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The Center for Global Education promotes international education to foster cross-cultural awareness, cooperation and understanding. Living and working effectively in a global society requires learning with an international perspective.

We promote this type of learning by collaborating with colleges, universities and other organizations around the world.
PLUS: The Project for Learning in the United States
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TRIO Outreach for TRIO Staff

As a TRIO Staff Member, you can connect your students to international students and study abroad staff on your campus or from a campus near your program location in order to provide information about study abroad opportunities available to them.

This section for TRIO Program administrators and staff provides easy steps to promote your students' education about other countries and regions worldwide by working with your International Student Office and involving international students in outreach. We would like to increase the participation rates of TRIO

An international student teaching others is an effective way for students to develop global awareness and to learn more about the world. Students who go abroad often have a profound experience that remains with them forever and influences their further education and often their career.

We would like to increase the participation rates of TRIO Program students studying abroad. The coordination of TRIO staff with International Student Office in outreach utilizing international students can help improve these numbers.

Steps to Promote Your Students' Participation in Study Abroad

  1. Learn about your International Student Office on campus
  2. Meet with the Director of International Students on your campus
  3. Agree on events where international students can be included
  4. Agree on ways the International Student Office can help TRIO staff and students contact international students
  5. Agree to refer interested international students to each other to do outreach presentations
  6. Tips for presentations
  7. Evaluation of presentation

Step 1 Learn about your International Student Office on campus

TRIO professionals and international student advisors have much in common. If you have not met before, it is likely not from lack of interest, but rather because both offices are usually overwhelmed from the multitude of responsibilities they have and their limited resources. International student advisors, like the TRIO staff, wear many hats and often duplicate the positions already in existence on campus for all the students overseas. However in a simple meeting to go over the steps and resources below, we hope you will find that you can help each other with relative ease and little pressure on your resources.

Step 2 Meet with the Director of International Students on your campus Go Back Top

Bringing International Students and U.S. Students together:

If your college or university does not have an International Student Office, we suggest setting up a meeting with faculty or staff at your college or university who help international students or international student staff at a college or university near your program location. In your meeting together, go over the steps and resources below to reach a plan for future action. Your International Student Office may already have a plan in motion for international students to do outreach, in which case you can request to become a part of the plan.

In the event that the International Student Office is not able to collaborate, or there is no International Student Office:

  • On your own, contact international students to present on their home country to your TRIO program referring them to our in our TRIO Outreach Assistance for Students for guidelines and steps.
  • Enlist the help of a faculty member at your institution who has expertise and potential contacts relevant to similar outreach projects and/ or study abroad. Pay particular attention to faculty members in Education, Languages, International Business, or other International Studies and Area Studies Programs.
  • Use the resources in our TRIO Outreach Assistance for Students to do the presentation yourself. These resources include PowerPoint presentations that have been created as customizable templates for your own presentations about international study.
  • Make use of personal contacts (e.g. administrators/ staff, faculty, or current university students) that may have studied abroad themselves or may help you access international students.
  • Also check the list of classes for faculty that might be interested.

Step 3 Agree on events where international students can be included Go Back Top

  • Invite the International Student Office to co-sponsor events or include a table for them at your events and student organizations' events.
  • Agree to mention meeting international students at your orientations to students and parents as an invaluable part of the college experience.
  • Agree to list international student outreach presentations as one of your student activities/ organizations in your flyers and on your website.

Step 4 Agree on ways the International Student Office can help TRIO staff and students contact international students Go Back Top

Ask the International Student Office to help you disseminate information to students abroad so the students maintain a feeling of connectedness with to the campus throughout their time in the U.S.

Step 5 Agree to refer interested international students to each other to do outreach presentations Go Back Top

Agree to help facilitate international students (and other volunteers) in presenting to your Trio programs:

  • Encourage international students to present and to contact the International Student Office
  • Introducing international students to the key contacts in your TRIO programs to set up these presentations.

Perhaps the International Student Office could help connect you with students by giving you a list of international students so you can invite them to present to TRIO programs; or by distributing a letter from you to these students with the same invitation.

Step 6 Tips for presentations Go Back Top

Our Outreach Assistance Program for Students lists guidelines and resources to do a home country outreach presentation. These resources include PowerPoint presentations that have been created as customizable templates for their own presentations about international study. You can direct international students and others volunteering to make presentations to student organizations or in a classroom to the website to help them prepare for their outreach presentations. It can even be used by you personally if you are planning to give an outreach presentation.

Step 7 Evaluation of presentation Go Back Top

You can mentor student presenters by giving them advice on preparation, content suggestions, and feedback on presentations already made. It is important to provide feedback so that they can further refine and improve their presentation for the next time. Review the overall success of the presentation as well as planning issues, collaboration with contacts/ advisors, and other logistical issues.

You can download our presenter evaluation form here. These evaluations can be used by you or someone such as a study abroad staff member, a student organization leader, or faculty member "Teacher" who will be present at the outreach presentation.

Given that school and student demographics, interests, and resources often change, it is important that presenters be encouraged to consider ways to make their presentations more innovative, attractive and relevant to a particular audience.

After a presentation, you and the student organization should maintain strong communication with study abroad advisors and student presenters to encourage future collaboration.

We hope you found this information helpful. We welcome your questions, comments, and useful resources you'd like to share! Please contact us at grhodes@globaled.us.