Expanding Access to Global Experiences Through Virtual Exchange
Morgan State University
Morgan State is a public research university in Baltimore, Maryland, and the biggest HBCU (Historically Black College and University) in the state. First partnering with Soliya in fall 2019, Morgan State has since engaged 172 students in the Connect Program.
In March 2021, Morgan State students and faculty spoke with Soliya team members Salma, Nahid, Asma, and Tyler about their virtual exchange experience. This interview with Dr. Yacob Astatke, Assistant Vice President for International Affairs, has been edited for length and clarity.
I have been in my current role since July of 2017. Prior to that I was a faculty member in the School of Engineering for more than 23 years. I oversee all projects that deal with study abroad and international student services.
We had to find a way to make study abroad more accessible at our campuses and make sure that our students get a global experience. The only solution was virtual exchange...face-to-face study abroad needed to be augmented with virtual exchange.
Morgan’s motto is “growing the future, leading the world.” Upon graduation, our students need to be ready to engage with people from different countries, languages, and cultures. Of the 8,000 students we have, less than three percent get the chance to actually engage in international learning. We had to find a way to make study abroad more accessible at our campuses and make sure that our students get a global experience. The only solution was virtual exchange.
From the reports I’ve read, the faculty have said that when they compare the students’ attitudes and engagement in the classroom before the Connect Program and at the end of the course, they saw growth in the students’ personality, confidence, and openness to listen to other cultures, experiences, and points of view. One of the things I like about the Connect Program is that it’s prepackaged – all we need faculty to do is integrate the program into their course curriculum, and with little effort, their students will get the experience that they need.
We’re really excited about joining the program and about having started our virtual exchange prior to covid. Of course, covid has accelerated everything and now we’re looking forward to expanding our partnership with Soliya. We are trying to use current faculty as ambassadors to reach out to other faculty and we hope we’ll increase more faculty joining the Connect Program.
We are working with the Provost's office to find a system to engage, recognize, and incentivize faculty to be open to virtual exchange and integrate it into their courses.
We are working with the Provost's office to find a system to engage, recognize, and incentivize faculty to be open to virtual exchange and integrate it in their courses. I first heard about Soliya in 2019 at the AIEA conference and again at the NAFSA conference, which is when I realized that face-to-face study abroad needed to be augmented with virtual exchange. Our vision is that in five years, we will have more students engage in virtual study abroad as compared to face-to-face study abroad, and we’re aiming for 1,000 students every year. By exposing more students to virtual exchange, there will also be a greater percentage of those students who will be more inclined to do face-to-face study abroad. We believe expanding the Connect Program is the easiest and simplest way to engage students and also allow faculty to try virtual exchange without spending too much time developing their own virtual exchange.
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