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Auburn University is Alabama’s largest public higher education institution. The land-grant university enrolls more than 33,000 students, 26,000 of whom are undergraduates. Auburn's strategic location and proximity to international companies has facilitated the development of partnerships that create opportunities for research and global learning. The university also has robust education opportunities outside of the United States—with more than 20 percent of its undergraduate students studying abroad—and currently hosts around 2,000 international students.

Auburn University's journey toward comprehensive internationalization began in 2009 with the creation of a faculty committee that recommended establishing a senior international officer position. The assistant provost for international programs role was created in 2010 to lead the Office of International Programs (OIP), which was founded after a reorganization.

Auburn furthered these efforts in 2018 by starting participation in the American Council on Education's Internationalization Lab, a two-year process that resulted in the university's first strategic internationalization plan. This document reflects input from 30 leaders spanning administration, faculty, and student services and aims to infuse global opportunities into all aspects of the Auburn experience, including transformative research, impactful service, exceptional and engaged faculty and staff, strategic enrollment, and operational excellence.

Provost Vini Nathan says that experiential education is at the core of what Auburn does. “That's what global education is really about—letting students have the experience of learning in a context that is relevant to the curriculum that they're engaged with,” says Nathan, who was an international student from India.

The OIP spearheads the university’s internationalization efforts, overseeing study abroad, international student and scholar services, internationalization-at-home initiatives, and global partnerships. The office fosters campuswide collaboration by convening the International Advisory Committee, which has representatives from each academic college. Half of Auburn’s 13 colleges have also created positions for full-time internationalization professionals, who serve on the advisory committee and act as a bridge between the OIP and the deans and faculties of their respective colleges. The OIP also convenes the International Student Advisory Group, which brings together leaders of international student organizations and campus stakeholders to address student needs.

Facilitating Global Learning for All

In addition to these broader strategic internationalization efforts, Auburn has focused on specific aspects of internationalization, such as programs to put international experiences within reach of all Auburn students, regardless of their financial ability to travel internationally.

The Global Teaching Academy, established in 2014, recognizes and promotes excellence in internationalized teaching. To date, more than 40 faculty members have been inducted into the academy, representing a wide range of disciplines, from engineering to the humanities. These faculty have worked to integrate global perspectives into their courses, impacting thousands of students.

Launched in 2023, the Global Medallion microcredential helps students develop global competencies through a personalized study plan. Participants take introductory and capstone courses, complete either a study abroad or domestic intercultural experience, and are evaluated using the Cultural Intelligence Assessment. Exit surveys have indicated that Medallion students choose to participate in the program to demonstrate global skills to future employers. Participants are inducted into the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars, with their membership paid for one year through course fees, giving them an international network of peers with whom they can connect while building their career paths.

Andrew Gillespie, assistant provost for international programs, says that Auburn is anticipating growth in Global Medallion participation as it starts to market the program to incoming first-year students when they arrive on campus for orientation.

Expanding Access to Education Abroad

While Auburn has invested in efforts to reach students who are not able to travel internationally, it is also focusing on increasing the number of education abroad opportunities and participants.

About 20 percent of Auburn undergraduate students engage in an education abroad experience before graduation, with 1,500 doing so in 2023. The university has set the goal of reaching 50 percent participation by 2035. To achieve this goal and increase access, Auburn launched a new funding model in 2023 that enables departments to propose programs that subsidize study abroad for students with financial need. In its first year, the funding assisted 78 students who wouldn't have been able to go abroad otherwise, says Jennifer Mason, director of international initiatives.

Due to the program's success, Nathan has committed additional funding and made study abroad assistance a fundraising priority. In summer 2024, for example, the College of Nursing used the new funding model to lower overall costs for 20 students in the Healthcare and Culture in London and Edinburgh program.

While the OIP provides central support and coordination, much of the education abroad work happens within Auburn's individual colleges and schools. The College of Architecture, Design, and Construction (CADC), for example, offers a wide array of study abroad options, including weeklong, short-term, and full-semester programs, according to Ben Farrow, associate dean for academic affairs and international programs.

Farrow also notes that the CADC has expanded its offerings beyond traditional classroom-based courses to include more hands-on opportunities, such as service learning and internships. For instance, for the past 12 years, students in building science have traveled to Ecuador to construct projects in partnership with local communities.

Developing Strategic Industry Partners

In addition to creating international opportunities for its students, Auburn has capitalized on global connections that already exist in Alabama. In the early 2000s, the state experienced a manufacturing renaissance as international companies, particularly in the automotive and aerospace industries, established operations there.

More than 60 Korean companies—including Hyundai and Kia—are now located within an hour's drive of campus, and Auburn has leveraged that proximity to create global opportunities for students and to support local economies. “We're filling a real need for the community and creating opportunities for our students by linking the classroom to careers,” says Gillespie.

The Auburn-Keimyung Korea Center—established in 2012 in collaboration with Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea—offers language and cultural programming, serves as a hub for research collaboration and exchange programs, and engages with industry partners to support workforce development.

“Our center was established to bridge the cultural gaps between the Korean community and the campus community through language and culture, but we also help Korean industries address labor shortages and train Auburn students for future jobs, ” says Ellie Lee, director of the Korea Center.

For example, the center coordinates an exchange program between Auburn and the Convergence and Open Sharing System Future Automobiles Consortium, a group of seven Korean universities. The program aims to provide Korean students with academic instruction and professional experience in the U.S. automotive industry and has a unique program structure: Students spend their first semester taking courses at Auburn and complete an internship during their second semester.

We're filling a real need for the community and creating opportunities for our students by linking the classroom to careers. —Assistant Provost for International Programs Andrew Gillespie

The Korea Center also runs the Korean Studies and Culture summer study abroad program in Daegu and has an exchange program with Keimyung University, open to students of any major. In fall 2024, the center started recruiting domestic students for a Korean internship program.

Inspired by its Korean partnerships, in 2022, the university established a partnership with the Taiwanese government and the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). Whereas the Korea Center focuses on partnerships with industry, due to Auburn's proximity to several military bases, the Auburn-NCKU Taiwan Center of Chinese Language and Culture addresses the critical need for Mandarin-language training within the U.S. armed forces. Auburn is currently exploring additional centers focused on other strategic countries and regions, such as Japan and the Middle East.

Preparing Students to Succeed in an Interconnected World

The Korea and Taiwan centers are also helping strengthen overseas alumni ties. Auburn has a very active alumni community in Taiwan, and some of its members participate in the Alumni International Mentoring Program. That initiative pairs students interested in global careers with alumni living abroad for a one-year virtual mentorship.

The program has led to actual job placements, Mason says. “It’s an amazing experience for students to seamlessly transition into an international career because they had the support of an alum,” she adds.

As Auburn finalizes its 2035 strategic plan, internationalization remains a top priority. Future initiatives include convening a campuswide committee to review the university’s core curriculum. As part of that committee’s efforts, it will define “global literacy” and incorporate it into the core curriculum as a fundamental skill. “We are committed to providing transformative global experiences for all students,” Nathan says. “Our new strategic plan will outline ambitious goals and initiatives to further enhance our international partnerships, expand access to study abroad, and integrate global perspectives across the curriculum. We want every Auburn graduate to be prepared to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world.”

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The Alamo Colleges District, a system of five independently accredited community colleges with more than 70,000 students in San Antonio, Texas, is committed to serving its diverse student population by making global citizenship a key part of its mission. To do so, the district has strategically expanded international learning opportunities, cultivated a culture of multicultural engagement, and created ways for students to develop global competencies.

The Office of International Programs (OIP), which serves all five community colleges in the Alamo Colleges District (ACD), was established in 1995 to provide the district with international programs. In the 2000s, the OIP centralized support for faculty-led study abroad and started working with international partners to offer economic and workforce development and technical training. The district began heavily engaging with institutions in Mexico, hosting groups of faculty and students for short-term training and development programs.

The ACD has also welcomed international students on its campuses for decades, dating back to the 1970s at San Antonio College. However, it was not until 2009 that significant investment in international student recruitment began in earnest, when the district hired a coordinator to oversee these efforts. Since the COVID- 19 pandemic, the ACD has worked to regain momentum in this area, increasing international student enrollment by 40 percent from 2022–23 to 2023–24, representing almost 50 new international students across all five colleges, for a total international student population of 187. In 2019, Chancellor Mike Flores significantly shifted the district's approach to comprehensive internationalization. The OIP began centrally coordinating internationalization activities for the five colleges, with a strategic focus on developing global competencies.

“Like most community colleges around the United States, Alamo Colleges District is shaped by its local community's educational and workforce needs. As San Antonio continues to grow and evolve, the district responds to those needs by recognizing the need to compete in a global economy,” Flores says. “Internationalization is paramount in growing a strong and sustainable workforce that prepares them for the challenges of an interconnected world.”

Rather than the individual colleges managing global efforts in isolation, the OIP serves as the hub for that work, collaborating closely with leadership across all five campuses. According to the ACD, centralizing internationalization at the district level ensures consistency and equity in global learning opportunities for all students, regardless of which college they attend.

One way that the OIP achieves this consistency is by working with the International Executive Advisory Committee (IEAC), which brings together campus leadership—including the presidents of all five ACD colleges—senior administrators from the district office, faculty, and external community partners, such as the local chamber of commerce and the Mexican Consulate. The IEAC convenes twice per year to review progress on internationalization efforts, identify new opportunities, and provide guidance to the OIP.

Internationalization is paramount in growing a strong and sustainable workforce that prepares them for the challenges of an interconnected world.—Chancellor Mike Flores

In addition to the IEAC, the ACD has an International Faculty Committee that meets monthly. This group of 40–45 faculty members from across the five colleges shares best practices, discusses global learning programs, and helps identify potential international partners for collaboration. The district also has a Working Group for Curriculum Internationalization that oversees the process for reviewing and approving globally focused courses, ensuring the curriculum aligns with the district's strategic objectives for developing global competencies.

By convening these groups, managing their meetings, and following up on action items, the OIP converts discussions on internationalization efforts into concrete action.
 

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Developing a Global Competency Framework

At the heart of the ACD’s internationalization efforts are the nine Alamo Global Competencies, which fall under three broad categories: global awareness, global engagement, and global perspective. The development of the competency framework involved extensive research and campus engagement, including focus groups with students, faculty, and staff across the district’s five colleges.

The ACD also engaged in discussions with peers from Valencia College, Ivy Tech Community College, and World View, a public service program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to inform the initial framing of the competencies. Additionally, the OIP consulted with local industry leaders like Toyota and H-E-B, a grocery store chain, to understand the global skills required by employers. “As this team engaged the private sector in looking at those global competencies from different areas, it helped us understand what the private sector needed,” says Reynaldo Cano, coordinator of special projects for international programs.

The Alamo Global Competencies framework is now embedded across various programs, including Global Learning Designated Courses (GLDC), study abroad programs, and virtual exchanges. There are 34 GLDC courses—representing 58 sections—taught across the five colleges and in three different modalities: face to face, online, and hybrid.

Students enrolled in GLDCs are automatically enrolled in the Alamo Global Student Distinction (AGS) program. This initiative provides students with support and guidance to develop global skills and mindsets inside and outside the classroom and recognizes their acquisition of global competencies on an official cocurricular transcript.

Students progress in the AGS by earning “miles,” which they can accumulate a number of ways, such as by completing a GLDC, doing a virtual exchange, going on a study abroad program, or partaking in multicultural activities on campus. An example of the latter is the Global Engagement Network for International Education, an initiative to foster cross-cultural connections and mutual understanding between international and domestic students across the district. It consists of peer group cohorts and multicultural programming such as cross-cultural workshops and activities during International Education Week.

The miles act as a point system; depending on the number of miles they accumulate throughout their ACD education, students can graduate with different levels of distinction: Global Citizen, Global Diplomat, or Global Ambassador. From fall 2022, when the AGS began, to the close of summer 2024, 3,531 students—5 percent of the district’s total enrollment— have participated in the program, with 86 students earning one of the associated distinctions at graduation. This represents a rapid expansion of global learning participation in the district, as only 100 students (0.14 percent of the ACD’s student population) were involved in these efforts in 2019.

By empowering our students with global competence through digital badges for specific skills, we are simultaneously responding to the needs of our students and our community. —Chancellor Mike Flores

The Alamo Global Learner Pathway is another program based on the district’s global competencies that offers a wide range of opportunities for participation. This flexible program allows students to earn digital badges through an online credentialing system integrated with the Canvas learning management system. It enables students to showcase the global competencies they have developed virtually and on their transcripts. Since its inception, the program has awarded more than 800 digital badges.

“From a human capital point of view, our digital badges and microcredentialing programs respond to the needs of local businesses to design programs that address the importance of soft skills,” says Flores. “By empowering our students with global competence through digital badges for specific skills, we are simultaneously responding to the needs of our students and our community.”

Another districtwide initiative tied to the district’s competencies is the annual Alamo Global Challenge. Students are invited to submit an essay on a competency-related theme, which was “Nurturing Compassion and Fostering Peace in an Interconnected World” in 2024. This year, one student from each of the five colleges received a scholarship to attend the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities International Conference, held in Salamanca, Spain, in June.

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Expanding Global Learning Through Faculty Training

To support faculty in integrating the Alamo Global Competencies into the curriculum, the OIP offers two training options for internationalizing a course: a four- hour intensive in-person workshop or a self-directed asynchronous online course. Faculty who successfully complete either training can apply for their course to be designated as a GLDC. The current GLDCs span a range of disciplines, including art history, an introduction to the humanities, and STEM classes. In collaboration with the ACD Faculty Development Division team, the OIP has provided curriculum internationalization training to more than 92 faculty members throughout the district.

The ACD also offers training for faculty to develop and lead study abroad programs. In 2018, in collaboration with Faculty Development, the OIP developed study abroad workshop materials that are accessible through a Canvas course throughout the year. The course supports faculty as they work on education abroad proposals, which the district invites them to submit every spring. The OIP also oversees program development, marketing, application processing, risk management, funding, scholarships, and course enrollment for all education abroad programs.

In addition to traditional study abroad options, virtual exchanges, known as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), were implemented at the ACD in 2021 with six faculty members. To date, 44 faculty across the five colleges have been trained to implement COIL, and 337 students have participated in virtual exchanges. In October 2023, the district collaborated with Florida International University (FIU) to train a special cohort of 15 ACD faculty, who conducted virtual exchanges with international partners.

Embracing the Future of Internationalization

The ACD is committed to further enhancing its internationalization efforts. Its two primary goals moving forward are to expand its internationalization-at-home programming and increase study abroad opportunities. It plans to leverage the success of current initiatives to foster an even more globally engaged student body.

The district is also focused on enhancing faculty development programs to support additional integration of global learning into the curriculum. This includes developing in-house training for COIL courses and expanding partnerships with institutions like FIU to add more virtual exchanges. In addition, the ACD aims to improve data collection and utilization to inform decision-making and measure the impact of its internationalization strategies.

“Our passion drives us to continuously improve our successful global learning opportunities,” Flores says. “By designing new initiatives for internationalization at home, like Global Learning Designated Courses, COIL virtual exchanges, study abroad opportunities, strategic institutional partnerships, and international student recruitment, we continue to enrich our institution to respond to the ever-evolving needs of this interconnected world.”