"International and intercultural education and exchange are critical to fulfilling Georgetown’s mission. Upholding the Jesuit philosophy of education and service, Georgetown prides itself on a strong commitment to fostering intercultural dialogue and understanding through promotion and support of international education opportunities for students and scholars. The campus community is enriched both by the number of international students who choose to study at Georgetown and by the experiences gained by those who study abroad."
-- Katherine Bellows, Director of International Programs
Cultural immersion and a rigorous educational experience abroad are an integral part of the Georgetown tradition of liberal education.
Georgetown University takes great pride in its international character and is recognized as a national leader in international learning, providing overseas study opportunities for its students and hosting international students on campus.
The Office of International Programs at Georgetown University fosters the international character of the University by promoting, supporting and developing a wide range of international and intercultural opportunities for members of the Georgetown community. Through study abroad and internationally focused study, students can increase their awareness of the global community, learn about another country's culture and history and broaden their language and communication skills.
Study Abroad
Since 1972, Georgetown University has created an expanding network of over 95 semester and academic year programs and 21 short-term summer programs in cooperation with partner institutions around the world. During the 2005-2006 academic year and summer more than 900 undergraduate students attended GU approved programs. Approximately 50 percent of Georgetown University students decide to participate in academic programs overseas. Students who study overseas return with valuable new perspectives on the world. Graduating seniors consistently list these experiences as one of the five top areas of satisfaction with their Georgetown education.
Georgetown cooperates with partner institutions all over the world to provide academic year and semester programs in over 40 countries including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Morocco, France, Spain, Italy, India, Germany, Poland, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Hungary, Ecuador, Russia, Vietnam, Chile, China, Australia, Senegal, Brazil and Turkey. These programs are developed and evaluated in collaboration with the wider Georgetown community to ensure that they are academically rigorous, linguistically appropriate, and complementary to the Georgetown curriculum. In keeping with the Jesuit philosophy of education, these overseas studies opportunities serve to invite participants to reflect on the values that form their own identities, and to encourage them to assume their roles as responsible world citizens.
Welcoming International Scholars
International students, researchers, and faculty are an extremely important part of the Georgetown community. During the 2005-2006 academic year, over 2,200 individuals from more than 120 foreign countries came to study, conduct research, and teach at Georgetown. International students make up approximately 12 percent of the Georgetown student body, and include over 300 undergraduates and over 900 graduate students. The Office of International Programs provides a variety of support services to international students, researchers, and faculty at Georgetown, including cultural and educational programming, immigration advising and personal counseling.
International Initiatives
The Office of the Provost created the International Initiatives Program in July 2000 to enhance Georgetown University's international signature by promoting, sustaining, and creating faculty development opportunities within a global and international context. Specific activities of the program include establishing links with peer institutions abroad, and encouraging and facilitating collaborative teaching and research initiatives between Georgetown faculty and colleagues at institutions around the world. Funds were awarded to five projects for 2005-2006, supporting international collaboration and travel by the following faculty members in a variety of disciplines:
- Gabor Agoston, associate professor in the Department of History, to study Ottoman-Habsburg imperial rivalry and its outcome in Budapest, Hungary;
- Timothy Beach, associate professor in the program in Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA), to study evidence of early human habitation in the Actun Halal cave in western Belize;
- John Mayo, professor in the McDonough School of Business, to continue a collaboration with colleagues at the University of Basel in Switzerland for a project on the role of corruption in economic systems;
- Makarand Paranjape, assistant professor in the Physics Department, for an ongoing collaboration in Trento, Italy on the development of a microchip for external use by males to evaluate, measure and record flow rates during bladder voiding;
- LeRoy Walters, professor in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, to continue his research in Berlin on what was known about the Nazi "euthanasia" program by early July 1940.
Georgetown’s program supported a 2004 conference in Florence, Italy, on the United States’ role in the world, and has facilitated short-term faculty exchanges at the University of Florence, University of Jordan and Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. The International Initiatives Program is complemented by opportunities for program development and teaching in Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere.
Safety
Georgetown's Office of International Programs makes every effort to familiarize students with information important for their safety in an unfamiliar environment. This includes providing information regarding the host country and culture through comprehensive orientations, written materials, and individual student advising.
