Emergency NumbersPhone Book (Must be on-campus or have a valid network account)
About CGE
The Center for Global Education: Rooted in a Tradition of Global Engagement
The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are deeply rooted in a sense of place, but are actively engaged with, and welcoming of, diverse people, perspectives and cultures. What might appear paradoxical to some is valued and honored here. The academic culture of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University is deeply rooted in its own traditions and its local community, while equally committed to an engagement with broader global cultures. This simultaneous engagement with both the local and global reflects the Benedictine monastic tradition in which the monastery was home to a widely dispersed community while at the same time providing a welcoming retreat for guests who are away from their own home.
– CSB/SJU Strategic Directions 2010
Since the arrival of Benedictine monks and sisters in central Minnesota, Saint Benedict's Monastery, Saint John's Abbey, and the colleges they founded have been committed to global education. In 1891 monks from Saint John's established schools in the Bahamas and by the 1920s Bahamian students began enrolling at Saint Ben's and Saint John's, a relationship that still flourishes today. Monks from Saint John's established the Catholic University of Peking (Furen) in 1925 and sisters from Saint Benedict's Monastery arrived to set up a coordinate woman's college in 1930. In 1949, the Benedictines rebuilt Furen in Taiwan and the sisters established a girls' school in Hokkaido, Japan. Today, some of our longest-running international partnerships are with universities in China and Japan, while others have been built around the world.
By the late twentieth century, our Benedictine tradition of welcoming learners from across the globe to CSB/SJU and going forth into the world as students and teachers created a distinctively integrated and thriving approach to international education. Today, CSB/SJU features multiple faculty-led study abroad programs and is a nationally top-ranked institution in terms of the percentage of students who study abroad. On our own campuses, we welcome more international students than any other private college in Minnesota. In addition, each year CSB/SJU sponsors a wide array of global- and international-focused programming, with visiting scholars, lecturers, and performers who come to our campuses from around the world. In 2012 these achievements earned national recognition when CSB/SJU was named a winner of the Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. Our work continues.The current CSB/SJU strategic plan identifies 'Global Citizenship,' including the continuing development of global competencies and the internationalization and globalization of student learning, as one of five main areas of focus in the institutions' joint educational program.
The Center for Global Education was established in 2010 to serve as a central hub and resource for the programs already taking place at CSB/SJU, as well as for future internationalization and globalization initiatives. The Center's two offices, the Office for Education Abroad (OEA) and The Office for Global Programming (OGP), work cooperatively to advance this mission through specific programs and projects.
The Office for Education Abroad (OEA) has been the traditional anchor of CSB/SJU international programming. OEA administers 19 semester and year-long study abroad programs throughout the world each year, 16 of them led by CSB/SJU faculty. As a result, CSB/SJU is a top-ranked baccalaureate institution in terms of number of students studying abroad. OEA also cooperates with faculty in developing short-term overseas programs.
The Office for Global Programming (OGP) complements the work of OEA by bringing the global arena closer to home. OGP helps bring the global arena closer to home with the Global Hub, a comprehensive calendar of programming on international and global themes at CSB/SJU. OGP also sponsors and collaborates with other departments to bring relevant visiting scholars, conferences, performances and speakers our campuses. OGP also serves as a resource for other departments seeking to develop international curriculum components, and administers its own experiential programs for students, faculty, and alumnae/i, including the CSB/SJU Global Institute, Teaching in Asia, Summer Global Practica, and Global Faculty programs.