Nurturing Civic Engagement through Off-Campus Study

Off-Campus Study at Macalester has long been focused on nurturing Global Citizenship, with the result that a very high percentage of the college's off-campus study participants choose programs (both domestic and international) which incorporate community-based research, an explicit social justice curriculum or a public policy internship component. With the College's renewed commitment to its core value of Civic Engagement as part of its participation in Project Pericles, the International Center now wishes to highlight these partner programs, and recognize them not only for offering exceptional educational quality but for their committment to developing engaged citizen-leaders for the changing world of today and tomorrow.

Civic Engagement Programs List

What is Civic Engagement?

Off-Campus Study can be said to be "civically engaged" to the degree that it actively promotes "civic learning." Civic learning involves cultivating in students the intellectual and practical skills, competencies and habits of mind necessary for them to become effective citizens and civic leaders in a multicultural, multicivilizational and increasingly globalized world. A minimal list of Civic Competencies would include:

• a capacity for critical thinking;
• the ability to address "big picture" issues confronting society, and to place more specialized knowledge in a broader historical, socio-political, ethical and cultural context;
• an appreciation of the challenges confronting local and global communities today;
• a sense of personal social responsibility & willingness to address such challenges;
• a capacity to engage in civil discourse and deliberation;
• a tolerance for the differences encountered in a multicultural, globalizing world;
• a capacity for life-long learning and civic leadership.