Building the future of
international education
together.
About Us
Our History
The ISI Consortium was established in 2004 by the International Studies Institute in Florence, Italy and the international education offices of University of Connecticut and Pennsylvania State University. The goal was to establish an unprecedented level of collaboration and cooperation in the development of joint international programs and to ensure the availability and affordability of a study abroad experience for all students.
Over the years it has grown to include University of Virginia, the University of Melbourne (Australia), the University of Maryland, the University of Mississippi, and Kanazawa University (Japan). The consortium provides ISI with academic governance and assessment to ensure that students enjoy a safe, rewarding and affordable study abroad experience.
Thanks to its members, the Consortium draws from a large basin of students, faculty, and institutional specializations. This makes it possible to regularly offer an array of courses, credit-bearing internships, and volunteer activities in a wide range of disciplines. Members encourage faculty collaboration and the co-sponsorship of academic programs to increase the number, kinds, and quality of curricular offerings available. All members are committed to the full transfer of credit from ISI programs to the student’s home institutions, thereby allowing their students to seamlessly participate in international programs, as well as transferring their own financial aid.
Our Mission
The ISI Consortium designates an affiliation between a select group of international institutions of higher education, whose mission is to provide its students with safe, rewarding and financially accessible international academic programs. The Consortium is committed to:
Outstanding Academic Curriculum
The development of an outstanding and diverse academic curriculum with a core in the liberal arts and sciences with emphasis on:
Instruction: The Consortium pursues academic excellence (both in the liberal arts and scientific disciplines) by selecting faculty on the basis of credentials, career records, professional profiles, teaching expertise, and acknowledged scholarly accomplishments.
Innovation: The Consortium is dedicated to the development of academic and intercultural programs that embrace interdisciplinary approaches and incorporate creative and pioneering pedagogical methods. Innovative international-scope research and scholarship further invigorate curricular offerings.
Transformation and Intercultural Competence: The Consortium seeks capitalizes on Italy’s outstanding cultural resources to enable a truly transformative student experience. To this purpose, it merges academic enterprise with a strong focus on global awareness to facilitate students’ progressive intercultural skills and knowledge.
Collaboration: The Consortium supports faculty collaboration and exchange to create synergies to increase the number, kinds, and quality of academic offerings available.
Community Engagement
The Consortium is united in supporting and collaborating with the communities where ISI Abroad operates to provide students with unique and culturally immersive opportunities for community engagement and service learning.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Consortium recognizes that an essential part of the study abroad experience is embracing cultural differences and being open to people, views, and practices that may be different from one’s own experiences. It and its members, therefore, commit to fostering and promoting a diverse and inclusive learning environment.
Sustainability
The Consortium strives to be socially and environmentally responsible. Consortium member practices and academic offerings encourage the research and study of sustainable travel, consumption, and education.
Accessibility/Affordability
In keeping with its public status mission, the Consortium is committed to offering affordable and competitive rates, thus making this unique learning experience in Italy accessible to the largest cohort of students.
