The global mission of SNHU is continuing with a new school opening next year. The School of International Education was announced by Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Evans and UC President Patty Lynott in an email sent to staff over the winter break. This move will seek to consolidate many aspects of international students’ college experience, alongside language classes and the Study Abroad program.
On the formation of the new school Lynott said, “I thought, why don’t we try consolidating everything that touches the international student’s experience. Let’s see if we can’t be more efficient, let’s see if we can’t recruit a larger number of students, and let’s see if the teaching can even improve.”
The project will start small at first. No new components are in the works, and it is largely a decision to create a more efficient experience for students. Evans said, “At the very beginning we’re pulling together things that already exist on campus. With that base will then ask ourselves how we can make it bigger and better, looking to see if there are there courses, programs or degrees that we could be offering.”
In whole the school is expected to house the Institute for Language Education, International Student Recruitment, International Student Services and Study Abroad.
A highlight for many students may be the merging of language education and Study Abroad. This new combination will help students preparing to study in another country. Language classes could be offered semesters before going abroad, meaning that many more students will have the ability to speak more in the country they go to.
“If you understand even just some of the basics of the language and how to function in the language, your experience is going to be dramatically easier. If all you know is English you’ll tend to go to the restaurants that have English menus, and you’ll follow English signs, and you’re missing out on a whole lot of the point of going there in the first place,” said Evans.
It may be a small rollout at first, but the new school has an opportunity to make a big change on campus. This will help international students get resources in a more organized manner and will allow any student going abroad to do so even more efficiently. Lynott says, “This is an effort to make sure international education and international experiences are a part of this campus.”
