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Forum on Education Abroad recognizes PLU for study away excellence
Forum on Education Abroad recognizes PLU for study away excellence
Image: Pacific Lutheran University has been recognized for conformity with the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad as established by the Forum on Education Abroad.
By Thomas Kyle-Milward
Marketing & Communication
TACOMA, WASH. (April 25, 2019) — Pacific Lutheran University has been recognized for substantial conformity with the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad as established by the Forum on Education Abroad, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, membership association recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as the Standards Development Organization (SDO) for the field of education abroad.
The Forum provides training and resources to education abroad professionals and its Standards of Good Practice are recognized as the definitive means by which the quality of education abroad programs may be judged.
For PLU to achieve this recognition required participation in an external review process known as QUIP (Quality Improvement Program for Education Abroad). QUIP is the only independent review system for education abroad and requires a multi-step process that begins with a self-study conducted by the applying institution and site visits by a Forum Peer Review Team to the PLU campus and to one of PLU’s Gateway programs abroad. It ends with a final determination by the members of the Forum Review Panel (FRP).
“Pacific Lutheran University has demonstrated that it is in substantial conformity with The Forum’s Standards of Good Practice, and maintains a commitment and dedication to offering high quality programs in education abroad at a level of excellence acceptable to the larger academic community,” wrote Melissa A. Torres, President and CEO of The Forum. The FRP “was impressed with the support from university leadership and the larger community for education abroad, the level of student and faculty participation, and the deep integration of study away curricula within the larger university curricula.”
PLU will now be one of just 21 institutions around the world to be recognized as a QUIP Review recipient, fitting when considering the university’s commitment to global education. Half of graduating seniors have taken advantage of the fact that PLU is a top-rated university for study away opportunities. Earlier this month, the Peace Corps named PLU a Top 5 volunteer-producing college/university for 2019 — 14 Lutes are currently working for Peace Corps in various different countries. Additionally, PLU has a proud tradition of producing Fulbright Scholars, with 104 recipients over the past 45 years.
“Recognition by the Forum is an honor and distinction,” said Tamara R. Williams, PLU’s Executive Director of the Wang Center, “but more important is that it makes visible the culmination of decades of hard work by many members of the PLU community that persist in the belief that global education is central to our institution’s mission of educating students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership and care – for other people, for their communities, and for the earth.”