Internationalizing the Study Abroad Classroom: An Intensive English Program at the American Graduate School in Paris

Abstract

The American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) is a not-for-profit institution founded in 1994 to provide U.S. higher education in France to students from around the world pursuing graduate degrees in International Relations, Diplomacy, and Business. Since 2008, AGS has partnered with Arcadia University located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, USA, to provide summer, semester, and academic year undergraduate study abroad programs in these fields. While current study abroad participants are undergraduate students pursuing degrees at U.S. institutions, AGS has recently received permission to internationalize the study abroad classroom by recruiting students from around the world. Because AGS courses are delivered exclusively in English, and maintaining the academic rigor of its study abroad program is of utmost importance to the institution, it has been deemed necessary to not only set appropriate English language requirements for prospective international students in this initial phase of recruitment, but to develop a future Intensive English Program (IEP) that would serve as a precursor or complementary course to enrollment in the undergraduate study abroad program. This Course-Linked Capstone provides a comprehensive plan for designing, delivering, and evaluating an IEP at AGS. Best practices in the fields of International Education, English as a Foreign Language, administration of Intensive English Programs, international student recruitment, and cultural learning have been reviewed and incorporated into the program design. This program seeks to diversify program offerings at AGS, increase accessibility of the current undergraduate study abroad program to a greater number of international participants, and foster a more global study abroad experience in which diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives are represented. Keywords: Intensive English Program, France, study abroad, orientation, cultural learning