“Step into the Map. Every Street Teaches”: SIT unveils Europe-focused campaign for next generation of global leaders

Publication Date: September 25, 2025
Publication Location: Brattleboro, VT
Contact: Abby Henson  |  [email protected]

School for International Training (SIT) launches today a campaign to inspire college students to study abroad in Europe. The “Step into the Map. Every Street Teaches” campaign encourages undergraduate students to see and experience Europe through a new lens that is unique to SIT.

“SIT’s programs are designed within a framework of the most critical global issues—challenges that transcend borders and affect us all,” says Carol Jenkins, CEO of World Learning, SIT’s parent organization. “Europe offers students the unique advantage of easily traveling to other countries, allowing them to study these issues from several cultural, political, and geographic perspectives. SIT’s programs align with a wide range of academic majors and ensure students gain an expanded world perspective that distinguishes them academically and, most importantly, professionally.” Jenkins has served as CEO since 2017, a role encompassing both World Learning and SIT, and will become SIT’s acting president at the end of this year.

Historically, Europe has been one of the most sought-after destinations for study abroad. According to the latest 2024 Open Doors Report, a U.S. Department of State initiative that annually reports on data about international students and U.S. students studying abroad, more than 64% of American students who studied abroad in the academic year 2022 to 2023 did so in Europe.

SIT has designed and taught programs in Europe since 1978 and has an even longer history in the field of international education, dating back more than 60 years. Today, it boasts nearly 30 European programs across most major countries and cities, along with options to study the Arctic Circle in Iceland or the Azores off the coast of Portugal. Students can meet Dutch advocacy groups in Amsterdam to study how policy is shaped, learn about corporate social responsibility through an internship in Seville, or hear from experts at the United Nations and World Health Organization in Geneva.

SIT is also launching four new multi-country options exclusive to Europe. Its International Honors Program (IHP) offers comparative study options that allow students to spend a semester living in multiple countries while exploring a single field in depth. Traditionally, IHP programs have taken students across continents. With the new campaign, four IHP Europe programs will launch, delivering SIT’s signature multi-country experience within one region. Students will live in three different European countries while focusing on topics such as biodiversity and conservation, public health, contemporary politics, or comparative cities.

SIT has also expanded its offerings in other ways, now providing minors at no additional cost and “Choose Your Track” options to tailor courses to specific interests or career goals. And while SIT’s homestay component consistently ranks as students’ favorite part of a program, the school now offers residential housing options in several programs, in response to student feedback.

“At SIT, we prioritize offering the highest-quality programs that always meet the evolving needs of students,” says SIT Provost Dr. Said Graiouid. “We know there are several organizations that offer programs in Europe, but SIT’s engagement with experiential programs in Europe goes back to the 1970s, and our faculty are often raised and live in the countries where our programs are based.

“They have a robust knowledge of their communities and have built the right academic structure to examine dominant epistemologies and provide a comparative approach to pressing issues. Our learning centers hold strong partnerships with local institutions and organizations to give students access to one-of-a-kind resources and opportunities.”

SIT’s programs are characterized by academic rigor, hands-on experience, guided research opportunities, internships, and immersive language learning that create deep cultural connections. They are also grounded in authentic experiential learning that prompts students to think critically about a subject through a cycle of classroom learning, field work, and reflection.

Through this campaign, SIT also plans to highlight its strong focus on ecological and environmental studies. One third of its European programs are centered around sustainability, biodiversity, ecosystems, or climate change. Wetlands, glaciers, geothermal fields, and active volcano sites are some of the areas where students can learn about a topic firsthand.

“We have a unique, personal relationship with Icelanders, linked to several research and educational institutions around the country. Students get an incredibly close-up interaction with the land, embarking on independent but guided research in close connection with Icelanders,” says Dr. C. Palmer, SIT academic director in Iceland. “Students get to be local on a global scale.”

“International education is a critical component in the development of global citizens and future leaders, whether they are in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors,” Jenkins says. “SIT ensures students receive that education in a dynamic, individualized way.”

SIT’s summer and semester undergraduate programs in Europe focus on a wide array of subjects and disciplines, from diplomacy and global health to communications and environmental justice. All programs are vetted through ongoing risk assessment and review, and SIT also provides 24/7 access to student support in the U.S.

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School for International Training, the higher education institution of World Learning, was established in 1964 as a training center for the first Peace Corps volunteers. Today, SIT is a U.S.-accredited global university offering undergraduate study abroad programs, including the International Honors Program, and globally focused graduate and doctoral degrees and certificates. SIT prepares students to be effective changemakers and global citizens through experiential education focused on the world's most critical global issues.