Celebrating International Education week

Nov. 17 marked the start of International Education Week, a time to celebrate, highlight and acknowledge the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

CSB+SJU is consistently ranked high nationally for its study abroad programs, ranging from semester long programs to embedded opportunities, where students travel between one to four weeks after taking a course on campus.

The Open Door 2025 report shows a rise in ranking for CSB+SJU study abroad programs, both semester long
and embedded programs. Open Door is the international education annual report that is published by the Institute of International Education, made in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Released on Monday, the 2025 report ranked CSB+SJU at 14th among baccalaureate schools for number of
students who studied abroad during the 2023-2024 academic year, with 362 students. CSB+SJU is also ranked 19th among baccalaureate schools with 211 students who participated in mid-length, or semester, long study abroad programs in 2023-2024. For graduates in the 2023-2024 academic year, approximately 44.8% of them studied abroad in some capacity.

CSB+SJU also has resources and strong support for post-graduate abroad opportunities, many of them being an opportunity to teach English in another country, some being more competitive than others. A few of these opportunities includes Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship for a variety of countries, JET Program to teach English in Japan and EPIK Program to teach English in South Korea. While these programs take place after your time at CSB+SJU, there are many people here to support those endeavors, offering guidance, practice interviews, references and so much more. The community here wants to see you thrive in any capacity; lean on the support they offer.

“[International education] continues to be transforming students’ lives as we see what various versions of International Education does for students and skill development of their self, and building skills for tomorrow’s
workforce, like perseverance, ambiguity, communication along cultures, learning how to interact and how to problem solve,” said Joy Ruis, Director of the Center for Global Education.

Jessica Dickau, Assistant Director of the Center for Global Education, works with students who come to CSB+SJU campuses for their short-term and long-term programs, seeing cross-cultural connections take place right here at CSB+SJU. “I have seen how the interactions with our partners from Japan is transformative on both sides. The Japanese students get to come here and have a very unique experience embedded in our schools, in our program, for three weeks in February… But then also, I have watched our students become involved with them, either through Japanese or ESL or another class that they’re in… They develop friendships,” Dickau said.

Gaining international experience can happen right here on campus, ensuring that all students have the chance for global engagement. Introduction to International Relations, Immersion-Local and English as a Second Language courses offer the Global Engagement (GL) attribute, all while staying stateside.

Here at The Record, we want to highlight our staff members and their various experiences abroad through CSB+SJU, as well as a perspective from an international student.

Kate:

I was lucky enough to experience two opportunities abroad through CSB+SJU. In Nov. 2024, I attended the United Nations COP 29, a climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, where I conducted research on Indigenous involvement on climate change decisions and action. This experience allowed me to participate in conversations and interviews with public officials from all over the world, expanding my knowledge and understanding of climate change’s impacts around the globe. I also was able to explore the beautiful city of Baku, enjoying traditional meals and interacting with the local communities.

During 2025 spring semester, I studied abroad in London, United Kingdom. I took part in an internship while in London with a luxury lifestyle public relations company, which opened my eyes to a career opportunity I never considered. Along with that, I took classes that included field work throughout the city each week, allowing us to explore and learn about different parts of London. Throughout all of it, I made lifelong friends and connections. It was truly one of the most special experiences of my life.

Elise:

During my time at CSBSJU, I participated in two embedded study abroad programs that expanded my worldview and helped me build meaningful relationships with my professors and peers. In spring 2024, I traveled to the Netherlands and Belgium as part of a course on food and drink fermentation. Before going abroad, our class toured local producers like Bad Habit Brewery, Milk & Honey Cidery, and Obbink Distillery to understand fermentation at home. Experiencing those same processes in countries with centuries-old fermentation traditions gave me a completely new perspective on how culture influences technique, from beer and cheese to chocolate and cider. It also allowed me to experience everyday European life in a meaningful way.

In spring 2025, I traveled to the Bahamas with the biology department to conduct ecological research. We spent time in both Nassau and rural San Salvador, where I snorkeled, explored the island’s ecosystems, and
completed an independent research project on a parasitic plant species.

Kayla:

If you read the Letters from London study abroad column in The Record last fall, you already know that I spent a semester studying abroad in the United Kingdom (Kate and I made a coincidental Record-London semester swap, which worked out well for us minus the separation anxiety). I worked for an online luxury lifestyle magazine called The Handbook as an Editorial and Marketing intern, which was an absolute dream. People often ask me if it was like The Devil Wears Prada, to which I’d say yes —but with the nicest coworkers ever and tons of fun pop-up experiences, restaurant visits and more, made possible through our press invites.

The most significant thing for me though, was my day-to-day experience living in a beautiful, huge, diverse city. London is a patchwork collection of cultures that you can feel throughout each neighborhood, and our courses did a great job of celebrating it. CSB+SJU students are notorious for taking Islam and the West in London for their Upper Theology credit, but I loved this course for reasons beyond Integrations Curriculum
attributes. We spent the semester deconstructing narratives surrounding Islamic societies and how Western
civilizations perceive them. I wrote a final paper exploring the differences between Muslim and Western
feminists, and why a respectful, joint approach to the advancement of women’s rights is necessary for both
cultures to succeed.

For this course, we took study tours that brought us to historically Muslim neighborhoods, immersing us in the
city and our area of study. I gained a broader perspective on how Western societies can do better to coexist with Islamic societies in pursuit of a better world and learned strategies for being part of a global solution to issues like Islamophobia and Eurocentrism. This was just one experience abroad that completely changed my life and enabled me to be more empathetic global citizen, and I’m so grateful for it.

Jasmyn:

The opportunity to go abroad through the Cork, Ireland program for the spring 2026 semester was a life-changing experience that will positively affect me for the rest of my life. The first time I learned that there was a whole world outside of my small north central MN town, I knew that I wanted to see it all. Little did I know that through this experience, I would meet the most amazing people and see the beauty of world outside of the United States of America. Interacting and experiencing a different culture allowed for me to develop better
socialization skills with a more diverse set of individuals. It also taught me how to think outside the box, develop a greater sense of empathy, and develop my own identity in a more productive way and enhance the many different relationships that I have with the world. Looking back, I am able to see my development through the relationships that I have been able to keep with people that I met in Ireland and how these relationships will impact me throughout the rest of my life. Slán go fóill.

Lara:

My experience at CSB+SJU as an international student and second Brazilian female to graduate from CSB in 2026 has been phenomenal. I learned English by myself during the pandemic in 2020 and enrolled at CSB in Fall 2022. One of my main concerns was if I was going to even be able to understand my classes, but with the outstanding support professors give to students at CSB+SJU I was not only able to do well in classes but
have a better academic performance than I used to have in Brazil. Besides that, I was also able to take advantage of the many amazing professional opportunities the colleges have to offer. I had the privilege of working as a mentor for international students, as a tour guide for admissions, as a social media manager for the philosophy department, and as the variety editor for The Record. Besides that, I got to do the DC Summer Study program with full scholarship that afforded all my living costs in D.C. Finally, I was able to make lifelong friendships and connections that I will always remember.

Each experience above embodies the goal of international education, including cultural awareness, learning how to interact in diverse environments and building professional skills. The memorable experiences embedded into these programs is something that we hope students at CSB+SJU will be compelled to participate in and that they take advantage of the opportunities and services.