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Save the Date: International Fair, Wednesday, August 27, 11am-1:30pm ET, Uris Hall Terrace

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 for the first time in Spring 2026, the National University of Singapore (NUS), to explore the intersection of sustainability, educational policy and inequality both globally and locally. This is done through collaborative research undertaken by students from all three universities and contextualized through a three-way exchange. As a Cornell student on this program you’ll have the opportunity to not only conduct cutting edge 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 and NUS 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 from 8am - 9:55am on Wednesday mornings 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 NUS Spring Break, Cornell students will travel to NYC to spend one-day collaborating with their NUS partners on their collaborative research before the NUS students continue on to Quito for in-person collaboration with their USFQ partners.

During the USFQ Spring Break (March 7-14) 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 (March 28 - April 4) Cornell students will travel to Quito, Ecuador to further explore their comparative policy question in dialogue with local teachers, students, administrators and policy makers - including the former Minister of Education. 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. 
 

Once we return, the remainder of the semester will be dedicated to producing a podcast episode with our NUS partners focused on collective learning and research outcomes across the program.

Travel Dates:

March 28 - April 4, 2026

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 2026, Wednesdays 8:00am - 9:55am, Required Travel: Spring Break)

Faculty

Julie Ficarra, Associate Professor of the Practice, Brooks School of Public Policy

Sofia Villenas, Associate Professor, Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences

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

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

Swaroopa Lahiri, Lecturer, Political Sciences, Global Studies Program, National University of Singapore

*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.