OU Celebrates International Education Week

Students interested in exploring foreign cultures had the opportunity this week to take part in numerous internationally focused events.

The College of International Studies hosted the 2012 International Education Week for the University of Oklahoma, Nov. 12-16. This is a week during which the U.S. and many other nations take part in celebrating and stressing the importance of global education.

First held in 2000, International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide, according to the U.S. Department of State’s website. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is part of an effort to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the United States.

The week is filled with many different internationally-focused events, and it is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education, according to Alice Kloker, director of education abroad for the College of International Studies at OU.

“International Education Week builds support for programs that attract international students to come to the U.S. as well as programs that prepare U.S. students to fully engage with today’s global environment by living and studying in other countries,” Kloker said.

Among the many events that were available for all students and faculty to attend throughout the week were lectures, film screenings, training sessions, cultural nights and study abroad fairs. All of the week’s activities were designed to bring more cultural awareness to the OU community.

The study abroad fair held on Wednesday was one of the highest attended and most successful events of the week. Each year, the number of students interested in studying abroad increases, according to Kloker.

Sarah Crain, a Classics major at the OU, attended the study abroad fair in order to learn more about potentially studying overseas.

“The study abroad fair was the perfect place to take it upon myself to really look at my options for studying abroad. I’m minoring in German and international enterprise studies, so what better way to develop my skills than to study overseas? The study abroad fair provided me with a ton of information for that,” Crain said.

In this day and age’s ever-increasing global environment, the College of International Studies at OU is becoming more and more determined to broaden the horizons of students. Preparing students for the potential cultural diversity that their future careers may entail has always been a goal for the college, and International Education Week is the perfect platform to encourage students to become more culturally aware, according to Janice Levi, international programs coordinator for the College of International Studies.

“International Education Week doesn’t just encourage and celebrate studying abroad, but also just to really increase cultural competency, which is something that is a goal of OU and President Boren,” Levi said.

International student organizations had the opportunity to showcase their cultures all throughout the week to the OU community. Giving these organizations a chance to spotlight their heritage in order to bring cultural appreciation to students and faculty is something that the College of International Studies prides itself in, according to Levi.

“Understanding how other cultures operate and to not have kind of an ethnocentric bias of thinking that your culture is better, or treating other people less than you because you think their culture is somehow backwards is something that the college is concerned with. All the events we put on throughout the year is to expand people’s ideas and understanding of other cultures,” Levi said.

International Education Week was the largest and last event organized by the College of International Studies for the fall 2012 semester. The next event that the college is looking forward to hosting is international orientation, which will take place Jan. 10-11, 2013. For more information and upcoming events, visit the College of International Studies’ website at cis.ou.edu.