University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies
Encyclopedia
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. This center provides a university-wide framework for students, faculty, other scholars who have an interest in international studies. UCIS encompasses centers for area studies and centers on topical specializations in international studies. It coordinates international education curricula and provides support services such as the Study Abroad Program, which helps students study abroad during their college experience. It does not offer degrees but awards certificates of attainment to degree candidates in the University's schools. Carl Beck served as the first director of the UCIS.
Centers
UCIS also coordinates centers for area studies and centers on topical specializations in international studies. Within UCIS, there are six component studies centers have been competitively designated National Resource Centers by the United States Department of EducationUnited States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
making the university one of only 17 to claim four or more study programs designated as such. These National Resource designated centers include the East Asian component of the Asian Studies Center, Center for Latin American Studies
Center for Latin American Studies – University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Latin American Studies, commonly known as CLAS, is a National Resource Center on Latin America. The Center, founded in 1964 as part of the university's Center for International Studies, offers undergraduate and graduate students multidisciplinary training...
, Center for Russian and East European Studies, European Studies Center, the Global Studies Program, and the International Business Center. In addition, with the help of UCIS coordination, the University of Pittsburgh has received 115 grants funded through the U.S. Department of Education, the 14th most out of the 594 institutions of higher education receiving such International Education Programs Service grants.
In addition, Pitt's Asian Studies Center was awarded the first Confucius Institute
Confucius Institute
Confucius Institutes are non-profit public institutions that aim to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, as well as facilitating cultural exchanges. They are sometimes compared to language and culture promotion organizations such as France's...
in Pennsylvania by the Chinese Ministry of Education. Pitt's Confucius Institute has been named the Confucius Institute of the Year twice since 2007, including in 2011 when it was one of only 30 such designates world-wide, and one of only five in the United States. and has been named as one of six national sites of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA). Also, Pitt is home to one of just ten European Union Centers of Excellence in the U.S., funded by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
.
Study abroad
UCIS offers multiple programs for studying abroad. Several traditional two-way exchange programs, which allow students to pay the normal Pitt tuition, have been instituted between Pitt and multiple universities including those in Hong Kong, England, France, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Wales. In addition, special exchange programs for students in the College of Business AdministrationUniversity of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration
The College of Business Administration is one of the 17 schools of University of Pittsburgh located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to the undergraduate business education at the university and administration of the college is overseen by the Joseph M...
and Swanson School of Engineering
Swanson School of Engineering
The Swanson School of Engineering is the engineering school of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846, The Swanson School of Engineering is the second or third oldest in the United States.- History :...
have been set up in France, Germany, Spain, and Uruguay.
Additional opportunities to study abroad also exist in Honors College
University of Pittsburgh Honors College
The University of Pittsburgh Honors College is an undergraduate college providing a program of advanced study at the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
Field Study in Mongolia; Mid-Term Break study in Paris and Rome; departmental programs in Turkey, Indian, Latin America, Spain, and Germany; Summer Language Institute programs in Sofia, Poland, Moscow, Slovakia, and Zagreb/Sarajevo/Belgrade. of other countries including Israel, Poland, and Russia.
UCIS also offers "Panther Programs" developed from various departments and schools within the University of Pittsburgh in which students are accompanied by a Pitt faculty member to teach one or more of their regularly taught courses abroad during regular semesters or the summer. Programs include "Pitt in" China, Cuba, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, India, Italy, London, Spain, Tanzania, France, Czech Republic and Poland, and Austria and Croatia. Additionally, the Pitt MAP, or Multi-region Academic Program, is be a semester-long globally comparative and academically rigorous study abroad experience in which multiple Pitt faculty and students will travel together to three sites, each on a different continent, taking courses designed to address one to the six Global Studies concentration themes.
Also offered is Plus3, a three-credit, two-week optional add-on to CBA's required Managing Complex Environments course and Engineering's ENG 12 course. The program is an international research project held immediately after the end of spring term and is targeted to students between their freshman and sophomore years. The program was awarded the Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education by the Institute for International Education.