International exchange

1. An introduction to fully-funded international
experiences and how to pursue them
Opportunity knocks . . . from abroad
Sarah Sanderson
Hope College ’03

2. A global education
 International experience is one of the most important
components of a 21st century education.
 Less than 10% of U.S. students study abroad.
 Globalization is changing the way the world works, and
employers are increasingly looking for workers who have
international skills and experience.
 Generation Study Abroad is a new initiative from the Institute
of International Education (IIE) to provide funding to double
the amount of U.S. college students abroad in five years.

3. Recent Conferences on Int’l Exchange
Fulbright Enrichment Seminar
in Washington D.C.
Global Ties “Diplomacy Begins
Here” in Detroit
"We treat exchanges as a nice thing to do, not a necessity. We've got to chan
ge that paradigm...in international relations, what we do matters so much mo
re than what we say.” – Ambassador Lebaron

4. Goals for today
 My international experience
 Global fellowships and grants
 Teaching abroad
 Working and volunteering abroad
 Study abroad (Graduate school)
 Tips on the application process
 Future resources
 Questions

5. My experience
 B.A. Spanish and B.S. Biology, Hope College, 2003
 Study abroad: Vienna Summer School, May terms to Africa
and Ecuador, semester in Santiago, Chile.
 M.A. Spanish Linguistics, The Ohio State University
 Resident Director for OSU study abroad program in Ecuador
 Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) Teach
in China program (2 years)
 Working holiday program in New Zealand (1 year)
 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Brazil (2 years)
 Rotary International Peace Fellow in Japan (2 years – starts
this July)

6. Global fellowships and grants
 Every year, nonprofit organizations, governments, businesses
and private donors give recent college graduates and young
professionals millions of dollars to go to graduate school or take
on a nontraditional project or job.
 You do not need a perfect GPA to win a fellowship or scholarship.
 You simply need to be honest with yourself about what your
strengths are, find scholarships and fellowships that are geared
towards people with those strengths, then compose an
application that highlights those strengths.

7. Fulbright grants
 The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships for U.S.
graduating college seniors, graduate students, young
professionals and artists to study, conduct research or be an
English teaching assistant abroad for one academic year.
 There are several additional types of Fulbrights for students
studying music, photography, public health, administration,
political science, STEM and education among other fields.
 You will probably not be competitive for a Fulbright unless you
have some previous international experience.
 Tip: Use the regional and yearly statistics to your advantage.
 www.exchanges.state.gov

8. Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship
 The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program
provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduates with financial need
to study or intern abroad, especially for students from diverse
backgrounds and students going to non-traditional study abroad
destinations.
 Students with no prior experience abroad are highly encouraged
to apply.
 www.exchanges.state.gov

9. Critical Language Scholarship
 The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program provides
overseas foreign language instruction and cultural enrichment
experiences in 13 critical need languages for U.S. students in
higher education.
 Examples: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Korean etc.
 8-10 weeks in the summer
 www.exchanges.state.gov

10. Boren Fellowship
 Boren Fellowships provide up to $30,000 to U.S. graduate
students to add an important international and language
component to their graduate education through specialization in
area study, language study or increased language proficiency.
 Boren Fellowships support study and research in areas of the
world that are critical to U.S. interests including Africa, Asia,
Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the
Middle East.
 www.borenawards.org

11. Rotary grants and fellowships
 Rotary Global Grants support international activities with
sustainable, measureable outcomes such as humanitarian
projects, graduate-level studies, and vocational training teams,
which are groups of professionals who travel abroad either to
teach local professionals about a particular field or to learn more
about their own.
 Rotary Peace Fellowships select young professionals to receive
fully funded fellowships to study at international peace centers in
Japan, Thailand, Sweden, England and Australia.
 www.rotary.org

12. Teaching abroad
 A great way to gain international and language experience.
 You don’t have to be a teacher or want teaching to be your future
career.
 Some programs only require a four year degree.
 To continue traveling on your own and make a living a CELTA
(Certified English Language Teacher for Adults) or a TESOL
(Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate is
usually required.

13. Teaching abroad programs
 Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
 World Teach
 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET)
 Culture Ambassadors: North American language and culture
assistants in Spain
 English Program in Korea (EPIK)
 Teach and Learn with Georgia

14. Certified teachers
 Consider teaching at an international school.
 Gain additional language and culture skills to be competitive in a
bilingual immersion program upon return in the U.S.
 International Schools Association (ISA) http://isaschools.org/
 Council of International Schools (CIS) www.cois.org
 University of Northern Iowa Overseas Placement Service for
Educators (www.uni.edu/placement/overseas/osfair.html)

15. Volunteering abroad
 Peace Corps and Peace Corps Response: Benefits include
language training, re-entry bonus, preference for government
jobs and loan deferment.
 Similar opportunities with AmeriCorps and City Year in the U.S.
 Idealist.org – work for a non-profit abroad.
 Global Health Corps. – No medical experience required
 Volunteer with the RCA or the CRC – gain local church support.
 Network of International Christian Schools – www.nics.org
 IDEXT fellowship – invest in yourself and others to insure social
change

16. Working abroad
 Working holiday visas to Australia and New Zealand
 Easily acquired 12-month legal working visas to Americans aged
18-30 (inclusive).
 Simply go to each country’s immigration website
www.immigration.govt.nz or http://www.immi.gov.au, search
working holiday, choose your country of origin and apply online.
 Opportunities for casual or professional work in bars, hostels,
restaurants, ski mountains, tourism etc.

17. Working abroad
 Consider working as a trip leader or counselor for international
summer camp or adventure programs.
 Wilderness Ventures
 Overland
 Global leadership adventures
 Studies Abroad for Global Education (SAGE)
 Broadreach
 Rustic Pathways

18. Working abroad
 Working for the U.S. government abroad in the Foreign Service,
USAID or in an embassy or consulate adjudicating visas.
 Many scholarships available to facilitate this process (Rangel,
Pickering, Payne etc.)

19. Studying abroad
 A unique option to experience other languages and cultures is to
attend graduate school abroad.
 In many cases it is cheaper or free to study in another country.
 In addition, there are many grants and scholarships for U.S.
students to do graduate school abroad and much less
competition for these grants.
 Organization of American States Scholarships (www.oas.org)
 Courses taught in English are increasingly being offered in
non-English speaking countries.

20. Alternative experiences abroad
 World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms or Willing Workers
on Organic Farms (WWOOF)
 Couchsurfing
 Host an exchange student

21. Tips for a competitive application
 Start early and plan ahead . . . way ahead
 Get help – ask others to read and edit your application
 Be conscious of your relationships with professors and managers
as they will write your letters of recommendation
 Volunteer at your university and in your community
 Gain teaching or tutoring experience
 Learn another language (possibly on your own)
 Keep a journal to remember important moments or stories
 Keep track of what you do  CV
 Take advantage of your liberal arts education

22. Future resources
 Stay connected with fellowships and grants on social media as
they frequently offer advice via webinars and podcasts
 “75 Great Opportunities”
http://www.smith.edu/fellowships/includes-
documents/75_opportunities.pdf
 Pro Felllow (https://www.profellow.com/)
 Gotta Go Global (http://www.gottagoglobal.org/)
 Federal grants (exchanges.state.gov)
 Generation study abroad (www.iie.org)
 Dave’s ESL Café (http://www.eslcafe.com)
 eBook: “Receive tens-of-thousands of dollars to travel, volunteer,
or go to grad school” by Haley White

23. Questions
 Visit the Career Development office
 Talk to your study abroad advisor or the office of International
Education
 Independent research: blogs, articles etc.
 Feel free to email me with any questions: sanderson.58@osu.edu