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Studying off-campus enhances Pomona’s liberal arts curriculum and provides new vantage points on local and global issues. Incorporating regional and global perspectives in a liberal arts education is of prime importance in preparing students to address complex challenges in a globalized world.

• By extending student learning beyond our campus, we will foster education in and about different languages, cultures, histories, identities, systems, and societies.
• Such education will facilitate knowledge construction, self-awareness and reflection, understanding and empathy, historical perspective, critical thinking, and cultural and linguistic appreciation.

International and Domestic Programs position students to contribute to scholarly and professional work with enhanced viewpoints and deeper understanding of themselves, others, and local and global issues. It is essential to our work to ensure that all students, including those historically underrepresented in off-campus study programming, have access and support to flourish in off-campus study programs.

• We are committed to reducing or eliminating barriers to international and domestic programs so that as many students as possible have the opportunity to participate, regardless of class, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexuality, national identity, ability, or financial circumstances.
• In establishing and maintaining program partnerships, we prioritize partnerships that support the diversity of curricular and co-curricular offerings at the College to ensure that students from all majors can participate.
• We will work with program partners to create healthy environments in which individuals feel welcomed, respected, valued, supported, and fully able to achieve and contribute.

Opportunities for engagement with local people and communities are an integral part of the program experience.

• Programs should provide a solid and safe home base, embedded in local communities, institutions, or environments, from which students build their learning and explore.
• Programs should deepen student engagement through experiential learning opportunities with local communities and issues, such as community-based learning, internships, research, and volunteering.
• Programs should facilitate active reflection and opportunities to build self-awareness, empathy, and intercultural agility.

Language study is a critical part of learning about and engaging with other cultures. By making efforts to learn the local language, students demonstrate respect for the local people and culture, develop deeper understanding of and relationships with the host community, and exercise humility and curiosity in entering a new environment.

• Where possible through prior experience or the Claremont Colleges’ curricula, students should prepare for international programs by developing proficiency in the host country’s language.
• Where applicable, international programs will prioritize students’ increased proficiency in the host country’s language through academic coursework, experiential learning opportunities, and engagement with the local community.

International and Domestic Program experiences play a unique role in developing student awareness of local and global issues and of their own positionality.

• Programming will promote awareness of and reflection on responsible engagement with local and global issues impacting individuals, communities, societies, and the planet.
• Through these experiences, students will consider more deeply their past, present, and future roles in these spaces and processes.
• Programs should seek reciprocal benefit to both students and local communities.