WHEREAS, The California Community College Guided Pathways aim to give students skills, credentials, and socioeconomic mobility [1], and the study abroad programs offer unique opportunities to cultivate skills that employers seek in their applicants, increasing the likelihood of employment and better income [7];
WHEREAS, Cultural diplomacy is an essential part of peaceful international relations, and individual knowledge of the world and personal connections are significant to such endeavors as community building at home and peace processes across the globe [8];
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges seek to advance equity for students [1], and given that the government-sponsored study abroad program applications are competitive, and the cost of non-scholarship programs are prohibitively costly to many of our students, majority of whom are non-Caucasian, and qualify as Perkins V Special Populations of disadvantaged people [2, 3], also the same groups who are the minority in study abroad participation across the board [6]; and
WHEREAS, Some California Community Colleges, such as Hartnell College [4] and Santa Monica College [5], offer study abroad programs which have been operating successfully for decades, thereby providing sustainable and meaningful operational models; Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges encourage each California community college explore ways to make a study abroad program available for their students;
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work with the Chancellor's Office to establish a study abroad access pathway, similar to California State University International Programs and UC Education Abroad Program, with funding set aside by the Chancellor's Office that remains within the said office to provide fair opportunities for California Community College students.
Citations:
[1] https://www.cccco.edu/College-Professionals/Guided-Pathways
[2]https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/Research-An…
[3] https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/pk/pops.asp
[4] https://hartnellfoundation.org/boronda-international-study-program/
[5] https://www.smc.edu/student-support/international-education/study-abroa…
[6] https://www.nafsa.org/policy-and-advocacy/policy-resources/trends-us-st…
[7] https://studyabroad.ucmerced.edu/study-abroad-statistics/statistics-stu…
[8] https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1150064.pdf
Student Senate for
California Community
Colleges