The Global Citizenship Alliance

The Global Citizenship Alliance (Alliance) is dedicated to promoting education for engaged knowledge and responsible action in an interdependent world. It was founded in 2015 as an independent, non-profit organization, however, the origin of this enterprise dates back to 2004 when this work began under the aegis of the Salzburg Global Seminar, a renowned international policy forum based in Salzburg, Austria.

Initially a pioneering effort to promote a critical engagement with the effects of rapid globalization as they relate to the aims and purpose of college education, over time the Alliance has succeeded in running one of the most systematic and inclusive programs on global citizenship education in the United States. We have:

• partnered with more than 80 colleges and universities across the U.S. with a combined total enrollment of nearly one million students
• conducted more than 100 week-long seminars for students, as well as faculty and administrators
• involved over 4,200 participants of which roughly two-thirds were students and one-third were faculty and Administrators

Why Global Citizenship Education?

Never before have the lives of people across the globe been more interconnected than they are today. The changes caused by the political, economic, technological and environmental developments in the course of the past two to three decades have been momentous. “We are no longer living in national communities of fate, but in overlapping communities of fate” (David Held). Therefore, we must develop and share the knowledge of how to manage this unprecedented interdependence in a way that makes globalization a positive force for the majority of humankind and not a precept for increasing inequality and conflict. Failure to do so is resulting in damage that jeopardizes the welfare of humanity and the planet we inhabit.

Approach

The Alliance’s focus is on institutional development and change with the goal of enabling colleges and universities to graduate students who are aware of their place in a globalizing world, have a sound understanding of the challenges we are confronting, and are willing and able to make a positive difference in the world.

Our programs offer a unique combination of intense, short-term study abroad experiences for students and weeklong workshops for faculty and administrators aimed at initiating, promoting, and informing strategies for global citizenship education throughout the campus and making it part of the institutional fabric. (For more detailed information please refer to the Programs tab.)

Until recently, programs were held exclusively in Salzburg, however, the Alliance is in the process of expanding its areas of operations to additional locations in Europe, the U.S., and other parts of the world.

Outcomes

Thanks to their participation in the Alliance, partner institutions have reinforced their commitment to global citizenship education by:

• re-orienting mission/vision statements, strategic plans and student learning outcomes
• creating countless new lesson plans, courses, programs, certificates etc.
• building critical mass among faculty and administrators to launch and sustain institution-wide change processes
• formulating their own, institution-specific responses to their students’ global literacy and engagement

By virtue of their Involvement in the Alliance, Partner institutions have won prestigious national awards for their achievements in promoting global citizenship education such as NAFSA’s Paul Simon Awards for International Education, the Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education by the Institute for International Education, and and “Top 10 Program on Global Citizen Diplomacy” conferred by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy.