Formalizing Our Values
Academic excellence transcends the classroom. We believe that study abroad changes lives, and changed lives change the world.
Our guiding principles—inspired by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals—are designed to focus and showcase our mission-driven desire to not only educate students, but to open their eyes to some of the greatest challenges the world faces today. Students work together with fellow classmates and faculty to research and identify opportunities and potential solutions for those challenges in the local context of where they are living. Our three important principles and values include: Sustainable Living, Equitable Living, Human Well-Being.
These values are underpinned and supported by IES Abroad’s overarching Global Good Commitment—aimed to ensure that we are doing all that we can to be active participants in bettering the world. This commitment is a multifaceted approach to creating a more sustainable and just world that grounds who we are as an organization and what we do within four key categories: People & Equity; Education, Academics, Curriculum, & Career-Readiness; Engagement & Resources; and Sustainable Operations & Services.
Our commitment to global good is also lived out through innovative courses: Designing the Sustainable City, and Intersectional Equity. In these courses, students engage in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural learning community through the lens of a specific and relevant global issue.