Teach for Study Abroad Programs

Two types of teaching abroad opportunities are currently available for WKU faculty. The first option, teaching through regional consortia and teaching exchanges through partner institutions, involve less logistical planning. Faculty members are primarily responsible for teaching their courses and leading study trips for their students, while the program director is responsible for administration of the entire program. The second option involves creation of a program from scratch and faculty serve both a teaching and administrative role.

Option #1: Teaching Abroad through Regional Consortia

These programs provide much of the planning, and logistical support is in the hands of the consortia administrators, rather than the faculty. For faculty, this is appealing since they are only responsible for course design and on-site instruction. WKU is part of two regional consortium programs: Kentucky Institute for International Studies(KIIS) and Cooperative Center for Study Abroad (CCSA). Both consortia offer courses in a very wide variety of academic disciplines; from traditional liberal arts courses in history, literature, and art to agriculture, business, the sciences, health care, and education. Both programs allow faculty from their member colleges and universities to teach in the specific country either one of the core courses or to propose new courses outside of the core.

Option #2: Teaching Abroad Through WKU Department

WKU encourages faculty to develop a faculty-led short-term study abroad and study travel programs at the departmental level. These are programs approved by the university in which responsible faculty accompany and teach students abroad for study or cross-cultural experiences. Such short-term study programs can be held during fall or spring break, Winter Session, or Summer Session. Although one-time offerings are welcomed and fully supported, OIP encourages faculty to develop programs that will be offered on a regular basis (annually, every two years, etc.). This assists in the recruitment of students and advertising of programs. This is part of an overall university goal of establishing a regular offering of WKU study abroad courses during the January and summer sessions. For more information, go to the Office of Academic Affairs Webpage.