2022-2023 CCI Program Participants to Arrive in July

One-hundred-fifty-eight participants will arrive in mid-July and spread out between 10 Community College Consortium campuses nationwide (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona). Thirty will come to NOVA’s Annandale and Alexandria campuses and study Business, Early Childhood Education, Media, Engineering, Social Services, Health and Public Safety, and IT. They will join over 300 NOVA CCI Program alumni since 2010. 

The CCI Program is designed to build participants’ technical skills, enhance leadership capabilities and strengthen English language proficiency. The program also provides opportunities for professional internships, service learning and community engagement activities to build relationships between citizens of the United States and other countries. After completing the CCI Program, participants return home with a deeper understanding of U.S. culture and with improved technical and vocational skills to contribute to the economic development of their home communities.

In May 2022, NOVA received its fourth consecutive three-year cycle award from the U.S. Department of State to administer the CCI Program. NOVA has administered the CCI Program since 2010. In 2016, NOVA became the sole administrator of the award in partnership with the Community College Consortium (CCC) an informal consortium of over 29 internationally minded community colleges nationwide. CCI participants contribute to their U.S. host communities by bringing diverse, global perspectives to classrooms, campus life and local organizations as well as commitment to unpaid internship opportunities and volunteering activities. NOVA is the only community college to lead a large scale Department of State program. 

The Institute of International Education states that in 2017-2018, less than 11 percent of all undergraduate students in the United States had the opportunity to study abroad, this number drops to about 2 percent at community colleges. International exchange programs provide internationalization of U.S. campuses and provide students with an opportunity to learn from others to prepare them for their role as global citizens.

Since 2007, the CCI Program has hosted more than 3,500 participants from 22 countries. This U.S. Department of State program is administered by Northern Virginia Community College in cooperation with the NOVA-led Community College Consortium. For further information, please contact Leeza Fernand, Director for CCI at lfernand@nvcc.edu and the NOVA CCI Team at CCCIP@nvcc.edu and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at eca-press@state.gov.

Submitted by:
Leeza Fernand, OIESP-Assoc. Director, LFernand@nvcc.edu