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Goal 3: Prepare Whitworth students to be global citizens
OBJECTIVE
Expand opportunities for students to experience and explore cultures throughout the world, leading to an increase in the percentage of undergraduates who study abroad from 43 percent to 70 percent. |
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
– St. Augustine
The 2011-12 academic year at Whitworth saw the launch of two semester-abroad study programs – Whitworth in China and the Tanzania Study Program. During fall semester, Associate Professor of History Anthony E. Clark, a specialist on East Asia, took a group of students to China to study Chinese language at Beijing's Minzu University and to travel throughout the country, continuing their studies among the Chinese people. In an interview before the trip, Clark said that students "will be exposed to seldom-seen life in Chinese villages, such as those in the Shanxi province. They will also travel to Chinese pilgrimage sites rarely visited by Western tourists, such as Wutai Mountain and Pingyao ancient village. Everyone who goes on the Whitworth in China trip will return with a new perspective. Living in China has a way of re-orienting a person's worldview."
Professor of Political Science John C. Yoder, who has lived abroad a number of times and is a champion of living in other cultures, took a group of students to Tanzania during spring semester for a three-month experience amid Christian and Muslim cultures in Africa. The group began in Arusha, then spent a month in Zanzibar, on the Indian Ocean. They finished their Tanzanian travels in Dar-es-Salaam, the country's largest city. Students lived in homestays throughout most of the trip; they learned Swahili in Arusha and Zanzibar and were involved in study, internships, travel, and even a photographic safari in Ngorongoro and Serengeti. Such experiences, according to Yoder, "give students a learning experience that cannot be matched by classes on campus or within a single Jan Term. By living with Tanzanian families, teaching in local schools, attending church services, studying Swahili in Zanzibar, and spending a weekend in a Maasai village, our students gained a deep understanding of African culture…. Living with and being taught by Tanzanians stretched students' awareness and understanding of very different cultures, religions, economic systems, and worldviews."
45.2%
Expand undergraduate participation in study-abroad programs.
Goal: 70.0% – into Top 10 Master's-Level Universities
Baseline: 43.0%
Current Performance & Goal (2011-12 graduates)
To review additional KPIs related to Goal 3, click here.
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