Faculty are invited to read the Spring 2018 memo "Updates on Study Away and Academic Developments at the Global Sites" from Linda G. Mills, Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice Provost for Global Programs and University Life. The memo provides information on academic programming at the global sites, study away enrollments, balancing study away and other academic goals, President Hamilton's priorities for the global network, new global leadership roles for faculty, and other topics of current interest.
Faculty are also invited to read the May 2017 report of the Faculty Working Group on Global Learning Objectives and a companion think piece by Professor Eliot Borenstein, Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network.
Departments and schools offer new and revamped offerings at the global sites
Several departments, institutes, and schools have created new academic offerings at the global sites over the past two years, including (but not limited to) Tisch's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music Future Pop Music Studies program in Berlin; Silver's Master of Social Work semester away program in Buenos Aires; the College of Global Public Health's Cross-Continental Master of Public Health in Accra, Abu Dhabi, and Washington, DC; and the NYU Leadership Initiative's Global Leadership Scholars program in Washington, DC. Others have expanded their offerings or revamped selected courses to better meet the evolving needs and interests of students. More new offerings are happening in 2018, including a Computer Science pathway in Paris for majors from all four CS programs at NYU (i.e., Courant, Tandon, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai); Steinhardt's Education Studies BA program in Accra and Buenos Aires; and Stern's Executive MBA program in Washington, DC.
STEM offerings also continue to expand around the network. In addition to new Computer Science offerings in Paris and the comprehensive offerings available in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai, four global sites (i.e., Florence, London, Sydney, and Tel Aviv) now feature essential courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, many of which include laboratory components. New this fall in Sydney, for example, were Biochemistry I and General Physics I (with lab).
The current list of partnerships and affiliations is here, and departmental leaders interested in exploring new opportunities at the global sites should contact us at global.feedback@nyu.edu.
Efforts are underway to make study away more affordable
The Office of Global Programs (OGP) has instituted a number of changes to make NYU's study away programs more affordable. A recent policy provides more flexibility to waive study away deposits, removing a barrier that could prevent some students from participating. OGP prioritized the review of housing costs at global sites and has identified new, renegotiated, or additional housing options at several sites to provide lower-cost options for students who choose to study away. In fact, typical room and board costs are substantially lower at some global locations than in New York, making study away one way for students to reduce their overall costs of attendance. In line with efforts at Washington Square, departments have also begun to offer more 2-credit courses at the global sites to help students who want to accelerate their degree progress do so.
Although not new, the University also offers many scholarships to help students with demonstrated need for financial support cover any incremental costs of study away. Over the past three years, for example, NYU has awarded almost 3,000 Global Pathways Scholarship (GPS) grants for study away, which stack on top of students' existing financial aid packages. These grants average nearly $2,600 per student per semester. Many students are eligible for a range of other University and school awards, as well.
Opportunities for faculty to engage with the global network continue to expand
Over the past few years, opportunities for faculty to engage with and take advantage of the global network have continued to expand. In addition to teaching and research at the three portal campuses, there are programs available at the 11 global sites to support academic program development and planning, individual faculty (and graduate student) research, and conferencing. Information about these opportunities can be found here.
Short-term faculty visits to the global sites. From October 2014 to September 2017, OGP funded and facilitated 81 short-term visits to the global sites for faculty members from eight different schools. Offered for the purpose of programmatic and curricular development, these site visits allow faculty to explore ways to establish or enhance a department's local connections and academic offerings at a specific site, and/or to explore the potential for innovative cross-departmental or cross-school offerings in collaboration with others. The application for short-term site visits can be found here, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Global Research Initiatives. The Provost's Global Research Initiatives (GRI) programs support research-related activities. For example, faculty and graduate students may apply for support (e.g., travel, office space, limited administrative support, a modest per-diem) to conduct research for a month or longer at nine different locations. Other GRI programs can support international events (e.g., conferences, workshops, exchanges); extended visits by international colleagues to the New York campus; and summer dissertation-writing workshops for doctoral students.