Our Mission
AHA International offers students, faculty members, and institutions opportunities to develop intercultural competence through international experience and education.
We support the development of a global perspective for
Participation in our programs offers
Our Values
Excellence in international and intercultural education—AHA is focused on academic excellence and committed to the highest quality of service for its students and its partners. We are committed to creating programs that challenge students to be better global citizens. This is reflected in both its nearly fifty-year record of successful service and its newer status as an academic program of the University of Oregon, long recognized for its academic excellence.
Entrepreneurial leadership—Driven by its mission statement, AHA discovers opportunities in the marketplace and charts its own course for success. AHA has a demonstrated capacity for continual self transformation and flexibility that has sustained it through nearly five decades of continuous change. AHA seeks to be a change agent and to focus its work on the cutting edge of industry standards, constantly refining its own standard of success. While AHA strives to exemplify “best practices” within the study abroad industry, we are also proactive and willing to take risks where others might be averse to failure.
Collaborative ventures—AHA’s entrepreneurial activism is grounded in its ability to cultivate a common vision with its collaborators supported by our culture of accountability. AHA prides itself on fostering mutual trust in relationships and in its ability to execute a shared vision.
Our History
AHA International began life nearly fifty years ago as the American Heritage Association.
A half-century later, it may seem strange that the focus of an international study organization was originally on our “American heritage.” However, the high school teachers who created AHA understood even then that American culture is something that is best understood by learning to understand and appreciate other cultures. This philosophy continues to inform AHA’s university-level programs. Current students take courses that immerse them in the language, art, history, political systems, sociology, and other cultural aspects of their host society. In the end students learn more about themselves than others. Many students say that study abroad is life transforming. The transformation really occurs when they return home and see their American lives, families, and friends through the lens of their international experience. Academic rigor, cultural exploration, and personal development remain the hallmarks of all AHA programs.
Join us in 2007 as we celebrate our Fiftieth Anniversary.
AHA International offers students, faculty members, and institutions opportunities to develop intercultural competence through international experience and education.
We support the development of a global perspective for
- students by providing supportive, academically challenging international experiences
- faculty members by maintaining infrastructure abroad that offers them the opportunity to teach and network internationally in on-going academic programs
- institutions of higher education by engaging them in collaborative initiatives worldwide
Participation in our programs offers
- students first-hand experience with other cultures resulting in valuable new insight into themselves and their world
- faculty members the opportunity to enhance their scholarship, research, and creativity in well-established academic programs abroad
- institutions nationwide the collaborative networks needed to provide supportive, academically challenging international programs
Our Values
Excellence in international and intercultural education—AHA is focused on academic excellence and committed to the highest quality of service for its students and its partners. We are committed to creating programs that challenge students to be better global citizens. This is reflected in both its nearly fifty-year record of successful service and its newer status as an academic program of the University of Oregon, long recognized for its academic excellence.
Entrepreneurial leadership—Driven by its mission statement, AHA discovers opportunities in the marketplace and charts its own course for success. AHA has a demonstrated capacity for continual self transformation and flexibility that has sustained it through nearly five decades of continuous change. AHA seeks to be a change agent and to focus its work on the cutting edge of industry standards, constantly refining its own standard of success. While AHA strives to exemplify “best practices” within the study abroad industry, we are also proactive and willing to take risks where others might be averse to failure.
Collaborative ventures—AHA’s entrepreneurial activism is grounded in its ability to cultivate a common vision with its collaborators supported by our culture of accountability. AHA prides itself on fostering mutual trust in relationships and in its ability to execute a shared vision.
Our History
AHA International began life nearly fifty years ago as the American Heritage Association.
A half-century later, it may seem strange that the focus of an international study organization was originally on our “American heritage.” However, the high school teachers who created AHA understood even then that American culture is something that is best understood by learning to understand and appreciate other cultures. This philosophy continues to inform AHA’s university-level programs. Current students take courses that immerse them in the language, art, history, political systems, sociology, and other cultural aspects of their host society. In the end students learn more about themselves than others. Many students say that study abroad is life transforming. The transformation really occurs when they return home and see their American lives, families, and friends through the lens of their international experience. Academic rigor, cultural exploration, and personal development remain the hallmarks of all AHA programs.
Join us in 2007 as we celebrate our Fiftieth Anniversary.
