An innovative model for international undergraduate education

Educational exchange programs have a long academic history. Through such programs, students expand their knowledge of cultures in their home country and the larger world. Typically, students learn about a particular substantive area, such as politics, economics, health care, or language. There is also a loftier goal: to encourage understanding and respect for the people of other countries and share experiences with family and friends at home. In a biography of William J. Fulbright, the developer of the preeminent exchange program that bears his name, the senator is described as hoping that in a democratic country like the United States, "the knowledge and understanding of other cultures would inevitably trickle down through the educational system to those who were not privileged to travel abroad" (1, p. 131).