Global Academic InitiativesThe 21st century is an exciting time, full of hope in the future that lies ahead of us. While we cannot predict what will happen in the future, we know that the nations and cultures of the world will become increasingly interconnected. Our students are the leaders that will shape that future and must understand the diversity and intrinsic value of all persons. Unfortunately, many students get most of their information about other cultures from news snippets, TV shows, and movies. Due to a variety of reasons fewer than 4% of all American college students participate in study abroad programs. Through its Global Academic Initiatives ECU, working with more than 40 partner institutions in more than 24 countries, provides live, interactive, diverse experiences to more than 1500 students around the world each year. We have chosen to use low cost, sustainable Internet based tools to create the virtual environment in which these experiences occur, effectively removing the barriers of access often encountered. Our Global Understanding course creates a vehicle for guided student discussions around the foundations of culture. Students can experience the diversity of global experiences in "regular" courses through global lectures and many other kinds of shared course activities. ECU has played a leadership role in the global academic initiatives. For more than a decade, Global Academic Initiatives has been building active partnerships to provide these unique experiences to students around the world. In 2007,the university partners formed the Global Partners in Education (http://www.thegpe.org) to share and disseminate information about successful activities. The Global Academic Initiatives Teamgpeinfo@ecu.edu |
