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Center of Global Initiatives

Data and Results

The Center for Global Initiatives conducts assessment of the Rollins International Grant programs and supports the ongoing assessment of undergraduate study abroad.  The center also collects data for other global initiatives and programs as needed and to make informed decisions about campus internationalization.

Since 2015-16, 90 grants have been awarded to Rollins faculty and staff.

  • Of these, 22 grants were for individual travel, and 68 for a Faculty-Staff travel seminar.
  • 72 grants were awarded to members of the faculty, and 18 grants to staff members.
  • Grants were awarded to 80 individuals - ten individuals received two grants during this time period, including four individuals who led a Faculty-Staff travel seminar.
  • The Travel Seminars have taken groups of faculty and staff to Cuba, South Africa, Japan, and Albania. The 2021-2022 Travel Seminar to Colombia will take place in Summer 2022
  • Olin Library has the new El Camino Faculty-Staff Travel Research Guide, which highlights the 2023 faculty-staff travel seminar to Galicia, Spain. They hiked the Camino de Santiago, which has pilgrimage routes dating back to the medieval period. 

Data Highlights from Grant Recipient Reports

The following data are from the 52 one-year reports submitted by grant recipients funded for travel since the academic years 2015-16.  During this period, 90 grants were awarded.

  • 94% felt the travel experience helped them better understand an aspect of the culture, society, politics, or history of a part of the world outside the U.S.
  • 60% engaged or planned to engage in scholarship related to the location of travel.
  • 54% had enhanced or planned to enhance the international content of an existing course based on knowledge gained through the travel experience.
  • 100% felt they had engaged with the local population and/or environment during travel.
  • 98% indicated they had achieved their intended goals or outcomes.
  • 94% felt they had gained unexpected skills or knowledge from the travel experience.

Campus Impact

Grant recepients share the classroom and campus-wide impact their funded travel has had on their Rollins experience.

  • "This trip has enhanced the internationalization content of my current (and future) classes."
  • "In participating in an intensive experience abroad among fellow faculty and staff, I have been more effectively able to advise, educate, and mentor students committed to exploration of self, social justice, creating global and domestic change in our communities."
  • "The cultural exchange enriched my teaching in numerous ways by giving real life experiences in cultural diversity to share with classes and colleagues."
  • "My broadened understanding of another society's complicated and challenged history allows me to support our students with greater empathy and understanding."
  • "This experience truly gave me a deeper understanding of the work we do at Rollins as it directly correlates to our mission around global citizenship."
  • "I continually use my experience and story to think through my lens as a social justice educator, especially through my ongoing immersive experiences with students."

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rollins was consistently ranked in the top 12 Masters Granting Institutions nationwide for the percentage of undergraduate students we send abroad! Post-pandemic, Rollins is already back to being ranked #6 in the nation by the Institute for International Education among Masters granting institutions for the percentage of undergraduate students we send abroad.  


Highlights from 2022-23 Annual Report 

  • 597 participants total studied abroad 
  • 131 participants on Crummer Graduate School of Business programs 
  • 118 participants on semester study abroad programs 
  • 305 participants on CLA and Holt short-term programs 
  • Top five sending departments/academic programs by participant numbers are:  Business Management, International Business, Environmental Studies, Communications Studies and English (tied for fourth place) and International Relations.
    • In addition, Anthropology, Marine Biology, Political Science, Social Entrepreneurship, and Psychology also had 10+ participants. This is consistent with prior years.   
  • In the 2022-2023 academic year, Rollins awarded a total of 228 scholarships to participants on study abroad and study away programs. 
  • This means 72% of participants received a scholarship to support their experience! 

Evaluations

  • 291 students who participated in study abroad or study away programs completed a post-program evaluation. Of these students: 
    • 92% understand more clearly how our identity and background influences how we see and experience the world after studying abroad. 
    • 87% felt more capable of moving towards personal, academic, and life goals. 
    • 91% believe they increased their Intercultural knowledge and competence (awareness, knowledge, and understanding of culture; empathy for culturally different others, open-mindedness, etc.)   
    • 89% of students were easily or fairly easily able to successfully adapt to differences in daily life abroad such as: walking extensively each day, eating dinner late, having a small breakfast, differences in etiquette, hanging laundry to dry, etc. 
    • 87% of students reported being able to accept without judgment cultural differences such as conceptions of time and personal space, directness of communication, attitudes about gender or family, etc.
  • 22 Faculty Program Leaders completed an evaluation for Faculty-led programs. Of these 22:
    • 95% believe they gained specific competencies, skills and/or knowledge from the experience of leading a program.
    • 82% said that after leading a program, they would adjust, update or expand content covered in one or more of their courses.
  • Students on the Verano program which was a faculty-led summer program did a pre-and-post assessment. These students studied Spanish, engaged in many cultural activities and completed multiple written cultural reflections: as a result, they scored higher this year and last year than the average student on other field study and summer programs! 

Student  Impact 

  • I learned a lot about myself academically and personally while studying abroad. I learned how to work in teams better because of my internship experience at the hospital and I learned how to handle conflict within a team setting.” 
  • I learned from studying abroad just how quickly I am able to adapt and "survive" in brand-new situations. I was genuinely surprised at how easy it was to thrive in a country half-way across the world.”
  • Studying in [host country] helped me gain a global perspective on how business culture can vary from country to country.” 

Fall 2023 Data 

Enrollment 
College of Liberal Arts - 245
Crummer Graduate School of Business – 37
Hamilton Holt School – 22 
Optional Practical Training – 51

TOTAL - 350 

Top Countries Represented:  Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India, Mexico, Colombia, China, Dominican Republic, and Spain.

Top 5 Undergraduate Majors: Business Management, International Business, , Computer Science, Psychology, and exploring. 

Top Graduate Majors: Business Administration, Counseling, Public Health, Human Resources Management. 
 
Degree Programs 
Bachelors - 262 
Masters - 32 
Doctorate - 6 
Exchange/Non-Degree -10