Fairfield University’s mission is to ensure that each and every one of its students not only becomes a college graduate at the year of four years, but a globalized citizen as well. We live in a world that is so diverse that it is important that students are exposed to different cultures before heading out into the “real world.”
According to Fairfield University’s website, “Global Scholars Program will initially offer undergraduates the opportunity to participate in partially funded interdisciplinary summer internships with organizations located in the Global South. Each short-term, immersive opportunity ranges in length from four to ten weeks and offers students the chance to engage in hands-on, professional job experiences in less traveled countries like Brazil, South Africa, Guatemala and The Gambia.”
The purpose of the Global Scholars program is to allow students to expand their horizons through experiences abroad, and fully prepare themselves to enter a completely globalized and multicultural world.
“Two of the main things that affect students’ abilities to study abroad are time and money,” International Studies Associate Professor Anita Deeg-Carlin explained. “By addressing these obstacles, our program is able to offer these transformative opportunities to a more diverse group of students, opportunities that often end up directing their career paths. ”
The program was created by the late Dr. Gisela Gil-Egui in 2014, but is now continuing to expand; this is just the beginning. Any student with a GPA of 2.8 or higher can apply into the competitive program now for placement into one of the four pilot locations.