Troels Dahl-Nielsen spends his mornings like many students at The University of Alabama – at the Ferguson Center Starbucks finishing up homework. The difference is, when Troels opens up Facebook for a study break, the page is in Danish.
Dahl-Nielsen is one of 1670 international students studying at The University of Alabama this semester, according to the 2013 UA International Student and Scholar Report. Dahl-Nielsen is currently a junior majoring in marketing and management communication at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, but is studying abroad here at the Capstone.
“If you go abroad, you put yourself in a new position,” Dahl-Nielsen said.
International Education Week is a national initiative that spans from Monday, Nov. 11, to Tuesday, Nov. 19, to raise interest in international education and involvement. IEW began in 2000 as a collaboration between the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Education. Now, there are participants in more than 100 countries worldwide, ranging from colleges and universities down to elementary schools.
The University of Alabama is participating in IEW by offering a series of events throughout the week focusing on the international presence on campus as well as opportunities for current UA students to learn about other cultures. Events will include a study abroad panel, international movie screenings, a world soccer tournament and an art and photo contest.
Brittnay McMillian is a study abroad coordinator and advisor at Capstone International Academic Programs. She said she believes IEW will emphasize the international aspect on campus, including both UA students going abroad and international students sharing their culture here on campus.
“I think it’s important that UA students are aware that there are other cultures, other nationalities and other ethnicities on this campus besides their own,” McMillian said. “Whether that awareness comes through going to an international food tasting or going to an international film screening or learning how they can go to other countries. We’re trying to make them aware that this exists.”
Dahl-Nielsen said there are great benefits to studying abroad for college students at the University and across the globe.
“When you always work within the same framework, it limits your ability to do something different, which is very much required by the global economy,” Dahl-Nielsen said. “It [studying abroad] gives you a global mindset, which makes you able to see all encounters from relative angles and put yourself in another’s position, which I think is very valuable.”
Through International Education Week, UA students will be able to create their own international experience through on-campus events as well as possible global travel.
More information, including a full calender of events, can be found at studyabroad.ua.edu.
