At Hope College, we understand that the world is so much bigger than the few blocks our campus sits on.

The Center for Global Engagement is your home for off-campus study programs and the international student and scholar community. Consider us your connection to campus while you’re abroad and your home away from home if you’re here from afar.

Since our founding in 1990, thousands of students have used the Center for Global Engagement as their jumping-off point to studying off-campus or introduction to life at an American college. Our off-campus roots started in 1956 with the Vienna Summer School, but we’ve been internationally inclined since 1879, when one-third of our graduating class was from Japan!

For many of our students, it’s not the question of if you’ll study off-campus, but when and how it will fit best into your campus life. With over 300 programs to choose from in 60 countries, our office is well-versed in helping you make studying off-campus a priority. For those students we welcome from abroad, it’s our chance to bring a global understanding to all of our local students in our own classrooms.

Our Mission

The Center for Global Engagement encourages students to step beyond borders and connect with the global community.

We aim to integrate the perspectives of international students and scholars into the campus community, to provide off-campus study opportunities for all students and to stimulate conversation surrounding cross-cultural and global issues — all of which contribute to the globalization of the Hope College campus.

Recent Blog Posts

  1. An Unexpected Start

    Posted by Molly

    After an exhausting travel day flying from San Francisco to Montreal to Morocco, our group spent ...

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  2. Zucchini Bread and Thoughts of Home

    Posted by Halle McGuire

    More and more recently I find myself searching for things that feel like home, like the zucchini ...

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  3. Off to Japan!

    Posted by Grace Conant

    why nagoya, confronting challenge, and konbini こんにちは!Hello! Three weeks from today I ...

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  4. Why go?

    Posted by AnnaLeah Lacoss

    Hello again! I’m back from Jordan and embarking on another off-campus study adventure, this...

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  5. Let Go, Dive In

    Posted by Molly

    Anyone who really knows me could tell you about how I can be over the top with my organizational ...

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  6. Politics, Goats, and Tea

    Posted by Halle McGuire

    “Why, for instance, is the ‘wilderness experience’ so often conceived as a form...

    Read More
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Hope by the Numbers

  • 300+Off-Campus Study Opportunities

    With semester, year-long and short-term opportunities, you have access to hundreds of off-campus academic study programs in the U.S. and abroad.

    Find Your Program
  • 60+Countries for Study Abroad

    Hope students participate in study abroad programs in nearly every corner of the world — more than 60 countries across six continents.

    Explore the World
  • 30+Countries Represented at Hope

    Students from over 30 countries study at Hope, whether it’s degree-seeking international students, third-culture kids or exchange students from our partner institutions.

  • 51%Students Who Study Off-Campus

    More than half of all Hope students participate in an academic off-campus study program as part of their education. 0% regret it.

    Don't Miss Out