THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM
A. An Introduction to the Curriculum
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Exploration is at the heart of a Global College education. As students begin their studies with the College, they will soon learn that this exploration occurs on many levels. Both personal exploration and international exploration are fundamental to the Global College experience and will provide students with ongoing opportunities for growth during their four years of study. It is academic exploration, however, which will ground these experiences for the students, creating a context in which to find meaning and provide them with the power to make their own contribution, once they reach a point in their exploration where they feel a calling towards a specific path. As students begin their academic exploration with Global College, it is reasonable for them to feel uncertain about where this education will lead them, or what it is that they will do afterwards. It is important, however, for them to focus on gaining the skills, theoretical understanding, and analytical prowess that will enable them to feel confident in their ability to make their own personal contribution once their time with Global College has come to a close. As students begin their studies, they should be aware of the skills that their experiences will impart on them, and they must strive to be proactive in acquiring these skills: |
• Increased Global Awareness Students develop a solid understanding of the broader world, its natural systems and nations, their characteristics and their interrelationships.
• Stronger Analytical Skills Students learn how to analyze and evaluate the forces shaping international events and how the interaction among these forces affects global and local economic, political, and social development.
• Greater Ability to Leverage Diversity Students learn how to view international diversity as a resource, not a threat and through first-hand experience they observe how diversity can be leveraged through intercultural understanding and effective communication.
• Advanced Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Students learn how to use diverse cultural frames of reference and multiple perspectives to think critically and solve problems at local and global levels.
• High Level of Adaptability and Intercultural Sensitivity Students develop the ability to adapt, reinterpret, and restructure their own behavior when in international and multicultural contexts.
• Effective Cross-Cultural Communication Skills Students develop a critical level of understanding and awareness that allows them to interact easily with international and immigrant populations in the communities where they live, and to work and function within complex culturally-diverse systems at local and global levels.
• Proficiency in Writing and Research Students develop the research, writing and cross-cultural communication skills that allow them to conduct high-quality qualitative independent research both in the United States and abroad.
• Increased International Leadership Skills Students and graduates will continue to contribute important international perspectives to the economic, educational, and cultural development of their home and host communities.
• Fine-Tuned Ethical Awareness Students are exposed to ethical issues in the global as well as the local sphere. Students graduate with an enhanced understanding of the importance of ethical behavior and their own responsibilities as global citizens to uphold ethical principles.
• Increased Language Proficiency Graduates will be proficient in at least one foreign language. Many will have basic communication skills in a second or third language and have an increased ability to learn new languages.
• Increased Capacity to Effect Social Change Students affected by the social issues they study in each region wish to contribute positively towards addressing these issues. Through the four years of the program, students learn what can be done, how to do it and what the alternatives are.
Students
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As students begin their Global College education and seek to acquire these skills, it is important for them to understand the modern context in which their studies are framed, and the unique situation that our planet faces. The early years of the 21st century have been marked by astonishing technological advances, increased interconnectedness among people and nations, shifting patterns in international migration and environmental conditions, tension between “defenders of tradition” and “advocates of modernity” in every religion and culture, and the emergence of China and India as global economic powers. As citizens of this world, we must study a new set of issues that are not merely national or even international but global. The following questions should be used as guiding queries throughout students’ four years of academic exploration: |
• How can local, national and international development continue in a sustainable way without having a negative impact on the world’s already fragile environment or on the quality of life for all people concerned?
• How can conflicts among nations, religions, cultures and races be transformed through greater understanding and appreciation of difference and diversity?
• How can civil society respond to the challenges of modernity and globalization by offering compelling alternative solutions to local and global problems?
It is through work both inside and outside of the classroom that students will find answers to these questions. To ensure that students are equipped to do so, Global College has created a structured and focused curriculum with freedom of academic subjects through independent study. Global College utilizes classroom and field-based seminars, low faculty to student ratios, community-based service learning, directed independent study projects, internships, and one-on-one tutorials in an effort to accommodate the varied learning styles of students as they search for the answers to these questions.
During their first year in Costa Rica, students will learn fundamental approaches to the study of culture through selected foundational texts in the humanities and social sciences. They will also learn introductory approaches to fieldwork through basic assignments conducted locally under close faculty supervision. Upon first-year introduction to these texts, methods, and anthropological and sociological theories, progression throughout subsequent years at Global College will be clearly defined through the increasing sophistication of texts and theory.
