About Global Education

Global Education at FDU

At Fairleigh Dickinson University, we believe that global education is much more than having international campuses or exchange programs. It is also a curriculum that ensures that all of our students will be able to succeed in a world marked by interdependence, diversity and rapid change. A global education is one that provides knowledge and understanding of culture, language, geography and global perspectives.

A global education trains students to rapidly access and evaluate a wealth of international information resources. Most importantly, a global education is one that enables students to understand the world through the eyes of others and teaches them how their actions can affect, and be affected by people throughout the world. These ideas are not new — indeed they reflect the essential nature of a liberal arts education. Yet, at the dawn of the 21st century, they have never been more relevant.

  • International
    Two international campuses, dozens of study abroad and exchange opportunities, and a special relationship with the United Nations
  • Intercultural
    Our students, hailing from more than 90 different countries, share their unique experiences with the campus
  • Interactive
    Our students interact with faculty around the world in on-line and hybrid courses through our groundbreaking Global Virtual Faculty program
  • Interdisciplinary
    The nationally recognized University Core program provides interdisciplinary insights into global issues, cross-cultural perspectives, the nature of individuality, and the American experience

Two Global Learning Goals

Two very different models of global education have emerged in the United States during the past decade. The first model seeks to prepare college graduates for personal success in the global marketplace, where individuals can reasonably expect to change professions several times over a working lifetime. In an era of globalization and rapidly evolving technologies students must prepare not merely for their first job but must develop general competencies that will help them throughout their careers. The second model seeks to prepare graduates for responsible membership in the global community. As people and places grow increasingly interdependent, and the causes and solutions to global problems grow increasingly complex, individuals must possess the general competencies needed to enjoy the rights and fulfill the responsibilities of full and equal membership in the global community.

At Fairleigh Dickinson University, we are committed to both the community and the marketplace models of global learning and, indeed, the University´s mission statement invokes both approaches:

  • Global Learning Goal #1
    To prepare students through global education for professional success in the global marketplace
  • Global Learning Goal #2
    To prepare students through global education for responsible membership in the global community

Our Mission

"Fairleigh Dickinson University is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. The University strives to provide students with the multidisciplinary, intercultural, and ethical understandings necessary to participate, lead, and prosper in the global marketplace of ideas, commerce and culture."
— Mission Statement, Board of Trustees

Fairleigh Dickinson University opened its doors at the start of World War II with an innovative and ambitious goal: to provide its students with an education “of and for the world.” Today, our University considers its founding mission more relevant and urgent than ever before. Our recently reaffirmed mission, simply stated, is to be “a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education.

A global education is much more than having international campuses or exchange programs. It is also a curriculum that ensures that all of our students will be able to succeed in a world marked by interdependence, diversity and rapid change. A global education is one that provides knowledge and understanding of culture, language, geography and global perspectives. A global education trains students to rapidly access and evaluate a wealth of international information resources. Most importantly, a global education is one that enables students to understand the world through the eyes of others and teaches them how their actions can affect, and be affected by people throughout the world.

Previous Global Education Programs

  • Global Enterprise Network (GEN)
  • Global Young Voices (GYV)
  • American Council on Education Internationalization Cooperative Membership
  • The American Council on Education Internationalization Collaborative
  • The International Association of University Presidents
  • African Union Commission (AUC)
  • Scholar Rescue Fund
  • Global Young Voices (GYV)