Global Opportunities

Seattle Central is one of the most diverse campuses in the United States. We value this diversity and are focused on utilizing the varied cultures to make our campus community stronger. We offer many programs, activities, and grants geared toward the internationalization of our campus.

Vision for Global Education: Seattle Central is a leader in international education. We provide opportunities to students, faculty and staff—locally and internationally—to gain experiences to expand intercultural and global competence.

Global Academics: We have a Global Studies (GS) requirement in our Associate's Degree. To support this requirement, the Seattle College District has over 75 courses on the books that have significant global content which meet the GS standard. Seattle Central also offers world language courses in Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, and French.

Areas of Emphasis: The College offers two areas of emphasis – Global Studies and Global Health – within the Associate of Arts and Associate of Science Transfer degrees. Students can complete the transfer degree including one of the areas of emphasis within the 90 quarter credit, two year time frame of the traditional degree.

World Languages

Seattle Central offers ASL, Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.

Memberships

Seattle Central is a member of various international organizations including NAFSA, Institute for International Education, AMIDEAST, AAIEP, WCCCSA and others.

Counseling Centers

Seattle Central is partnered with over 200 active counseling centers world wide which advise students on finding appropriate colleges and universities in the world. Our international students currently at Seattle Central have often found us through these partnerships.

Global Students

Seattle Central is a "destination college" which draws students (and faculty/staff) from both the local community and also some of the most ethnically diverse areas further afield. Our diverse community represents significant numbers of students and staff from backgrounds including Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Mexican, Asia Pacific Islanders, Cambodian and Laotian as well as from many countries in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, to name a few.

Our international students (student visas) also flock to Seattle Central to take advantage of the diverse backgrounds of students, faculty/staff; outstanding curriculum and instruction; and the many articulation agreements/transfer pathways within and outside of Washington State to institutions like the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Arizona State University, University of California institutions and many others.

Globally Competent Faculty and Strategic Teaching Pedagogy

Our faculty are also from various ethnic backgrounds and are well–versed in working with students from a broad array of cultures and language groups. Seattle Central is a Top Fulbright Producer (2013). Fulbright is one of the most prestigious awards in academia and it funds international teaching and research. Our faculty routinely engage in teaching, research and curriculum development abroad.

Many faculty are also experts at maximizing the presence of our multi–cultural students through designing projects, discussions and activities to accentuate multiple perspectives. This is a huge benefit to those students who aren't as familiar with cross cultural topics and communication. It is tremendous preparation for careers and daily interactions in our multicultural society and helps students become globally competent.

Global Opportunities in Seattle and Abroad

Students can use their financial aid and/or apply for college scholarships to study abroad for a month or full quarter in places like Costa Rica, Spain, England, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

Other programs like Global Impact offer short term, global health–oriented service learning in third world countries like India, Peru, Ghana and Vietnam. Seattle Central also specializes in service learning placements, many of which are in globally–oriented government and community based organizations.