Miami Education Abroad / Away offers hundreds of global opportunities for students to earn academic credit during a transformative experience. Students have the opportunity to participate in programs in other parts of the U.S. and in 90 countries around the world. With so many options, nearly every student can find a program that is the right fit for them - and they do! Nearly 2,000 Miami students participate in away/abroad programs each year.

Mission Statement

The Office of Education Abroad, in support of Miami University’s educational mission, strives to empower students to create a more just and equitable world.

Through student-centered advising services, thoughtful management of domestic and international travel programs, and collaboration with units across our campuses, we offer students a diverse array of inclusive educational opportunities that:

• remove barriers in their journeys of growing their global consciousness and remove barriers that prevent engagement;

• encourage interpersonal growth and independence, curiosity, empathy, and adaptability to new environments;

• promise academically rigorous program design with an emphasis on experiential learning; and

• provide students with necessary 21st-century skills as they embark on careers in an increasingly globally-connected world.

When we are operating according to our highest and best vision, our students recognize their interconnectedness with peoples and places from across the world and maintain a truly cosmopolitan outlook. They can situate themselves within larger and more complex systems and tell the stories of their work in relation to people across disciplines and cultures.

Educational Objectives

In order to fulfil its mission of inclusive intercultural development, academic excellence, thoughtful student-centered advising, and career readiness, the Office of Education Abroad has identified several key Educational Objectives for Miami students who participate in travel learning opportunities:

• Global Knowledge and Social Responsibility: Students can identify the relationship between people affected by global issues and the systems in place that contribute to or solve those intractable problems (as framed, for example, by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals), and will demonstrate personal responsibility to communities at home and abroad
• Intercultural Attitudes, Awareness, and Behaviors: Reflect on their own intercultural growth and development and use strategies that help them build openness, curiosity, empathy, adaptability, and resilience
• Independence and Problem-Solving: Use the advising tools and staff available to set clear goals and make independent decisions and solve problems as they navigate the process of applying to and participating in travel learning opportunities
• Academic Success: Engage in rigorous, experiential learning opportunities necessary to their academic disciplines
• 21st-Century Career Readiness: Cultivate leadership, communication, and collaboration skills that enhance their readiness for careers with teams from different cultural backgrounds, and articulate how those skills derive from global experiences

Each of these objectives includes a specific set of measurable learning outcomes that we strive to incorporate into every program or service that we offer.

Learning Outcomes

• Global Knowledge and Self-Awareness
  • Incorporate their travel learning experiences into the Global Miami Plan’s emphasis on global issues
  • Respond to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in their work at home and abroad
  • Distinguish between their own social identities and the systems that produce people from different cultural backgrounds
• Social Responsibility
  • Perform community-engaged learning at home and abroad through mutually beneficial partnerships
  • Design projects that address social and environmental needs based on the locations they travel to
  • Respond to local needs with an entrepreneurial mindset that generates solutions
• Intercultural Attitudes and Behaviors
  • Employ strategies that promote understanding and accepting people from different cultural backgrounds
  • Model empathy through sustained engagement with people from diverse backgrounds
  • Cultivate curiosity about different cultures and how other people live and work
  • Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, including language acquisition and attention to nonverbal forms of communication
• Independence and Problem-Solving
  • Demonstrate resilience and independence by identifying and applying for relevant travel learning options
  • Adapt to local environments by navigating local everyday situations and environments
  • Cope with frustrating and surprising circumstances and situations at home or abroad
• Academic Success
  • Demonstrate proficiency and expertise in concepts in major disciplines
  • Apply major expertise through “real world” projects at home and abroad that are evaluated through authentic assessment means
• 21st-Century Career Readiness
  • Translate global learning experiences into marketable career skills
  • Illustrate their career readiness by authoring career self-narratives
  • Participate in internships, volunteer opportunities, community-engaged learning, or other “real world” learning experiences
  • Build collaborative relationships with peers and networks of experts across the world
  • Exemplify intercultural leadership with diverse teams