Georgia State University has been recognized with a prestigious national award for its efforts to “infuse international, intercultural and global dimensions” into student life and academic curriculum.
The university took home the Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization, named after the late senator from Illinois, on Feb. 14.
It was granted by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a national group that aims to advance international education.
“With this honor, global engagement joins student success, commitment to undergraduate teaching and research excellence as an area where Georgia State stands as a national model. The Simon Award is a credit to all those individuals at the university who believe in the importance of accessible global experiences,” said Wolfgang Schlör, Georgia State’s associate provost for International Initiatives in a news release.
The nod comes on the heels of other innovations in the realm of international education at Georgia State, some of which had already received national attention.
Last April, GSU won the Heiskell Award for its free passport program, designed to help students that had never traveled internationally before take the first step toward studying abroad.
That was one factor in Georgia State’s ability to send more Black students abroad than any other public university in the country. Another is a scholarship fund that for nearly 20 years has been replenished by a mandatory international education fee. Students can apply for scholarships from the fund up to $1,000, and applications lodged there are automatically considered for additional support from the Georgia State University foundation. In 2018-19, more than International Education Fee scholarships worth $1 million were provided to 935 students.
In addition, more than 1,300 students were participating in a virtual exchange program in the fall of 2022, and Georgia State hosted and supported more than 4,000 international students from 150 countries (including its two-year Perimeter College campuses) last year.
GSU was one of just four schools around the U.S. in 2023 that received Simon awards for 2023.
Read more about GSU’s initiatives to improve access to international education, particularly during the pandemic, in this sponsored article:
How Georgia State Grew International Outreach During a Global Shutdown
GSU-CIBER is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Education Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Education newsletters.