With 70% of Americans lacking a passport and less than 1% of American college students studying abroad each year, some of your students may never have thought about getting a passport and studying abroad.
Too many students are failing to acquire the understanding of foreign cultures and languages, cross-cultural communication skills and leadership qualities that result from studying abroad. By encouraging students to see that a passport is a document as necessary as a college ID, campuses can help students to become globally competent professionals, with the skills they will need to succeed in the international marketplace.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) launched the Get a Passport: Study Abroad campaign in February 2009 to encourage all college and university students to get a passport and to use their passports to study abroad.
In cooperation with a group of lead Partner Campuses, IIE offers a variety of materials and other study abroad resources to help colleges and universities promote Get a Passport: Study Abroad on their campuses.
IIE is partnering with colleges and universities who are leaders in study abroad to promote Get a Passport: Study Abroad and highlight campaign activities on their campuses. By joining IIE's Get a Passport: Study Abroad campaign, your campus is making a statement: you recognize the life-changing value of study abroad for your students and you want to help them make it happen.
There are three commitments in joining the campaign:
When you join the Get a Passport: Study Abroad campaign, IIE will add you to our website's list of Partner Campuses, and highlight your campaign activities in our newsletter, magazine and on our website. Outstanding initiatives will be recognized at IIE's 5th annual Best Practices Conference in 2010.
For more information on becoming a Partner Campus please email getapassport@iie.org.
