George Fox University | Offices and Services | Student Life | International Programs

International Programs

GFU has two major types of international programs, each of which impact the cross-cultural attitudes and awareness of GFU students. These are considered separately:

Recruitment, Placement, and Retention of International Students

Issues:

• Create a supportive and welcoming environment for international students.
• Meet the diverse needs of international students. In the 2004-05 academic year, GFU has 42 undergraduates who are citizens of countries other than the U.S. Some of these are enrolled in the English Language Institute (ELI), some were previously enrolled in ELI and are now taking regular classes, and some came to GFU with adequate English fluency.
• The terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001 caused understandable fear among prospective international students and the subsequent tightening of immigration processes have compounded the problem. Programs in other universities like GFU's ELI have had difficulty maintaining enrollment, but our international student numbers have remained steady, mainly due to active sister-school agreements, for which we are grateful.

Recommendations:

• Undergraduate Recruiting (Exec. Director of Admissions): The admissions staff working in conjunction with the ELI staff will continue to recruit international students and facilitate the placement of these students in the ELI and regular undergraduate programs. Goals for international recruitment will be established and resources allocated accordingly. Along with this, it is important that the ELI staff and the Director of the Center for Global Studies regularly evaluate the partnership agreements with universities outside the US and place their primary emphasis on programs that result in substantial numbers of students enrolling in ELI and degree programs.
• Undergraduate Retention (Dir. of Internat'l Student Svcs.): Continue to determine and implement ways to help international and diverse American students more fully integrate with one another on the GF campus.
• Graduate Recruiting and Retention (Executive Director of Admissions/School Deans): The deans of GFU schools with graduate programs will evaluate the adequacy of their services for international students and report to the Provosts' Council. We believe a strong international presence at the graduate level would be as advantageous as it is at the undergraduate level, but recognize adequate services for this population will be needed if this population grows.

Programs That Send Students Into Other Cultures

Issues:

• For a number of years GFU has devoted considerable sums of money and time to facilitating the cross-cultural experiences of undergraduate students who were raised in the U.S. Our internal records confirm that by the time they graduate, the overwhelming majority of our students participate in one or more of these programs: juniors abroad, semesters off campus (international and US), and May/June serve trips.
• As GF students participate in these programs they learn a great deal about themselves and about other cultures. They in turn help create an understanding and welcoming climate for students who come to GFU from other cultures. Recommendations:

Recommendations:

• Global Engagement (Dir. of Ctr. for Global Studies): The International Program Committee will carefully study the recommendations in the "Strategy for Global Engagement" presented at GFU by Richard Slimbach from Azusa Pacific University.
  • In particular it would be desirable that a number of our programs incorporate aspects of the "cross-cultural immersion" level in Slimbach's model.
  • It would also be desirable to determine what level of cultural competence we hope and expect our students to achieve upon graduation. Reflective and/or journaling experiences should be encouraged.
• Cross-Cultural Experiences (Dir. of Ctr. for Global Studies): GFU will continue to devote resources and energy to providing a variety of high quality cross-cultural experiences.
• Serve Trips (Dir. of Outreach and Discipleship): Written reflection and journaling experiences should continue to be utilized and expanded to enhance competency and learning.