Arcadia University Announces International Student Scholarships for Sister Cities

By Purnell T. Cropper | November 9, 2011

Arcadia University today launched new Sister City Scholarships for international students coming to Arcadia from any of the cities affiliated with the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia’s Sister Cities Program.

The scholarships will provide $15,000 per year toward tuition in any undergraduate program offered by Arcadia at its campus in Glenside for any undergraduate freshman or transfer admitted to Arcadia University from any of Philadelphia’s Sister Cities. (More information.)

The announcement was made by Arcadia University President Carl (Tobey) Oxholm III following the visit to Arcadia by 19 leaders from 18 foreign countries on Friday, Nov. 4.
The leaders were visiting area educational institutions in a multi-week, multi-state tour organized by the United States Department of State and arranged locally by Philadelphia’s International Visitors Council (IVC). Philadelphia is the first city the global leaders have visited following their first orientation meetings in Washington, D.C., and Arcadia is the first university they explored.

“Our University was way ahead of its time in 1948 when it was the first college in the country to arrange for its students to study overseas,” said President Oxholm. “Today, over 60 percent of our students take advantage of that opportunity to experience firsthand the importance and value of different cultures, traditions, religions and peoples. These new Sister City Scholarships will help make our special brand of education accessible to students in other lands and give them the same life-changing experience for which we have been known for over 60 years.”

Arcadia’s new Sister City Scholarships will help to make it possible for students in other countries to have the opportunity to study abroad and to learn in one of the United States’ great international cities, Philadelphia. Under President Oxholm, Arcadia is creating a vibrant international student population and a campus focused on the global marketplace and cross-cultural immersion as a natural complement to the University’s leadership in sending students around the world to study abroad.

Since 1954, the IVC has been the official host for the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious exchange, the International Visitor Leadership Program. It works in partnership with the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development and helps to arrange for guests of foreign governments, companies and organizations to meet their American counterparts. Through the Sister Cities Program, Philadelphia is linked to diverse peoples and cultures in these 11 cities: Florence, Italy; Tel Aviv, Israel; Torun, Poland; Tianjin, China; Incheon, Korea; Douala, Cameroon; Nizhny Novgorod, Russia; Mosul, Iraq; Kobe, Japan; Aix-en-Provence, France; and Abruzzo, Italy.

“We’re delighted that Arcadia is offering Sister City Scholarships,” says Nancy Gilboy, President of the International Visitors Council, which administers Philadelphia’s Sister Cities Program and exchanges for the U.S. Department of State. “The Sister Cities program builds friendships and mutual understanding among diverse peoples around the world, so this is a perfect fit since Arcadia has been doing that for decades by immersing American students in other cultures with their study abroad programs. We consider the Sister City Scholars to be ‘family,’ and I know that they will enrich Arcadia’s campus and help build a strong international network for the American students and faculty, as well as for all the Philadelphians who will host them and get to know them while they are studying here.”

Said President Oxholm, “Our mission is to create citizens who are globally aware, globally sensitive, and prepared for leadership in a global economy. We are proud to partner with the City of Philadelphia and its Sister Cities Program to increase global appreciation for the value that diversity offers to virtually every project and undertaking.”

About the Sister Cities Program: At the heart of the Sister Cities Program is an agreement signed by the mayors of each city that confirms its commitment, and that of their successors, to the program. Each Sister City agrees to send and receive delegations of political and business leaders, arts and cultural representatives, educators, technical experts and students. The City of Philadelphia’s Sister Cities Program is a member of Sister Cities International and is funded by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce. The program is administered by the International Visitor Council of Philadelphia, which works with the Mayor’s Office, the Office of the City Representative, committees and other partners to execute official exchanges. Philadelphia is only city in the United States, if not the world, where its universities and colleges provide scholarships to its Sister Cities.