting in a total of $8 million in funding over four years for students to study abroad in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Announced in November 2023 at the 76th Annual CIEE Study Abroad conference in Paris, CIEE’s Pledge to Lead Change in Study Abroad seeks to show how a well-designed international exchange program can improve college enrollments, student retention rates, student graduation rates, and perhaps most importantly, enhance student employability and economic mobility. 

From a pool of 21 outstanding proposals from institutions across the United States, four innovative study abroad programs were selected:

• Arizona State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will enhance its 10-year investment in early-start student success programming to launch the ASU Early Start Global Accelerator program for high-risk, first-year students to improve student retention and graduation rates;
• The Borough of Manhattan Community College will establish the BMCC Global Scholars Program for Pell-eligible, diverse, and first-generation students to improve a variety of student success measures including student retention and graduation rates and employability outcome measures;
• Northeastern University will launch an innovative suite of two-week summer courses on public health in Botswana and Ghana for underrepresented students as part of their broader university-wide commitment to investing in Africa and global health; and
• UC San Diego will debut a Global Internship program for Pell-eligible students, prioritizing underserved populations, that will foster an ecosystem of access and entrepreneurship opportunities to increase study abroad rates, reduce time-to-degree, and positively impact student employability and economic mobility.

Each recipient of CIEE’s Leading Change in Study Abroad Challenge will receive a grant of $1 million over four years from CIEE and provide $1 million in matching funds from a donor or institutional funds, resulting in a pool of $500,000 each year to implement these bold programs.

The four colleges chosen will launch national models of international education programs by showing how study abroad programs can:

• Advance Both Institutional and Student Success Goals – including advancing their enrollment strategy, improving student retention, increasing graduation rates, and providing students with skills and competencies that enhance their career aspirations;
• Expand Access to Students From all Backgrounds and Academic Majors – including Pell-eligible, first-generation, men, scientists, engineers, and other non-traditional student groups; and
• Improve Our World Through Impactful Student Engagement Abroad - including programs that enhance student success while helping to serve the broader needs of our global community like climate change, public health, and refugees.

“All 21 proposals were ambitious and truly impressive. They included first-year programs for quarter and semester schools, programs targeting first-generation and Pell-eligible students, programs designed to open doors for engineers and women in science, and programs that focused on experiential learning, including internships and global service,” said James P. Pellow, Ed.D., President and CEO of CIEE. “The four initiatives chosen were strongly supported by senior university leaders, and they were bold, well-designed, and deemed most likely to enhance institutional and student success measures. We look forward to working with these four globally-minded and student-centered organizations over the next four years to help them lead change in study abroad at their institutions and serve as role models for the field of higher education.”

Media contact: Leslie Taylor, media@ciee