What does OIE do?

We coordinate international education initiatives, including: recruiting international students and scholars; providing cross-cultural advising for international students; developing partnerships for collaborative research and student and faculty exchange relationships; creating international service learning opportunities; and developing education-abroad programs.

We also provide legal and cross-cultural advising to international graduate students, and administer an English as a Second Language program for them.

OIE also offers a program for graduate teaching assistants. Marquette has more than 500 undergraduate and graduate students from 75 countries. About 16 percent of Marquette graduates participate in a study abroad experience as undergraduates — about 500 students a year. The national average is 3 percent, so it speaks volumes about the value our students place on the study abroad experience.

OIE manages the South Africa Service Learning Program as well as the Madrid Program, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in November — truly a great success story.

How do study abroad experiences benefit the Marquette community?

Having students from other countries in our classrooms, expressing perspectives from their worldview, enriches our classrooms. And certainly, study abroad experiences contribute to the global awareness of Marquette students.

A research study showed that when people between the ages of 15 and 25 have a significant cross-cultural experience, it is one of the defining factors in determining their vocational commitment to the common good. Here at Marquette that is expressed in the mission of forming “men and women for others.”

What aspect of OIE are you particularly proud of?

Marquette’s South Africa Service Learning Program is a national model of international service learning. Marquette is one of only a handful of American universities with semester long service learning programs in Capetown, South Africa.We are partnered with the Desmond Tutu Peace Center, which provides courses in which students connect the theoretical with the practical in service learning placements in Capetown townships.

What’s next for OIE?

We want to increase the number of international students and scholars to provide greater diversity of worldviews on campus, and partner with overseas universities that provide Marquette faculty with teaching and research opportunities; such partnerships already exist with institutions in China, Japan, Germany and Poland, among others.

We also want to increase study abroad and international service-learning opportunities for Marquette students, and continue to develop Marquette Global, our e-newsletter. Regarding our study abroad program, we want to increase and integrate our curriculum with overseas academic programs so freshmen can incorporate study abroad into their baccalaureate degree plans.

If a student is interested in studying abroad, what’s the first thing he or she should do?

All students should start by visiting the Office of International Education in the Alumni Memorial Union, Room 425, or by visiting our Web site at marquette.edu/oie. In both locations is the list of geographic locations where students can study overseas, and descriptions of how individual locations specifically fit with a student’s language proficiency and major.

We also request that all students attend a general information session, where they can get answers to all their questions. After the general session, all business majors should make an appointment with adviser Dr. Jamshid Hosseini; all other students should make an appointment with OIE’s Mindy Schroeder. Contact information for each is on our Web site.

What does international education add to a student’s Marquette experience?

As University President Robert A. Wild, S.J., has said, “We must prepare our students to succeed in a global society.” It is envisioned by Marquette that with the help and collaboration of deans, faculty, administrative staff and students, OIE will be at the vortex of preparing Marquette students both on campus — through the presence and vitality of 600 international students and scholars — and overseas, through academic programs, international curricular service-learning programs, internships and mutually beneficial educational partnerships — to become global citizens passionate about seeking a better world

It's a big world

About Marquette's Office of International Education

Where Marquette students study abroad