NOVA Welcomes 34 New CCI Students for State Department Int’l Exchange Program
NOVA is pleased to welcome 34 international exchange students to contribute to our vibrant campus community for the 2024-2025 academic year. The participants are studying at NOVA’s Annandale and Alexandria campuses as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Community College Initiative (CCI) Program. They will join a total of 136 participants from underserved and underrepresented global communities who are studying at eight U.S. community colleges in eight states, gaining skills and experiences needed to enter the workforce. This year NOVA’s CCI cohort are from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. They will study business management, early childhood education, engineering, digital media and information technology.
In addition to hosting CCI participants and administering the CCI Program, NOVA oversees the Community College Consortium (CCC) on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. NOVA began administering the program in 2010 and became the sole administrator in 2016. Over the course of 14 years, NOVA has facilitated the program that has seen nearly 2,000 CCI participants at its CCC partner schools, 415 of those at NOVA’s Alexandria and Annandale campuses since 2010.
CCI participants take approximately 30 credits per year and contribute to their U.S. host communities by bringing diverse, global perspectives to classrooms, campus life and local organizations as well as a commitment to unpaid internship opportunities and volunteering activities. Last year’s 2023-24 NOVA cohort contributed 3,975 hours of volunteering and 2,042 hours of unpaid internships to the local community. According to Independent Sector’s 2024 value of volunteer time in the state of Virginia, this translates to $200,847 in service to Northern Virginia businesses and nonprofits.
International exchange programs like this not only foster the internationalization of U.S. college campuses but also offer students the chance to learn about different countries, cultures and traditions from their peers, helping them become more globally informed citizens. NOVA is among the few community colleges leading a large-scale Department of State program.
About CCI: The CCI Program is a one-year, non-degree academic program 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 relations between citizens of the United States and other countries. Last year, CCI participants’ volunteer and unpaid internship service translated to an economic contribution of $738,041 to local U.S. communities.
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 CCI Program Interim Director Sara Mohamed at samohamed@nvcc.edu and/or the NOVA CCI Team at CCCIP@nvcc.edu and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at eca-press@state.gov.
Submitted by:
Holly Calhoun, CCI Alumni & Comms Coord., HCalhoun@nvcc.edu