USCBe Informed: News & Happenings

USCB Chosen for Transatlantic Mobility Program to Increase Study Abroad With France

France seems a little closer to the South Carolina Lowcountry now, after the University of South Carolina Beaufort was selected this year for a French initiative to encourage study abroad. 

USCB is one of six U.S. colleges and universities chosen for the French Embassy of the United States’ 2021 Transatlantic Mobility Program. The program’s goal is to double the number of students from France and the United States studying abroad in each country by 2025. This year, the program is focused on increasing diversity in study-abroad programs, both in areas of study and student profiles.

USCB is one of the smallest universities selected for the 2021 Transatlantic Mobility Program. Other U.S. awardees include University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Washington University in St. Louis; University of Illinois at Chicago; Northeastern University and Davidson-Davie Community College.  All applicants submitted proposals that were evaluated on how the intended projects would encourage the greatest number of students to participate in a study-abroad program.

The program awarded USCB a $10,000 grant to support its students who want to study abroad in France. Each participating U.S. college or university partners with a French institution of higher education, with the goal of exchanging both students and faculty. 

“With our partner l’Université de Bordeaux Montaigne, we are extremely proud to be a collaborator in the Transatlantic Mobility Program,” said USCB Chancellor Dr. Al M. Panu. “This program can help our underserved and underrepresented students have access to study abroad in France.”

USCB’s connection with Bordeaux began in 2019, when Dr. Panu was selected to be a Fulbright Scholar in France in a higher education administrator’s program that seeks to establish ties and partnerships. There he met Dr. Bernard Calas of the l’Université de Bordeaux Montaigne. Because both regions are home to a plurality of cultures with ties to each other and to Africa, the two leaders realized they could collaborate to benefit both institutions and their students.

USCB proposed both in-person study abroad opportunities and innovative technological practices to increase student participation in international education.

This coming summer, USCB faculty members Dr. Juanita Babet Villena-Alvarez and Dr. Najmah Thomas plan to take a group of up to 15 USCB students to study in France for four weeks, with side trips into surrounding regions of the country. The students will complete a 3-credit course that explores French and American historical and multi-cultural themes. 

USCB will also continue and expand a program it started last year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The University’s French discipline developed a virtual exchange program in collaboration with l’Université de Paris-Nanterre- Institut Universitaire de Technologie (UofP-IUT). This opportunity for joint virtual classes, interviews and meetings helped students of both nationalities develop academic, technical, linguistic and cross-cultural skills at a time when travel was impossible. 

USCB also plans to establish a student-led International Ambassadors training and recruitment program to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in its study abroad programs.

Because the cost often prevents students from taking advantage of international educational opportunities, Dr. Panu is inviting local sponsors to provide additional grants to support students who need help in order to participate in the Summer 2022 program in France. Foundations, corporations and individuals who value global connections are encourage to donate.

For more information about international programs at USCB and the French Transatlantic Mobility Program, contact Dr. Juanita Babet Villena-Alvarez,  Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, at (843) 521-4152 or jivillen@uscb.edu