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For many years , at the College of Business and Public Administration of California State University San Bernardino , we focused on managing the logistics and the arrangements for study abroad on our own , with a view to making our programs most affordable and enriching . We had dialogs with several study abroad providers , but all of them offered very expensive short-term programs focused primarily on the executive MBA market . These providers excelled in providing an exclusive experience for an exclusive and privileged group of students .
Our focus was to provide an inclusive experience for an inclusive group of students , irrespective of their socio-economic and generational status . We have always targeted both undergraduate and graduate students , and have loved to include both business and non-business students in our programs . This allows business students to benefit from the reflective perspective of the liberal art students and from the analytical perspective of the science students , while developing confidence in sharing their own perspective across disciplines . We found no study abroad provider who could support our vision and mission of broadest inclusion and greatest impact .
With our in-house efforts , we achieved success in raising study abroad participation rate among our 4000 + students in the college of business and public administration to nearly 10 %, from almost zero , over a five-year period . Our goal has been to double that percentage , to meet the 20 % target established by President Obama as necessary to help sustain the leadership role of the USA in the global economy . However ,
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Our focus was to provide an inclusive experience for an inclusive group of students , irrespective of their socio-economic and generational status . |
because of the resource constraints , it was difficult for us to make any further progress . As we added more and more programs , managing logistics took even more time , even though we needed to devote more efforts in educating our overwhelmingly first generation students about the value of studying abroad . We finally decided to slow down , and double up our efforts to look for a like-minded strategic partner .
CSU San Bernardino Partners with ARAMFO
In 2014 , we were fortunate to find ARAMFO – a foundation committed to promoting affordable and engaging short-term study abroad experiences ARAMFO is able to do so because of the range of partnerships they have formed with local partners in nations around the world ; the partners who
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understand the nuances of their local markets and are able to find high value lodging , transportation , and program manager gems . After a thorough vetting process , we decided to run a pilot of conducting all our study abroad programs for a year through ARAMFO .
During the year , ARAMFO staff worked closely with our faculty and staff to consider our specific needs – our learning objectives , our academic calendar , and our faculty expertise . They worked flexibly and professionally , with an eye towards the highest levels of academic standards . They gave shape to the ideas of our faculty across disciplines by arranging valuable field visits , expert dialogs , and courserelated cultural excursions that met faculty vision of a highquality , transformative student experience . ARAMFO responded quickly when faculty asked for changes . They also offered valuable support in recruiting and advertising the program .
From an administrative perspective , it was very refreshing that we could depend on ARAMFO for arranging all the logistics , and pay for the entire program using a single invoice , instead of dealing with cash advances or reimbursement for numerous receipts .
As we worked through our relationship , our faculty recognized that it will be best if they worked as collaborators . We wanted our faculty to be able to use their expertise and outreach to make special connections with chambers of commerce , universities and local experts , to complement the efforts of ARAMFO . ARAMFO respected our decision and accommodated our requests and meeting schedules . We learnt
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