Thank you for the informative presentation on facing challenges and opportunities for international education at community colleges. Some key points discussed included different models of institutional investment, access issues for non-traditional students, strategies for meeting student needs through customized programs and funding, and resources available through partner organizations.

1. Facing the Education
Abroad Challenges of
Community Colleges
Susan M. Atkins, Institutional Relations Manager, CAPA International Education
Steve Jacques, Coordinator, Office of International Programs, Leeward Community
College
Jane Thiele, Outreach Manager, Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

2. Agenda
 Panel Introductions
 ‘Models’ of Institutional Investment
 Access issues
 Meeting the needs of students and institutions
 Funding
 Resources
 Activity

3. Institutional Investment in
International Education
 Grass Roots Approach
 Working with the students in an atmosphere of
vague/non-existent administrative commitment
 Institutional Leadership Approach
 Working in a fully-committed ‘Internationalized’
Environment
 ‘Gang’ Approach
 Working with your like-minded colleagues on campus

4. At community colleges,
it’s all about access
 Non-stereotypic demographic
 Older
 Married/committed (possibly children)
 Lower socio-economic status
 First generation college student
 Fully or partially Employed

5. It’s all about access
 Lack of awareness/understanding of EA
opportunities OR belief that ‘study abroad is
NOT for people like me.’
 Small/understaffed Study Abroad offices
 Duration of program concerns
 FUNDING!

6. How can we try to meet
these needs?
 Understanding your student
 In depth initial interview (possibly involving
family members)
 Provide info about many different programs
especially those that have experience with non-
trad students
 Help students think ‘outside-of-the-box’, i.e. how
spouses/children can participate (either by
accompanying or not); how employers can be
approached – perhaps even by you

7. How can we try to meet
these needs?
 Understanding your student
 Have ‘basic’ study abroad info available in other
languages for parents who may not be English
speakers (or utilize international students on
your campus to assist in other languages)
 Connecting this experience with career and
academic goals – transfer to a 4-year college,
etc…. How to get from point A to B

8. How can we try to meet
these needs?
 Promote awareness of EA opportunities as often as
possible
 On campus presence (tabling, flyers, class visits)
 Social media presence
 Use pics of your non-trad students in promotion
materials so they see other people like them
 Try to be part of campus new student
orientations/HS visits to campus
 Committees – get on strategic planning
committees, diversity committees, etc…

9. How can we try to meet
these needs?
 Find ‘like-minded’ colleagues on campus to do the
promoting for you to ‘increase your manpower’
 Faculty (language profs, global studies profs,
comp religion profs, etc)
 Financial aid officers
 Academic & Career counselors
 Student life/government staff

10. Partnering with International
Education Organizations
 Partner to diversify program offerings
(customized/specialized, hybrid programs,
semester/quarter programs, etc.)
 Provide streams of financial support (scholarships,
etc.)
 Assist with supporting curriculum integration and
discussing international education on campus with
various constituents
 Provide avenues of professional development
(conferences, site visits, speaker series, etc.)
 Support grass root activities

11. How can we try to meet
these needs?
 Duration of programs / Models that meet particular
needs of CC’s
 Quarter Programs
 Programs that focus on certain majors /disciplines –
specialized/custom programs
 Programs with Internships – practical skills
 Hybrid programs with a faculty – match dates of
program & sustainable financially
 Community College Consortia Models

12. Funding Issues
 Funding for Institutions (such as Fund for
Improvement of Public School Education – FIPSE)
 Scholarships for Students
 Affiliation Agreements
 Program provider scholarships
 Local Scholarships (Honda in HI)
 Grants (Japan Foundation, etc.)
 Diversity Abroad scholarships - diversitynetwork.org
 Federally-funded scholarships (i.e., Gilman – iie.org/gilman)

13. Diversifying Study Abroad
Sponsor: Administrator:
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs

14. Gilman Community
College Statistics

15. Gilman Program Overview
Study of critical need languages make students eligible to receive an
additional $3,000 supplement for a total possible award of up to $8,000.
Critical Need Languages include:
• Arabic All dialects
• Chinese All dialects
• Bahasa Indonesia
• Japanese
• Korean
• Russian
• Swahili
• Persian Farsi, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki
• Turkic Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek
• Indic Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati,
Sindhi

16. Gilman Award Statistics:
Regions of Destination
Region Applicants Recipients
Africa 413 198
Asia 1,587 722
Eastern Europe 253 91
Latin America 1,124 382
Middle East/N. Africa 247 133
North America 28 3
Oceania 361 65
Western Europe 4,420 736
Total 8,433 2,330
*For the 2011-2012 Academic Year

17. Selection Process
Selection panelists are advisors and
representatives in academia nationwide.
The following factors are considered when reviewing
applications:
 Non-traditional country of study
 Diversity of student
 Study of “Critical Need Language”
 Longer length of study
 Type & diversity of institution
 Potential for impact on the student
 Academic progress & performance

18. Underrepresented Students
Encourage students to apply who are currently underrepresented in U.S. education abroad.
 Ethnic minorities
 Students who attend minority-serving institutions
 Students who attend community colleges
 First-generation college students
 Students with disabilities
 Underrepresented academic majors
 Students who chose to study abroad for an academic year
Gilman Recipients National Study Abroad^ 79%
80%
70%
60%
50%
39%
40%
30% 17%
20% 14% 14%
8%
4% 6% 7%
10% 1% 1% 2%
0%
Black/Non-Hispanic Native American Asian or Pacific Hispanic White/Non-Hispanic Multi Racial/Other
Islander

19. What makes an application competitive?
• Meet many of the selection criteria
factors.
• Address why the study abroad location is
critical to goals.
• Well-written, thoughtful and proofread
essays that address all questions, as well as
impact.
• Well-developed, creative, and achievable
follow-on project.

20. Pitfalls to Avoid
• Not selecting a program that meets Gilman
eligibility criteria.
• Not addressing why the study abroad location
is critical to goals.
• Not addressing all the questions asked in the
essay sections, especially the impact on the
student.
• Producing a generic Follow-on Service Project
that does not demonstrate careful planning
and a reasonable timeline.
• Not having essays proof-read by an advisor for
spelling and grammatical errors.

21. Resources for community
colleges
 Ways to internationalize faculty & staff
 Site Visits to programs
 Attending conferences
 Rotary GSE
 Fulbright opportunities
 Get involved in leadership – NAFSA & FORUM
 IIE White Paper Series: Expanding Education
Abroad at U.S. Community Colleges (Rosalind
Raby, 2008)

22. Wrap up
 Activity for the group
 Come up with two action steps on your campus
 Discuss with the members of your table about these
action steps
 Come back together and gather 1-2 from each table (time
permitting)