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AmeriSpan: Why Affiliate?
Background
The Institute for International
Education reports a 145% increase in US
students studying abroad for credit
compared with 10 years ago.
Offering a wide selection of study
abroad programs is becoming a necessity
for many institutions but resources for
expanding study abroad options are
limited. So these institutions are left
with the challenge of how to increase
their study abroad offerings and
expertise without breaking their
budgets.
There are a
number of large study abroad
organizations including AmeriSpan that
already offer a wide variety of programs
and possess the expertise. Many
students are already participating on
these programs because these programs meet
the student's needs better than what their home
institutions offer. By affiliating
with one or more of these study abroad
organizations, home institutions benefit
in the following ways:
- Expanded
Offerings
– When your
institution signs an affiliate
agreement, your students have a
much broader choice of
programs. Students may
find a program that better
meets their individual needs
including: overall cost,
destination, course emphasis,
and program length.
- Budget
Help – Most
Affiliate Programs give
marketing grants and/or
contributions to the institution's
study abroad
office. This money can
be used to market study abroad
offerings, help financially
disadvantaged students,
facilitate faculty site visits
and many other ways.
- Site
Visits/Faculty Training
– Increasing an
institution's firsthand
knowledge of study abroad
programs will strengthen the
overall success of their study
abroad efforts.
Affiliate programs offer
faculty discounts (sometimes
free) site visits and/or
participation in study abroad
programs.
- Increased
Scholarships
– Affiliate Programs
offer special scholarships to
students enrolled at the
affiliated institutions.
- Lower
Prices – Because
study abroad organizations are
realizing economies of scale
by sending thousands of
students annually, their
programs are usually priced
lower than similar programs
offered by individual
institutions.
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