Northeastern Voice

Summit to coordinate, elevate experiential learning on global scale

Jack Greene

Top officials involved in all facets of experiential learning at Northeastern will hold a formal dialogue in early April to begin working more closely on shared programs and goals, as the university prepares to expand and deepen its commitment to international student experiences.

The Experiential Learning Summit on April 11 will gather Northeastern’s leaders on cooperative education, study abroad, student research and Dialogues of Civilization, among other programs, to begin “stepping a little more toward each other,” said Jack Greene, the vice provost for experiential education.

“Our hope is that we can use this as the vanguard of a new way of thinking about experiential education and the overlapping contributions made all across this university,” Greene said. “We’re creating a loose network structure that allows them to still be innovative … but allows them to work, vertically and horizontally, more closely.”

Greene said Northeastern’s leadership in experiential education continues to manifest itself in a growing number of cities around the world (see the list of cities below). “This campus has long had an international framework,” he said.

The vice provost said he hopes to create Northeastern “platforms” in several cities that will both draw on and support experiential learning programs, of which co-op is the most salient.

The university placed co-op students in 54 cities in 33 countries outside the United States in 2007, according to a report recently compiled by Greene. When other experiential learning programs are folded in, Northeastern’s presence expanded to 88 cities in 46 other countries. Domestically, students were in 474 U.S. cities in 37 states.

Co-op students last year worked in London and Edinburgh, Shanghai and Beijing, Paris and Rome, Istanbul and Cairo, and dozens of other cities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

As Greene contemplates building out Northeastern’s “experiential learning platforms,” he said, he has identified several strategic areas outside the United States: London/Edinburgh/Dublin; Australia/Singapore/Hong Kong; Guatemale and Costa Rica; South Africa; Buenos Aires; Ankara; and Cairo.

Domestically, there are 10 targeted metro areas spanning the length and breadth of the country.

Co-op around the world

In 2007, Northeastern students worked at co-op jobs in these cities around the globe.

Argentina: Buenos Aires

Australia: Currumbin, Melbourne, Sydney

Brazil: Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro

British Virgin Islands: Tortola

Canada: Quebec, Sherwood Park, Toronto, Vancouver

China: Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai

Croatia: Zagreb

Egypt: Cairo

England: Elstree, London

Finland: Helsinki

France: Bonneville, Cedex, Paris

Germany: Berlin, Frankfurt am Main

Greece: Ioannina

Haiti: Port-au-Prince

India: Mumbai

Israel: Jerusalem

Italy: Rome, Torino

Japan: Yokohama

Kenya: Kakunga

Lithuania: Vilnius

Peru: Arequipa, Cusco, Lima

Portugal: Lagos

Saudi Arabia: Dhahran

Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness

South Africa: Cape Town, Guilford

South Korea: Seoul

Spain: Granada, Seville

Switzerland: Muttenz

Syria: Damascus

Thailand: Saraburi

The Netherlands: Gouda

Trinidad: Port of Spain

Turkey: Ankara, Istanbul

United Arab Emirates: Dubai