Skip to main content

Improving student intercultural competence

At UW-Eau Claire, we believe that providing opportunities to engage in intercultural experiences outside the classroom offers students the opportunity to challenge and transform their perspectives regarding cultural norms and values. Within the framework of a guided, critically-reflective intercultural experience, and through dialogue and relationship building, students become more aware of multiple perspectives.

In fact, UW-Eau Claire believes so strongly in the value of intercultural experiential learning, every full-time tuition-paying undergraduate UW-Eau Claire student automatically receives Blugold Funding support to participate on one international, domestic, and research-based Immersion experience. Students receive anywhere from hundreds to thousands dollars of Blugold Funding support to participate on a UW-Eau Claire Immersion program. The amount of Blugold Funding support is dependent upon the type of program offered.

UW-Eau Claire offers three types of Immersion programs:

Immersion programs may take you down the block, across the country, or to the other side of the world. Some last only a week or two, while others may immerse you for well over a month. Whichever option you choose, you will gain a new perspective and be forever changed by the people you meet as well as the things you see and do.

students in front of KualoaRanch

Domestic Intercultural Immersion (DII)

The Domestic Intercultural Immersion program provides students with a high-impact practice that helps prepare them to take part in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world within the United States.

See the programs
headstone

International Fellows Program (IFP)

The International Fellows Program is your opportunity to engage in international student-faculty / staff research and other creative activity. Students and faculty / staff leaders receive full program funding through the Blugold Commitment.

Learn more
Blugolds (from left) Samantha Maurer, Bekah Henn and Alyssa Hanson biked in the Wachau Valley during a summer immersion program in Central Europe. They visited multiple countries, learning about the history and culture of the region.

Faculty-Led International Immersion Experiences (FLIIE Programs)

Engaging in an international experience has never been so easy or affordable--and while accelerating your graduation date. Don't miss out on your chance to participate in these short-term faculty / staff led global experiences with your fellow Blugolds!

Explore your options

Embark. Explore. Engage.

At UW-Eau Claire, finding opportunities to break out of your comfort zone and discover something new are not hard to come by. And one of the many ways you can explore the world around you is through immersion programs.

Immersion experiences offer you the affordable opportunity chance to travel near and far, exploring history and community alongside your peers and faculty. The conversations that come from these incredible learning experiences help students identify the connection between what is going on in the world around them and the role that they will play in society. From criminal justice, music, and art to nursing, business, journalism, and more, every major can benefit from participating in an immersion experience. 

Hear more from students about their one-of-a-kind experiences and how they not only changed their lives—but also changed the world around them.

What can students gain from taking part in immersion?

  • Cultural competencies employers intentionally seek in our highly global economy
  • A new perspective on your own culture and how it fits into the larger world
  • Appreciation and respect for different ways of thinking and living
  • Appreciation for the similarities that all cultures share
  • Independence found only by pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zones
  • Growth that only comes from challenging one's self and one's ways of seeing the world
Leyirabari Gininwa

The work we accomplished while in Puerto Rico made me feel so fulfilled not only because we were learning from the people of Puerto Rico, but because we were able to give to them with our service.

Leyirabari Gininwa Latin American and Latinx Studies
We want to hear from you

Please enter your name

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid phone number

Please enter a message