Tufts may not be the "Hottest School for Diversity" (that's Wesleyan University), or the "Hottest for Jobs" (Carnegie Mellon), but according to Newsweek, Tufts is this year's "Hottest School for Studying Abroad" in the nation. The national magazine named Tufts one of "America's 25 Hot Schools" for 2005 in conjunction with Kaplan College Guide.
"Long before globalization became a clich?©, Tufts administrators were figuring out how to teach students to be citizens of the world," Newsweek wrote in last month's article.
Tufts has long attracted students that are not afraid of a demanding University-wide language requirement, have already lived or studied abroad, have done community work abroad or are foreign citizens themselves, according to Associate Dean of Study Abroad Programs Sheila Bayne. As a result, "We are able to raise the bar a little bit over our peer institutions," she said.
According to Bayne, approximately 500, or 40 percent, of Tufts juniors go abroad every year. That figure includes both those that do so for the whole year or only for one semester.
Of that number, about 150 go on the Tufts-sponsored programs located in London, Madrid, Hong Kong, Ghana, Germany, Paris, China, Oxford, Chile, and Japan. The remaining majority enrolls in non-Tufts programs and usually do so only for a semester while most Tufts programs offer the option of staying for the entire academic year, Bayne said.
"A strength of our programs is that they are, insofar as much as we can make them, immersion programs because our students want to hit the ground running and be as immersed in their host cultures as possible" Bayne said. "This means taking the courses in the languages of their [host] countries, next to students of those countries, with professors of those countries."
Though neither Bayne nor Undergraduate Admissions Dean Lee Coffin was among the Tufts administrators interviewed by Newsweek, they were not very surprised by the magazine's evaluation.
"The international focus of the university is a very clear signature for Tufts," Coffin said. "When we do the survey of [high school] guidance counsellors, they always [identify] it as one of our greatest strengths."
Bayne agrees with Coffin's assessment. "We have rigorous overseas programs that our students not only demand but that they are great at. It all flows together-in a virtuous cycle of international competence."
Newsweek's assessment comes in the wake of the University's recent slip from 27 to 28 on the U.S. News & World Report college rankings - a figure that will probably not affect this year's application process, Coffin said.
"We didn't drop to another quintile and many of our figures in the U.S. News rankings are almost the same as last year, so I think we're still well-positioned," he said.
Newsweek's "hottest" designation comes a year after Tufts moved up five full spots to fifth in a list of American research institutions that send their undergraduate students to study abroad in the Open Doors Report 2003 prepared by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The IIE, funded by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, compiled this most recent list using figures from the 2001-2002 academic year.
Newsweek created its list by speaking to students, admissions officers, and what they call "long-time observers" of the development of the higher education admissions processes nationwide.
"All 25 colleges on the Hot List for 2005 have one thing in common: they provide an outstanding education. But what makes them hot is their differences and special traits," according to the article.
Tufts' international focus is represented not only by the juniors (and to a lesser extent, the sophomores and seniors) who are abroad - of the 1,280 members of the class of 2008 who matriculate today on the Academic Quad, 19 percent are of international background or family history, Coffin said.
"I'm working on the report for the faculty on the Class of 2008 and as I do, I'm reminded by how many of them do come to Tufts [with an] interest in IR [International Relations], Peace & Justice Studies, and the University College of Citizenship and Public Service," he said.
All matriculating freshmen were asked to indicate their anticipated academic interest and, according to Coffin, 11.5 percent, or 147 first-years, indicated IR. The major-one of the most popular majors at the University-requires eight semesters of foreign language.
Incoming first-year Walter de Simoni, a Brazilian citizen who comes to the University after receiving his high school diploma at an international school in Caracas, Venezuela, said that Tufts' reputation as a "highly international university" was one of the main reasons he applied.
"Studying abroad my junior year is definitely something I'm considering now," de Simoni said. "I'm not sure if I'll go yet, of course, but just knowing that there's such an opportunity broadens my choices already."
Such choices include dozens of partner institutions that are respected both in their own countries and internationally, Bayne said. "Our partner institutions are the equivalent of Tufts-they have the rigor and the selectivity of Tufts in the host country," she said.
Some of Tufts' partner institutions include the prestigious Institut d'etudes politiques in Paris, the Universidad Aut??noma in Madrid, and Oxford University in England. "We are a very sought-after exchange program partner," Bayne said.
Besides sending nearly half of the junior class abroad every year, many Tufts students take advantage of the Summer Session I program offered yearly at the University's campus in Talloires, France, where students can earn two Tufts credits in six weeks while living with a French host family.
Additionally, Tufts hosts visiting abroad students every year. This year's 20 abroad students hail from Ghana, France, Hong Kong, Germany, and Spain, according to Bayne.
Newsweek also mentioned the proximity of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy as another reason why Tufts is such an internationally-focused school.
