Degree Name

MA in International Education

First Advisor

Sora Friedman

Abstract

The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) is a study abroad third party provider that has sent students on programs around the world for over the past 60 years. CIEE is an organization that believes in meaningfully interacting, engaging, and connecting with its participants - however, in those 60 years, CIEE has never designed programming specifically for its study abroad returnees. The proposed programming design was created to mutually benefit CIEE and its alumni.

The needs assessment and data analysis in this paper reveal that the students’ connection to CIEE should not end after returning from overseas and that social media can be an important tool for reaching alumni. The four components of the new CIEE alumni programming design will be the creation of an alumni database, an alumni network Facebook page, an alumni ambassador program, and regional alumni presentation nights.

The alumni presentation nights will provide a medium for students to synthesize all that they have learned abroad and also will serve as an opportunity for CIEE to market its programs. The style of the presentations is based off of a unique presentation style called Pecha Kucha, in which each presenter is allowed to show 20 slides, and can only show each slide for 20 seconds. This gives presenters a total of six minutes and 40 seconds to tell their study abroad story.

Each component of the new alumni programming design will meet the overall objective of creating a sustainable alumni network that will serve as a support system for alumni and also as a powerful marketing tool for CIEE to engage future study abroad participants. This paper discusses why and how a more focused approach to alumni programming will be beneficial for CIEE and for students.

Disciplines

International and Comparative Education | Other Education

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