Abstract:

The University of British Columbia – Okanagan is located in the beautiful Okanagan Valley in the central interior of British Columbia, Canada. The Universidad de Quintana Roo is located on the beautiful Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. These institutions are very different in many ways. We have been experimenting with an international field school model which will allow students from each institution to combine academic and cultural exchange experiences while avoiding all of the usual complications associated with exchange agreements, transfer credit, international tuition fees, and program fit.
UBC Okanagan will create an international field school composed of three courses. These courses will be taught during the summer months. All Courses will be taught by UBC Okanagan faculty to UBC Okanagan students. A portion of the field school will be delivered on the Universidad de Quintana Roo campus in Chetumal Mexico thanks to the generous offer of UQROO to provide classroom space for UBC Okanagan students and faculty.
Universidad de Quintana Roo will create an international field school composed of three courses. These courses will be taught during the summer months. All Courses will be taught by UQROO faculty to UQROO students. A portion of the program will be delivered on the UBC Okanagan campus in Kelowna, BC, Canada thanks to the generous offer of UBC Okanagan to provide classroom space for UQROO students and faculty.
This project has been approved as a pilot to test its effectiveness for meeting our goals for internationalization. It is our intention to achieve all of the following with this model.
- Facilitate development of intercultural fluency.
- Facilitate diversity of educational experience.
- Support faculty connections with other international institutions.
- Support and facilitate visiting international faculty and students.
- Provide an affordable international opportunity for both faculty and students.
- Enhance faculty/student interaction.
- Facilitate rigorous learning experience during international study.
- Extend the classroom to an international location.
Our presentation will provide information about challenges, barriers, solutions and benefits of the project we have developed.

Keywords:

International Summer Field School.