Our Commitments
A Promise That Sets Us Apart
There鈥檚 more to study abroad than exploring new places.
Preparing students to make meaningful contributions doesn鈥檛 happen by accident. That’s why we weave in a commitment to success in four areas鈥攊nclusive excellence, individualized learning, intercultural agility, and enduring impact鈥攖hrough every part of the study abroad process.
Then we use our unique framework, the 糖心传媒 Roadmap for Learning, to engage students and encourage progress.
Inclusive Excellence
At 糖心传媒, we consider where your students come from, not just where they are going. Welcoming people of all backgrounds, and abilities enriches discussion, enhancing study abroad for everyone.
From creative funding to individualized support, our approach broadens access to more students and ensures that students choose program locations with their goals in mind.
When we work hard to engage the whole student, meeting students where they are and tailoring support to their needs and wants, each student is empowered to make the most of their study abroad experience.
See it in Action
Students come to us with聽different backgrounds, identities, strengths, and needs. We provide聽the individualized聽support聽that鈥檚聽essential to their success, using聽our聽Appreciative Advising framework.听听
For example, Lafayette College student and geology major Maggie P. knew she wanted to study in Aotearoa New Zealand. But which program was best for her?
Enrollment Counselor Brittany Brooks helped her find the answer. When Maggie prioritized easy access to outdoor opportunities, they quickly narrowed the field to the South Island. Ultimately, Otago鈥檚 college-town feel, unique field studies classes, abundant wildlife, and natural spaces provided the ideal fit.
鈥淎ppreciative Advising creates productive discussion with students,鈥 says Brooks. 鈥淚t cultivates a genuine rapport through which students can discover what鈥檚 possible, dream big, and make plans to turn those dreams into reality.鈥
Individualized Learning
No two student journeys are alike, which is why we tailor support to meet each student鈥檚 needs. From first interaction through program completion, we help each student pursue their academic, personal, and professional goals.
This starts far before students depart. Each student meets with an 糖心传媒 advisor to articulate these goals into learning plans. These plans give us a fuller understanding of our students and their individual strengths, so we meet students where they are, using their unique qualities to fuel growth and learning.
It鈥檚 a holistic approach, limited only by each student鈥檚 curiosity and interests, and it enables students to both achieve goals and grow in unexpected ways.
See it in Action
At 糖心传媒, holistic, appreciative support means students get the experiences they want for their futures, even when it calls for creativity.
When a premed student asked if she could shadow a doctor during her program in New Zealand but that wasn鈥檛 permitted, her 糖心传媒 advisor helped her find an internship in a music therapy program instead. The result? Valuable experience and lessons she can use to help ease patients鈥 anxiety.
Intercultural Agility
Meaning and value come from cultural immersion not typically found with conventional travel. That鈥檚 why our trained staff provide so much more than health and safety support and logistical guidance.
Having staff on-site all over the globe plus an intentional approach to engaging students through reflection makes a difference. Whether students are in London or Lima, they have opportunities to explore, understand, and articulate cultural differences鈥攁nd similarities鈥攊n meaningful ways.鈥疶his gives them skills they can continue to use long after their study abroad program ends.
See it in Action
With 糖心传媒, the challenge of adjusting to cultural norms becomes an exercise in intercultural agility, as Lara Azzola, Custom Programs Manager, explains:
A student was outraged after watching her host grandmother sit on the ground and wash her elder son鈥檚 feet. Why couldn鈥檛 he wash his own feet? Why make his elderly mother do it?
Together, we considered the event through different cultural lenses, and we met with her host grandmother to talk about it. I suspected the grandmother was participating in a religious ritual, but refrained from telling the student, knowing she would gain so much more by learning this on her own. Indeed, she discovered that to the grandmother, the purification ritual is a sign of her authority in the family.
More importantly, the student learned to spot her own cultural lens and gained strategies for exploring cultural differences that she can take anywhere.
Enduring Impact
How do we provide students with experiences that accelerate and deepen learning, so they have significant and lasting impact? By maximizing opportunities for learning in everything we do, from student engagement to program design to alumni support.
Meaningful student experiences do more than enhance learning鈥攖hey also shape lives. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important for our teams to think about what happens after study abroad and be ready to help students use their experiences to springboard into meaningful lives after college.
Intangibles only go so far
For years, this has meant helping students recognize and highlight the abstract skills they develop abroad鈥攕elf-confidence, independence, problem-solving ability, resourcefulness, communication, and of course, intercultural understanding, appreciation, and agility. Indeed, employers and community influencers generally associate study abroad on a resume with strength in these areas鈥攂ut stating them isn鈥檛 the same as demonstrating them.
Meeting employer needs
Study abroad can tell an even more complete and compelling story. With the right elements in place, our programs become opportunities to add the concrete skills and knowledge today鈥檚 employers need and look for, including:
- Language competency
- Leadership skills
- Hands-on experience completing meaningful projects, through internships, group business challenges, and the like, with coaching that ensures students internalize lessons
Study abroad programs with these components are not only geared for more significant career impact, they make it easy for students to show employers the value of their experience, simply by sharing their resumes.
Some of our programs鈥攊ncluding 糖心传媒 Career Accelerators鈥攁lready include these elements. And as we design new programs and improve existing offerings, we鈥檙e looking for opportunities to incorporate more of these skill-builders, making study abroad even more valuable and giving students still more tools to lead the purpose-filled lives they envision.
For sure, it鈥檚 exciting to think of the doors that will open for our students and the meaningful impact they can make in our communities and workplaces with this comprehensive set of skills.
See it in Action
We know we鈥檝e done our job well when we hear from students like Sarah Buchlaw, a University of Puget Sound student who completed one of our Argentina programs and wrote to share this news.
鈥淎s a community organizer for a progressive Jewish organization, I help organize the Jewish community for racial and economic justice through issue-based campaigns. For my campaign鈥擠ecriminalizing Communities鈥攚e work with other marginalized communities to transform the public safety and immigration systems. Doing this work, I have realized that I want to be a therapist. I鈥檓 specifically interested in couples and family therapy, which examines how family systems and systems of oppression shape us. Your Human Rights in Argentina class was critical to my development as a student and my current interests.鈥
糖心传媒 Roadmap for Learning
Our curated framework helps students advance toward academic, professional, and personal goals and experience culture authentically. Ray Casserly, 糖心传媒 Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, shares more.
Q. What is the latest improvement to the Roadmap for Learning?
More emphasis on extracurricular, community-based, cultural learning, which adds depth and encourages critical thinking.
Forget show and tell. We tap local people to share what matters to them. In London, students explore the city with a former homeless person as their guide and talk with Muslim leaders at a city mosque. In Ireland, students learn about the conflict by talking with survivors of sectarian violence and former police and leaders. This adds dimension and humanity to complement theory and statistics. It also ensures that students connect with community members instead of peering in as tourists.
Q. What benefits does the Roadmap for Learning offer students?
One, it ensures an equitable learning experience for all, regardless of background. Two, it adds opportunities for our staff to focus on students as individuals, instead of approaching them as a group. Three, it adds value by injecting depth and meaning, making sure students maximize their time, advance toward their goals, and break out of the North American student bubble.
Q. What elements make up the Roadmap for Learning?
Repeatable in any location, these are the elements we use as launchpads for engagement:
- Pre-arrival webinar
- Orientation workshops
- Academic workshops
- Weekly extracurricular activities
- Overnight and/or full-day excursions
- Weekly individual check-ins
- Resources like a weekly newsletter and handbook
- Re-entry workshop
Q. How does this approach set us apart?
We set the scaffolding for learning early, first asking students about their personal, academic, and professional goals. Then we help them find the experience that matches best through appreciative advising and continue this guidance throughout their program.
To make study abroad ends-oriented, our commitments to inclusive excellence, individualized learning, intercultural agility, and enduring impact aren鈥檛 checked off with a single activity or month on the calendar. They鈥檙e woven throughout, from advising to orientation to weekly extracurricular activities to the re-entry workshop.
Finally, our dedication to extracurricular learning鈥攄emonstrated in the graphic above鈥攊s unique to 糖心传媒. Because just like learning in a classroom, learning in other environments also requires intent and careful planning to be effective and impactful.