Annual Report 2018-19

• Overall participation on IAP programs has grown from 1,502 in 2014-15, to 1,834 in 2018-19: a 22% increase in the past 5 years.  IAP enjoyed a fourth straight year of participant increases. Non-UW student participation saw a 95% increase to 82 students.
• Campus student demographics (residency, ethnicity) closely matches those of IAP participants, with the exception of a greater gender gap (towards female) for study abroad than on-campus.
• The number of international students who participate on IAP programs reached its highest level this year (99 students), a 150% increase over the past 10 years.
• Over 90% of participants stated that their study abroad experience helped develop the four core expectations of all IAP study abroad programs: understand and navigate cultural and geographic differences, increase flexibility, increase adaptability, and increase independence.
• Supporting IAPs mission to be well integrated with on-campus academics, 87% of participants stated their program experience allowed them to apply knowledge learned from my UW classes and 80% stated that they earned either Major, Certificate, or Gen Ed credits.

Participation Report 2018-19

Currently 226 Programs in 68 Countries on 6 Continents.

118 Majors/Departments granting study abroad credit.

This past year saw continued diversification of program sites and models, while maintaining the core integration of program academics with on-campus majors.  Two-thirds of the new programs approved this past year were located outside of Europe.  This past summer saw the successful implementation of our first summer launch program: 16 incoming students participated in UW Rebels and Revolutions in Ireland in August of 2019 with Professor and Chair of Political Science, John Zumbrunnen, prior to the start of the first-semester at UW Madison.  Participants cited the ability to develop a cohort with classmates and faculty mentor at the start of their university career was a core benefit of the program. Based on these successes, IAP is developing a second option for incoming students for 2020 as well as a first-year abroad program.  These opportunities will further serve as a strong attractor for students admitted to UW-Madison who are also considering other university offers.

Looking at the impact of program structure on participation rates, France saw a 62% increase in participation over the past year, primarily due to allowing students to study on the UW in Paris program without a prior language prerequisite, while Australia saw a 48% increase primarily due to the shifting of Spring semester dates on one program to align with UW-Madison Spring semester.

UW-Madison’s reputation for language programs abroad also received a boost this past year as we developed 3 new study abroad programs in Seoul in support of the newly awarded UW-Madison Korean Flagship Program, a rigorous program for undergraduates who want to reach a professional level of competence in Korean, funded by the Language Flagship of the National Security Education Program.  This initiative complements our existing language intensive programs in support of the Russian Flagship Program, the South Asia Flagship Languages Initiative, and the Indonesian Flagship Language Initiative.

The collaboration with the Office of Student Financial Aid to reach new student populations and new program locations continued to grow through the Global Gateway Initiative, sending 30 students in total to India and Botswana.  100% of program participants stated they would strongly “recommend this program to other students,” with one student commenting “I expect this study abroad experience to increase my involvement on campus, in the pursuit of learning and contributing more to our campus community…this program has ignited my desire to work with diverse populations and continually be learning about the world and its people.”  A third destination, Peru, is in development to be added in Summer 2020 alongside India and Botswana, to serve a total of 45 first- and second-year need-based students.

Continuing to advance our support to international activities across campus, IAP developed a new program shell to support “one-off” activities abroad involving faculty and groups of students as well as a mechanism to support undergraduate students receiving an NSEP Boren or FLAS scholarship.

Programs Report 2018-19

IAP continued its work in four key areas:

• Access, Diversity, and Inclusion
• New Program and Initiatives
• Cross Campus Partnerships and Communication
• Office Climate and Development

In the realm of cross-campus partnerships, collaborations across all study abroad offices has come to fruition, with programs within the Wisconsin School of Business and the College of Engineering working under the new partnership with IAP commencing in Summer 2019.

Program access continues to be a core goal, with $1,571,166 provided in scholarship funds, from both external and internal sources, towards IAP program participation in Fiscal Year 2019, a 13% increase over the previous year.

Incorporating those partnerships, the expanded funding for students, as well as exciting program growth including Global Gateway and Global Launch described in the previous section has been a core focus of our office this past year, and will continue into the coming years.  The specific progress towards our key focus areas, described below, well demonstrate the breadth and depth of our efforts to continuously improve the study abroad experience for our students at UW-Madison.

Operations Report 2018-19