North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Cultivating Study Abroad in Underrepresented Agriculture Disciplines
North Carolina State University (NCSU) partnered with Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) to increase the participation of agriculture majors and racial/ethnic minority students typically underrepresented in study abroad. The project included developing, implementing, and assessing an innovative hybrid course integrated into the academic major; combining face-to- face, online, and short-term overseas components to attract students with limited international experience; implementing a unique 3:1 semester program model, combining selected elements of exchange and non-exchange mechanisms to generate scholarship funding for incoming UCR students while keeping costs low for NCSU participants; addressing cost, language, and curricular barriers to help ensure long term program sustainability and growth, by supporting academic/private sector partnerships, leveraged scholarship funding, targeted student outreach and leadership development, course mapping, and alumni networks. As a result, 33 courses within the field of Agriculture received approval for transfer credits. Efforts to attract underrepresented students through the hybrid course and short-term study abroad option were highly successful. Out of the twelve (12) participants, eleven (11) were from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and eight (8) were women, three (3) were African-American, and two (2) were Asian-American.