The Global Citizenship Virtual Exchange Consortium
Who We Are
The Global Citizenship Virtual Exchange Consortium (GCVEX) is a growing group of interdisciplinary faculty from around the world who meet weekly to plan student exchanges and also to work on scholarly research collaborations. The group prioritizes equitable virtual exchange for both faculty and students. Current active faculty members come from China, Burundi, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States.
Virtual student exchanges are held every semester. The content of the student exchanges surrounds the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each virtual exchange incorporates an element of local learning and action and then sharing about the local actions being taken using WhatsApp. When students from different countries around the world share about their learnings we all learn so much about the world.
Our Mission
- Foster global citizenship education through faculty and student virtual exchange and collaboration.
- Promote the decolonization of international and global citizenship education by decentering Eurocentric narratives, amplifying voices from the Global South, highlighting indigenous and local knowledge systems, and fostering critical dialogue grounded in diverse global experiences.
- Promote inclusive, ethical, sustainable and equal partnerships through shared leadership and mutual commitment among faculty across all member countries.
- Promote equitable faculty development through global, cross-cultural collaborations in interdisciplinary research.
- Develop capacity among educators around the world to facilitate virtual exchanges.
- Promote the development of capacities in the use of innovative communication technologies among students and faculty around the world to support the exchange and co-creation of knowledge.
History
The Global Citizenship Virtual Exchange Consortium grew out of a 2022 RUGlobal Grant application for Faculty Innovation in Teaching specifically related to virtual exchange. Rutgers GSE professor Tanja Sargent at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education invited her co-participants in the Stevens Initiative Virtual Exchange Academy – Daniel Otieno (Kenyatta University, Kenya) and Esra Ali (Libya International University, Libya) to join her in developing the exchange and these three faculty members worked to invite others to a faculty group focused on designing virtual exchange opportunities for their students.
In Fall 2023, the first group of students came together from China, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria and the United States. Since then we have also welcomed colleagues from Burundi, Kazakhstan, Peru and Uzbekistan. We have tried to hold a student exchange for every semester and have also held two virtual exchange facilitator trainings to share our learnings.
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What To Expect
- The exchanges follow the format of three synchronous Zoom sessions and ongoing asynchronous interaction on WhatsApp.
- The Zoom sessions include music from around the world, global panels of experts, and break out room activities where students can interact with their peers from different countries.
- Each exchange incorporates an element of local learning and action and then sharing about the local actions being taken using WhatsApp. For example, the theme of a recent exchange was “Local Plants, Global Lessons.” Participants learned about native plants in their region and engaged in small actions to support raising the awareness of local ecologies.
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Interested Students
Student participants are recruited by GCVEX faculty from their universities and programs. We also welcome student applications from around the world to join our exchanges. If you are interested in joining the next GCVEX exchange please fill out the student registration form to receive announcements and more information.
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Interested Faculty
- Membership is composed of faculty members and affiliated institutions from around the world.
- Founding members come from China, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the United States and Uzbekistan.
- Members are expected to contribute to the mission of the consortium through teaching, research, outreach, or organizational service.
- Currently we are open to welcoming new faculty members.
Interested faculty members can fill out the GCVEX Faculty Application Form.
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Contact Us
Dr. Tanja Sargent is co-founder of GCVEX and coordinator of US operations. She can be reached at tanja.sargent@gse.rutgers.edu.
Other co-founders and faculty members who organize activities in their respective countries are:
- (Burundi) Onesime Nzambimana, Université des Grands Lacs, Burundi
- (China) Onon Yuan Lu, Executive Director, Global Citizenship Virtual Exchange Consortium
- (Kazakhstan) Dr. Dana Abdrasheva, Provost, Korkyt ata Kyzylorda University, Kazakhstan
- (Kenya) Dr. Daniel Otieno, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
- (Libya) Dr. Jeenan Altawaty, Libyan International Medical University, Benghazi , Libya
- (Mexico) Dr. Pedro Canto, Dean of the School of Education at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan
- (Mexico) Dr. Jessica Zumarraga, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan, Mexico
- (Nigeria) Professor Babatunde Olabode, Peace and Conflict Resolution facilitator, Tebaedut Development Initiatives International
- (Nigeria) Oluwafemi Tanimowo – Snr. IT Managerat Life Helpers Initiative
- (Peru) Hilda Revilla – ESAN Graduate School of Business . USIL University and invited professor of UMA University
- (US) Dr. Mary Curran, Professor and Director of Local Global Partnerships at Rutgers Graduate School of Education
- (Uzbekistan) Rano Khamraeva, Westminster International University in Tashkent
