The Center for International Education provides an excellent week-long
orientation program for international students.
Peer Guides
The orientation program utilizes American and international student
peer guides, who themselves have received a week-long training prior to
the orientation week. The peer guides are assigned 5-7 international
students to assist them through their orientation. Topics include:
- academic advising,
- cultural adjustment,
- English and math placement testing,
- registration,
- introduction to the University
- shopping,
- and banking.
During the evenings, social activities and workshops are offered to
provide the new international students with information on their
adjustment to a new life.
"Every detail I needed to know about studying at the University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire, I learned from my orientation week. It was a very well organized orientation."
-Mustahid Hossain, from Bangladesh
Host Family/Friends Program
All new international students are given the option of staying with a
host family/friend during their
first three days in Eau Claire. These families/friends meet their students at the
airport or bus station in Eau Claire and provide temporary housing and a "home away from
home" until the residence halls open on the first day of orientation. These
relationships provide a vital personal touch to newly
arriving international students, many of them lasting a lifetime.
Cultural Programming
At the end of the orientation program, on the weekend prior to classes,
cultural field trips to
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota and Madison, Wisconsin are offered to new international
students. Throughout the semester, the Center for International Education continues to
offer many social, cultural, and fun events for the students to round-out their cultural
experience at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
