Student Learning Outcomes

At Marist, more than 500 home campus-based students study abroad each year on a variety of study abroad programs. These programs are either run by Marist or are part of a portfolio of Marist-approved study abroad opportunities. Marist Abroad’s list of approved study abroad programs is maintained using the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards of Good Practice as a central reference. These processes are explained in more detail on the Marist Abroad website as well as in the Marist Abroad Guidelines for Program Affiliations and Approval.

Unlike single degree offerings with a set number of discrete courses, Marist Abroad students worldwide enroll in hundreds of courses each semester. These courses and academic programs are either supervised and formally assessed by Marist faculty and administrators (e.g., as in the case of the Marist Campus in Florence) or are approved by Departmental Chairs/Academic Deans for credit upon review of appropriate course materials.

Further, it is critical to underscore that Marist Abroad seeks to engage students throughout their Marist careers and not only during the period of a traditional “semester abroad.” The picture of study abroad is more complex: some students study abroad for their freshman year in Florence, many students study abroad more than once, and others add a short-term study abroad experience to their degree plan. Additionally, Marist’s strong participation rate (40-50 percent of graduates) supports an engaging, international dynamic on campus, in Marist classrooms, in co-curricular programming, and in student life. We encourage Marist Abroad Alumni to not “shoebox” their abroad experience, rather, to consistently reflect upon their time abroad, to share with the campus community, and to explore the significance of the experience throughout their academic, personal, and professional development.

Marist Abroad is committed to designing and delivering programs that support the acquisition of particular capacities in students, namely to develop a more global perspective of their major and to build intercultural competencies. Marist Abroad SLOs describe what students will demonstrate upon successfully completing our programs in terms of knowledge, values, and skills.

1. The international context of a field of study: Marist Abroad Alumni will be able to navigate the theory and practice of a chosen field of study, including integration of insights from international scholarship and application.
2. The diversity found in the world in terms of values, beliefs, ideas, and worldviews (sometimes referred to as “perspective consciousness”): Marist Abroad Alumni will be able to analyze in writing the differing worldviews of home and host cultures in relation to a specific cultural value or interpretation of cultural behavior.
3. The ability to reflect and integrate the lessons of classroom and experiential activities in order to examine, process, and gain new and evolving insight and perspective: Marist Abroad Alumni will be able to synthesize classroom and field-based experiences around one or more particular topics, demonstrating that the student’s evolving understanding is informed by both classroom theory and real-world practice.