In 2000, VTC was awarded grant funding by the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to implement the Virginia Tidewater Regional International Program (VTRIP). Lead by Regional Director, April Burriss, the major goal of the Virginia Tidewater Regional International Program (VTRIP) was to form a network through the Virginia Tidewater Consortium of Higher Education (VTC) to strengthen and enhance study abroad at the member institutions. Hampton University served as the lead institution in VTRIP ‘s effort to strengthen the capacity of each institution to enable the members to achieve their internationalization goals through cooperation and collaboration. VTRIP also developed strategies that increased the number and diversity of students participating in study abroad. It continues to provide an excellent national model of collaboration between diverse institutions within a region in developing international study programs that are sustainable and cost-effective.

The major focus of the full VTRIP project was the collaborative development and coordination of academically-linked study abroad experiences, triangulated by faculty and administration development activities that increase faculty expertise, promote seamless administrative support, and heighten the importance and visibility of study abroad within the region. The heart of our regional internationalization efforts remains within the curriculum and is the most sustainable element. The uniqueness of this effort is that the regional teams discussed and incorporated the home institution standards from program inception through evaluation. Major VTRIP activities included a Regional International Semester (RIS), a “Saturday Series” of regional faculty team curriculum development meetings, an intensive “Summer Seminar”, and the sharing of regional resources that until then existed only in isolation.

VTRIP introduced cost-effective and innovative ways of increasing student participation in study abroad activities through the development of curriculum-based study abroad programs and faculty and administrative expertise with minimal investment by utilizing shared regional resources. The project promoted the entrepreneurial opportunities that are presented by increasing institutional revenues through the number and diversity of students participating in study abroad.

Through an in-depth collaborative feasibility study, the VTC Regional International Committee recognized the need for greater interconnectedness within the region and capitalized on the benefits that resulted from our regional endeavor.

Though the VTRIP Grant ended in 2003, VTC member institutions remain strongly committed to this regional cooperative effort to strengthen international study. VTC members continue to share resources and offer their study abroad programs to students from all institutions. VTC’s International Programs Committee meets monthly to discuss new and innovative ways to strengthen and expand study abroad and sponsors faculty development workshops on internationalizing the curriculum, global competency, study abroad and resource sharing.