Reimagining Study Abroad

CIEE’s priorities will continue to inform our decisions about how best to achieve our mission of bringing the world together. In response to the current global climate, we are reimagining the study abroad experience and rebuilding our program portfolio with a constant focus on:

• Safety – What are the protocols necessary to mitigate risk of COVID-19? How can we best assess risk to determine where we can safely run programs?
• Quality –How can we meet the needs of our institutional partners by providing programs that prioritize student safety while still providing a meaningful educational experience?
• Access & Advocacy – How can we create equitable access to study abroad? How can we ensure our onsite support is inclusive? How can we use our voice as an organization to support social justice?

To safeguard student health in the face of COVID-19, colleges and universities across the United States are pivoting to partial or total online learning, and are implementing safety protocols that radically alter the extracurricular and social opportunities within the college community. We anticipate that once parts of the world start to reopen, students longing for something different than a constrained version of their campus experience will seek out study abroad.

We intend to be ready for those students who want to enrich their academic program with an international education experience, including those who may not have originally planned to study abroad during their undergraduate career.

As CIEE adapts our programs and forges new paths to meet the needs of a changing world, we are grateful for feedback from our partners and participants.  We are eager to hear your ideas for how international education can and should evolve. If you have thoughts about the future of study abroad, please email us and/or attend the upcoming CIEE International Education and Exchange Summit (CIEES), an online event November 16-20.