For Faculty & Staff

Ways You Can Support Global Opportunities

• Co-sponsor a department-specific Penn Abroad 101 session.

• Develop a list of recommended and popular programs for certain major or minor areas of study.

• Maintain a list of past study abroad participants in your department and invite them to departmental events to share their experience; share the past participants’ contact information (with their permission) with prospective study abroad students.

• Hold mixers and showcases for exchange students in your department to talk about their host university/country.

• Introduce students to your academic colleagues around the world and promote study and research with those partners.

• Familiarize yourself with the academic structure and course offerings at our partner institutions.

• Sign up for our mailing list to stay up to date with our news, events, and programs. Sharing our upcoming events and opportunities with your students is an easy and effective way to get involved.

There are many other ways to get involved with the Penn Abroad office and encourage students to go abroad. We welcome our campus partners to join us as we strive to ensure that every student at Penn who wants an international experience can have one.

Contact Us to Get Started

Lead a Penn Global Seminar (PGS)

Penn Abroad accepts new proposals for Penn Global Seminars each year. More details and instructions can be viewed here.

Advising students on global programs

• Discuss with students the host institution with the best academic department and most relevant research areas in regards to the student’s area of study.

• Encourage students to go out of their comfort zone, or consider a location that they had not originally thought about.

• Remind students about the opportunity to engage on campus, such as joining student clubs while they are abroad.

• Explain the distinct academic structure and how classroom expectations differ at international universities.

• Emphasize to students that they are ambassadors for both the United States and the University of Pennsylvania; they should behave respectfully and be prepared to answer questions on the political and social climate.

• You can find the list of the home school academic advisors for study abroad in the College of Arts & Sciences and Wharton.  The Penn Engineering contact is Dr. Sonya Gwak.

Study abroad credit approval and transfer information

• Students must abide by the host university policies and deadlines. 

• Students participating in a semester or academic year study abroad program need to input their desired classes while abroad into XCAT. More information about policies can be on found on the SRFS External Credit page.

• Students should be flexible in their course selection while abroad. NO class can be guaranteed at a host institution. It is recommended that students submit additional course requests on XCAT to have a variety of course options.

• Students should expect to hear a decision from the academic department within 2 weeks of submitting their request. College student can use the following list of XCAT department contacts if their request is urgent or if they have not heard back on the status of their request after 2 weeks. Students requesting Wharton credit should contact their Wharton regional Home School Academic Advisor for Study Abroad

• Once students are firmly enrolled in their classes overseas, they should log back into XCAT and remove the classes that they are not taking abroad.

• All grades from the semester and academic year programs will appear on the student’s Penn transcript and will factor into their Penn GPA. Grade conversions are made in accordance with the host institution’s grade conversion scale that is posted on the Penn Abroad program brochure.

• Students are eligible to take a class pass/fail while abroad if they contact the home school academic advisor with a request in writing prior to the 9th week of classes at the host institution. Some programs with shorter semesters or accelerated classes may have a shorter period to declare pass/fail. Students should contact their Home School Academic Advisor for more information.

• Review Trip Leader Training Sessions on video and look out for in-person sessions through the year with Penn Global's International Travel Guidance Office.

• Penn Global Seminars Leader Training is offered through the year. To learn more or inquire about the next session contact pgs-abroad@upenn.edu.