The University System of Georgia is a pioneer in assessing the link between study abroad and college success. Its GLOSSARI project concluded that studying abroad increases the probability that a student will complete college efficiently and with a strong GPA, especially for minority and at-risk students. CASSIE implements the next phase of this work by refining the methods pioneered a decade ago, extending the scope to include language study and Title VI participation along with study abroad, and scaling the research to the national level.

What Is CASSIE?

CASSIE is a collaborative inter-institutional research project funded by a FY 2017 Title VI International Research and Studies grant from the US Department of Education, office of International and Foreign Language Education. CASSIE will expand the empirical evidence on international education and student outcomes by establishing a national databank and co-laboratory. It will conduct analyses using the databank to analyze a variety of hypotheses, as well as develop a benchmarking system to aid institutions in evaluating their college success impact. Through a focus on both analysis and collaboration, the project aims to build sustainable infrastructure to promote research on international education and student outcomes.

Understanding the Impacts of International Education

• CASSIE will examine the impact of varied forms of international education, including study abroad, advanced study of world languages, and participation in Title VI programs on a range of student success indicators;
• CASSIE will build capacity among all types of institutions and among Title VI programs for conducting student outcomes assessment;
• CASSIE will include diverse public and private higher education institutions across the United States and through this diversity address outcomes for under-studied populations.

Long-Term Impact

The databank and co-laboratory concept will enable a “big data” and “deep dive” approach to understanding the impact of international education on college success. Improving college completion rates, along with other indicators of college success, is high on the national agenda. Demonstrating convincingly that education abroad and other types of international education lead to college success will fuel institutional and external support for education abroad for years to come.

Why Participate?

Collaborating institutions will receive the following direct benefits:

1. Assistance in building a partnership with your Office of Institutional Research to produce more valuable reports;
2. Confidential and tailored benchmarking studies that show how your institution compares on “value added” to student success through international education;
3. An opportunity to run institution-specific studies using student records;
4. Information to bolster arguments for increasing participation of under-represented students.

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