The College of Design, Construction and Planning (DCP) is honored to once again participate in International Education Week 2020. A joint initiative of the US Departments of State and Education, International Education Week (IEW) was first held in 2000 and today, is celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide. A central mission of DCP is to sustain a broad range of international settings for students and faculty to support Learning, Discovery and Engagement.
We now have programs and partnerships with institutions of higher learning on every continent except Antarctica-two of which, (The Preservation Institute: Caribbean-(1983) and the Vicenza Institute of Architecture-(1985) are among the longest continually running international programs on the UF campus. The 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, shows the number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased to a high of 1,095,299 students in the 2018/19 academic year, while U.S. students studying abroad increased to an all-time high of more than 341,000 students (more facts can be found at the Institute of International Education: http://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors).
We share former Secretary of State John Kerry’s position to “make study abroad, whether it’s in person or even virtual, to make it a reality for all students, regardless of their socio-economic background or field of study”. As we begin the fourth year of the “Learning without Borders” Quality Enhancement Plan, we are pleased to note that the new International Scholars Program has enrolled hundreds of students representing every one of UF’s undergraduate colleges. UF is home to over 6,600 international students from more than 140 countries. We host over 2,000 visiting scholars every year, and more than 2,200 of our students travel abroad to more than 55 destinations annually. On any given day, year-round, UF faculty and staff from all parts of the university can be found across the globe, carrying out research, participating in conferences and workshops, or teaching. Some 2,000 UF faculty and staff have international roots or background themselves, including many who were born and educated abroad, and who bring international dimensions to their job and into our classrooms and laboratories every day.
Some of our units like the School of Architecture are already providing about 70-80% of their students with this opportunity. DCP has agreements with over 25 top universities around the world such as Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong, University of Indonesia and University of Groningen, operates 12 study abroad programs in 6 disciplines conducted by DCP faculty with our partner institutions (more information can be found at https://dcp.ufl.edu/dcp-global/study-abroad/). We also take pride in attracting increasing numbers of international students to begin their studies in one of the College’s 6 disciplines or gain advanced knowledge in these fields at the PhD level or as visiting scholars.
For more information about UF Events during International Education Week, visit: https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/student-opportunities/international-education-week