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Developed in partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and as part of the Jeb E. Brooks School’s Global Policy Exchange Lab, this 4-credit collaborative online international learning (COIL) and community-based global learning (CBGL) course combines the feel of a faculty-led study abroad program with the experience of a semester long exchange. As highlighted in our overview of the Spring 2024 program, this course brings together students from Cornell, USFQ, and the National University of Singapore (NUS), to explore the intersection of sustainability and educational policy both globally and locally. As a Cornell student on this program you’ll have the opportunity to not only conduct research with international peers, meet with policy makers and community leaders in Ecuador during a 7-day Spring Break fieldwork intensive, but also to host students from USFQ as they study how global policy challenges manifest right here in New York State.

The spring course, PUBPOL 3480/5480: Sustainability Education Policy in the US and Ecuador meets throughout the full Spring semester. During our in-class meetings, we will engage in close readings of theoretical texts, policy documents and reports, and discuss contemporary research on sustainability and education policy in both the US and Ecuadorian contexts. Students will form small working groups exploring a comparative education policy question and engage with relevant education practitioners and policy makers in both locations as they collaborate online with USFQ and NUS student partners.

During the USFQ Spring Break, Cornell students will host their USFQ partners on campus in Ithaca, sharing their collaborative research in a campus-wide poster session, attending lectures, and engaging with community-based partners working on issues of sustainability and education policy.

During the Cornell Spring Break Cornell students will travel to Quito, Ecuador to further explore their comparative policy question in dialogue with local teachers, students, administrators and policy makers. We’ll visit schools in various parts of the city and learn more about how they operationalize global and national education policies and innovate to meet the needs of diverse students. 
 

Travel Dates:

March 27 - April 4, 2027

This program is embedded as part of a spring course. Students will receive one grade for the full course in the spring semester, and travel is REQUIRED as part of this program:

• PUBPOL 3480/5480 or LATA 3480: Comparative Sustainability Education Policy in the US and Ecuador (4 credits)
  (Spring 2027, Required Travel: Spring Break)

Faculty

Julie Ficarra, Associate Professor of the Practice, Brooks School of Public Policy | Dr. Ficarra encourages all interested applicants to make an appointment to meet with her one-on-one to discuss the program. 

Karla Díaz, Service-Learning Institute Director, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Nascira Ramia Cardenas, Professor, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, College of Social Sciences and Humanities

*Some program information questions in 'Application Preview' below may not be applicable to this program. Course background will be asked if relevant to that particular short-term program.