Tag: International education

On January 25, 2018, Shorelight Education celebrated its fifth anniversary. In honor of reaching this milestone, the organization hosted an anniversary event with an array of luminaries from Boston’s innovational economic, education, and political worlds in attendance. Speakers included Tom Dretler, CEO of Shorelight; Basil Cleveland, Executive Vice President of Shorelight; Lauren Jones, Director of Business Strategy for the City of Boston; and Jesse Mermell, President of the Alliance for Business Leadership. The program also included a special field degree lesson demo by Bryan Polivka, Senior Director for the Field Degree program. Sharing the day with team members, students, partners, and friends, Shorelight reflected on its remarkable successes over the last five years.

“We made a pact when we started the company. We were going to bring students to the United States and bring great American Universities to students. We made that commitment together,” said Dretler.

After five years, Shorelight shines with a unique opportunity to make a difference. Shorelight has seen growth in every aspect of the business. 500 team members have successfully nurtured 15 university partnerships and connected thousands of students with their American educations.

Fulfilling their mission of opening American universities to the world and creating life-changing experiences, Shorelight continues to prioritize their students first and foremost. Shorelight is thrilled to report that their student retention and satisfaction rates exceed 90 percent, making them among the very best in U.S. higher education. As the organization has expanded, Shorelight has assembled an all-star team across the globe that has touched the lives of thousands of students worldwide, affording them the opportunity to thrive in world-class college campus settings, graduate from leading U.S. institutions, and succeed as globally minded alumni.

Recognized for its awarded-winning corporate culture, Shorelight is dedicated to cultivating a prosperous workplace for all. The extraordinary company culture encourages collaboration and empowers its employees to make meaningful contributions to its corporate purpose of educating the world. Shorelight’s team members are the heart and soul of the mission-driven organization. This year, Shorelight Education was named one of The Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work. Looking to the future, the organization will continue its commitment to provide a purposeful, collaborative, and healthy workplace for its nearly 500 team members.

As Shorelight continues to evolve as an organization, the team will continue in its pursuit of finding innovative ways to best serve students and reinvent the international education experience. Looking ahead to the next five years, Shorelight hopes to expand its global reach, positively impacting the educational journeys of even more students and continuing to serve students and ensure their ultimate success.

Agreement supports recruitment and academic success, enhances university’s global reputation

The University of Mississippi and Shorelight Education have agreed on a new joint program that will broaden global access to UM’s highly regarded undergraduate and master’s degrees for international students.

This new partnership will support the recruitment, retention and success of international students at Ole Miss, as well as elevate the global presence of the university.

UM and Shorelight will together create an innovative program to enhance the educational experience of students who come to Ole Miss from around the world, as well as those students who come from every county in Mississippi, Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said, announcing the agreement.

“In today’s increasingly interconnected world, we continually strive to attract students from many backgrounds and to educate our students – tomorrow’s leaders – to prosper in a global society,” Vitter said. “Creating an atmosphere that welcomes and celebrates a broad spectrum of cultures, experiences and populations goes hand in hand with fostering academic excellence.”

The development and implementation of the partnership is expected to broaden educational opportunities for students from across the globe by helping them successfully transition to UM. With an English language accelerator program and intensive advising and acculturation experiences, the program will help the university become a model for international access and student success for both undergraduate and graduate students.

“Shorelight is thrilled to create a program with the University of Mississippi that will provide international students with a life-changing educational experience at a premier U.S. higher education institution,” said Tom Dretler, CEO of Shorelight Education. “Ole Miss is the perfect learning environment for this innovative program.”

“We know international students will be welcomed and thrive on the Oxford, Mississippi, campus.”

The partnership, approved recently by the board of trustees of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, also will promote recruiting international students for direct admission to the university.

“This strategic initiative advances the university’s goal to educate and engage global citizens,” said Richard Forgette, UM associate provost. “It is essential for UM students to be able to thrive in a global economy and society.

“This new partnership will strengthen the university’s reputation as an international campus by showcasing our excellent academic programs while also promoting our student diversity.”

“Shorelight Education’s recruitment network will highlight the university’s stellar academic programs and attract high-achieving students from around the world”, said Blair McElroy, UM interim senior international officer and director of study abroad.

“We are excited for the opportunities available through this partnership in increasing international student enrollment at the University of Mississippi,” she said. “International undergraduate and graduate students will be supported through a streamlined application process and ‘high-touch’ student services.”

“Collaborating with Shorelight Education will also be beneficial by providing all UM students with global experiences as international students join classrooms in disciplines all over campus and bring a variety of perspectives into the learning environment at Ole Miss.”

Increasing enrollment of international students and helping all Ole Miss students become globally minded alumni will prove beneficial to every UM student and the entire state, Vitter said.

“As we strive to prepare our students to prosper in a global society, our international students – with a rich diversity of talents, cultures and contributions – enrich and enhance the vitality of our university and our state,” he said.

The first students are expected to arrive in 2019.

Shorelight Education has been named one of the top places to work for 2017 by The Boston Globe. Inclusion on the annual list—compiled from a survey of more than two million employees at over 7,000 organizations—reflects Shorelight’s strong commitment to creating a purposeful, collaborative, and healthy workplace for its nearly 500 team members.

Founded in 2013, Shorelight is reimagining the higher education experience for international students, supporting their success and empowering institutions to reach their international aspirations. Working in partnership with leading colleges and universities across the country, Shorelight helps drive institutional growth by supporting efforts to attract and retain talented students from around the world through innovative degree programs and services throughout the student lifecycle.

“We are very proud to have been recognized by The Boston Globe as a top place to work,” said Shorelight CEO Tom Dretler. “At Shorelight, we have built a culture that encourages collaboration and empowers our employees to fulfill our corporate purpose to Educate the World. Our team members are the heart and soul of our efforts, and from the earliest days we established guiding principles and values that have followed us through our growth and are central to being a mission-driven organization. I am enormously proud that our dedicated team lives and breathes those values every day through their work.”

Combining a strong benefits package with a mission-driven culture, Shorelight is constantly evolving to reflect the priorities of its team members. Shorelight offers and has publicly advocated for paid family leave policies, provides regular opportunities for employees to participate in volunteer and team-building activities, and has been at the forefront of the legislative fight to eliminate the gender wage gap. In 2016, Shorelight signed the “Boston Women’s Workforce Council’s 100% Talent Compact,” a public commitment to share payroll data in an effort to develop sustainable solutions to close the wage gap.

The University of Dayton and Shorelight Education today announced a new partnership that will enhance the university’s ongoing aim to provide a world-class educational experience to students from all parts of the globe.

“At the University of Dayton, we have a strong commitment to research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Introducing diverse ideas and perspectives from top international students is critical to that work,” said University of Dayton president Eric F. Spina.

“Partnering with a student-focused industry leader like Shorelight aligns with our Marianist traditions of educating through a learning community of challenge and support and fostering a welcoming, inclusive campus community. This is a thoughtful approach to attracting and educating international students and ensuring their ultimate success.”

Together, the University of Dayton and Shorelight will create the International Accelerator Program (IAP), which will combine intensive English-language instruction with courses, programs and additional support to help international students adjust academically and socially to the University of Dayton and the community of Dayton, Ohio. Offering programs for both undergraduate and graduate students, the IAP will expand the university’s efforts to educate students from around the world and ensure positive outcomes.

“We’re thrilled to enter into this partnership with the University of Dayton—its top-quality academic offerings, innovative approach to student-centered education and dedication to leadership and service make them an ideal partner for Shorelight,” says Tom Dretler, CEO of Shorelight Education. “We share the University of Dayton’s commitment to welcoming students of all backgrounds and from across the world, and we look forward to what we can accomplish together in the days ahead.”

Jason Reinoehl, vice president for strategic enrollment management for the university, said that the new program will be a campuswide initiative, kicking off in the next few weeks and involving staff, faculty and administrators from all parts of the university.

The private university is attractive to international students for its 388-acre campus and small student-to-faculty ratio of 16 to 1. Set in the birthplace of aviation, the university lives up to its location’s innovative roots, earning a place among the top 20 entrepreneurship programs as ranked both by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneurship magazine.

The first IAP students will enroll in fall 2018.

Along with the University of Dayton, Shorelight currently operates partnerships with Adelphi University, American University, Auburn University, Florida International University, Louisiana State University, University of Central Florida, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Kansas, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of the Pacific, University of South Carolina and University of Utah.

For more information, please contact Alex Goldstein at alex.goldstein@corporate.shorelight.com.

The U.S. continues to be a top destination for international students to study. In fact, despite the steady stream of news questioning the U.S.’s commitment to international education, the majority of American colleges and universities report that they are not seeing a decrease in the number of international student applications.