Global Experience Office

The Global Experience Office (GEO) within The Global School at WPI provides risk management, travel education and preparation, and administrative support to students, faculty, and staff participating in WPI-sponsored off-campus travel. This includes the Global Projects Program, faculty-led off-campus residential projects, athletic teams and student organizations traveling internationally, and support for employees who are traveling.

The GEO team strives to ensure that off-campus programs are safe, cost-effective, and accessible to all students while cultivating informed travelers and fostering global and intercultural competency as students engage with local and global communities.

Preview Simon Award Gold Medallion 2024

WPI selected as winner of the NAFSA 2024 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award for Campus Internationalization

In recognition of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) commitment to immersive global experiential learning, NAFSA: Association of International Educators has selected WPI as winner of a NAFSA 2024 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award for Campus Internationalization. Since 2002, NAFSA, the world’s largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange, has presented the awards annually to American colleges and universities that demonstrate outstanding commitment to and accomplishment in campus internationalization.

NAFSA defines internationalization as the conscious effort to integrate and infuse international, intercultural, and global dimensions into the philosophy of postsecondary education. The organization has chosen to recognize WPI for its Global Projects for All Initiative. The initiative seeks to maximize the number of students who participate in WPI’s Global Projects Program, in part by removing financial barriers.

Preview IIE Heiskell Award Seal

WPI Awarded IIE Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has been awarded a 2023 Institute of International Education (IIE) Andrew Heiskell Award in the category of student mobility and exchange for its ongoing efforts to expand access to the university’s Global Projects Program.  

 The award promotes and honors outstanding initiatives in international higher education by recognizing innovative and successful programs in several categories. It is named after Andrew Heiskell, a former chairman of Time Inc., member of the Executive Committee of IIE’s Board of Trustees, a renowned international and cultural philanthropist and a long-time supporter of international education. 

 WPI received the award for its Global Projects Program and Global Projects for All initiative. A signature component of WPI’s project-based learning model, the Global Projects Program facilitates student travel to more than 50 project centers across the USA and in 30 countries around the world. 

Global Impact

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WPI’s First Project Center

WPI's Washington DC project center celebrates its 50th year

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Students Return to China’s Hangzhou Project Center

After three long years, Hangzhou Project Center has resumed operations allowing students to partake in collaborative projects. 

Venice

Preserving the Beauty of Venice

The Venice Project Center offers students the opportunity to complete projects focusing on everything from mobility and city history and art to technology and data management, all with the common goal of improving living conditions in Venice.

Panama

Solutions With a Social Dimension in Panama

The focus of projects ranges from sustainability and wildlife management to social and wealth inequality.

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Meet Our Staff

Q&A with Colin Watters, Director of Global Risk Management

Answers to questions about ways to keep travelers safe