June 1999: Vol. 78, No. 3June 1999: Vol. 78, No. 3Oxford program expands to year-round
 Michael F. Adams |
he University of Georgia's rise from a small state college to a prominent national research university is one of the remarkable educational success stories of the past half century. In the new century, the University will move aggressively to achieve leadership in a larger and even more important setting—the arena of international education.
We have taken a major step toward that goal by finalizing arrangements for UGA's first year-round residential study-abroad program. The program will begin this fall at historic Oxford University in Oxford, England, one of the world's most respected academic institutions.
Students and visiting faculty attending the Oxford program will live in the UGA at Oxford Study Abroad Center, a beautiful Victorian house UGA has purchased in the heart of the city. They will study and work with Oxford and UGA faculty, and have access to some of the world's great treasures of history, literature, and science.
The year-round Oxford program is only one step we're taking to significantly expand access to international educational activities for our students and faculty. International awareness is an imperative we must pursue; first-hand knowledge of other cultures and languages—and the ability to interact with people from diverse ethnic, religious and political backgrounds—have become essential for success in today's global economy.
UGA already has some excellent study-abroad programs around the world, both under its own auspices and through agreements with affiliate institutions. They include programs in Cortona and Verona, Italy; Innsbruck, Austria; Lima, Peru; and Kyoto, Japan. But none operates year-round, and only a fraction of our students can participate in these and other programs.
Last year, I appointed an International Studies Committee composed of faculty, administrators, and students to recommend ways to strengthen and expand our foreign studies activities. That committee, led by professor Gary Bertsch, director of the Center for International Trade and Security, submitted an excellent report with many sound suggestions for increasing study abroad participation.
One of my specific requests to the committee was to recommend a site for our first year-round residential study-abroad center.
Based on the committee's recomendations, I selected Oxford because of its prestige, high visibility, and the immediate opportunity to start a year-round program there.
A center of scholarly inquiry for the European continent since the beginning of the 13th century, Oxford is perhaps best known as the university where winners of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship go to study. UGA has had a student study-abroad summer program there since 1989 and a spring program since 1994. In addition, at least 15 UGA faculty members have taught at Oxford in such areas as ecology, philosophy, international law, Anglo-American history, Shakespeare and Victorian literature.
An important benefit of the program is that both students and faculty have associate memberships in two of Oxford's major colleges, allowing them access to libraries and dining halls, as well as cultural, social, and athletic activities. Oxford extends this privilege to only three other schools—Boston University, Stanford, and Williams.
Our students and faculty have the unique opportunity to pursue scholarly interests using resources available nowhere else in the world. The Bodleian book collection, for example, opens doors to rare historical and literary works. A recent UGA paleography research project used the only existing copy of a manuscript from the British Museum, and a study of prints and print-making techniques was based on the 18th-century print collection at Worcester College.
The Oxford program is the first in what will become a network of University of Georgia residential study-abroad centers around the world. Over the next decade, we plan to develop a residential foreign-study program every 2-3 years in another part of the world, and to triple the number of students participating in study-abroad activities.
One of our overarching goals for the new millennium is to fulfill a bold vision set forth in the report of the International Studies Committee: "The University of Georgia has the capacity to become a national leader in international education programs. No more important legacy could be left as we enter the 21st—the international—century."
