Honors Abroad through Third-Party Providers

Given the challenges of promoting internationalization by expanding our institutions’ international student populations (Fischer), the development of our students as global citizens through study abroad and curriculum offerings appears more important than ever. Providing innovative and challenging curriculum options that align with the long-espoused pedagogical approaches of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC)— many of which foreshadowed today’s highly touted high-impact practices such as undergraduate research, strong faculty-student mentor relationships, and study abroad—constitutes a desirable path to pursue (NCHC Board; Kuh). Yet, admittedly these valuable practices come with a price for institutions and students. For example, the increasingly popular summer undergraduate research programs or research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) that involve student stipends, lodging costs, and faculty financial incentives can considerably task a budget, especially for smaller, non-Research 1 institutions where such programs may not be supported by grants. Fortunately, some of those desirable practices of research and study abroad can be combined and/or facilitated by quality third-party providers. The Pace University Pforzheimer Honors College provides an interesting model in its newly created Pace Global Fellows initiative. Influenced by a growing body of research establishing the value of study abroad coupled with a knowledge of the value of undergraduate research, honors programs and colleges are seeking ways to stack those opportunities. Pace University Pforzheimer Honors College has launched such a program through a promising partnership with a quality third-party provider, the School for International Training or SIT. This program reflects both an understanding of the impact of study abroad and a recognition of a need to expand that impact. Reviewing the value of that impact is useful to understanding the motivation for the Pace Fellows program