The annual RIT's Global Student Consortium event took place in Dubrovnik this year (Jan 16^th - Jan 19^th, 2017)

Making the world a better place in a beautiful city!

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First it was Dubai, then Zagreb, then Rochester… This year it was Dubrovnik's turn to host the appreciated and well anticipated Global Student Consortium. Dubrovnik campus welcomed student representatives from RIT campuses in Dubai, Dubrovnik, Kosovo, Rochester and Zagreb. Along with academic advisers the students spent almost a week in Croatia talking about how to fortify all SGs cooperation and improve student life altogether. We talked to the students about their Dubrovnik experience, and there were two things all of them had emphasized: bonding and learning from one another.

"The Consortium is an awesome opportunity for student leaders on all of our campuses to come together and share our success and challenges that we face on each of our respective campuses. Bringing all of us, our ideas and our passion and enthusiasm together once a year, allows us to take that energy work on finding common solutions or make progress to solve these issues", says Andrea Shaver, the Student Government President for Rochester Campus and a Graphic Design student.

Kareem Hassan studies Mechanical Engineering and acts as a Student Government Vice President at RIT Dubai. He sees the Consortium as a great opportunity provided by RIT. "It shows us how much they're willing to do for the wellbeing of their students. As for improving student life, you have at least 2 leaders from each campus invited to share ideas and work together on global goals. The diversity was extreme and there were many groups of different languages and different accents, yet we still manage to have the beautiful dynamic that we do now and have no problems with cultural differences whatsoever. All in all, it was probably one of the most exciting times in my years as a university student", says Kareem.

Booby Moakley comes from Rochester campus where he is double-majoring in Environmental Science and International/Global Studies. His main focus in the Global Consortium was to create inclusive environments for Deaf/HOH students globally: "When I received the opportunity to travel to Dubrovnik for the consortium, I was absolutely thrilled. My biggest takeaway was cultural sensitivity in the workplace. I noticed that all of the SGs were structured and led very differently from one another. Coming to the realization that each campus should be different to suit their own culture, I had to adjust my approach to the consortium. One thing that really enabled me to connect with the other students was their willingness to learn about Deaf culture, ASL, and more. All of the campuses have expressed strong interest in creating inclusive environments through different strategies. I could not have had any more fun in Dubrovnik! I definitely plan to return there sometime in the summer to experience its true culture."

"Since this was my third Global Student Consortium, I knew approximately what to expect from it", says Lorena Rosean, an International Business student and a Student Government Vice President at RIT Croatia, Zagreb campus. "However, this year, it was the best consortium so far. Collaborating with students from other campuses was amazing. Each of the three years I was participating in, I got the opportunity to meet different people from all over the world that impacted my personal, as well as my professional life as a Student Government representative. The people that I've had the chance to meet, changed the way I look at some things, and I am extremely happy that I've had that opportunity."

And when it comes to RIT Croatia Dubrovnik campus, its SG President and an International Hospitality and Service Management student, Niko Katušić,marks this as one of the best RIT experiences so far: "We are SG representatives and leaders so knowing each other helps us to cooperate even better. Student life will be even more interesting after this Consortium because we shared and we generated more ideas and plans that are predicted for upcoming year. This is my first time attending this event and truly I had positive vibe about it! I already met those students through Global meetings that we had over the last semester but it was really nice to discuss with such amazing people in person!!! Every minute that we spend together was something that we are all happy about and thankful that we get an opportunity like this. We combined our strengths and the output from Consortium will be seen during upcoming semester!"

Yes, it was several days of fun, socializing and sightseeing, but most importantly, collaboration and working on student governments' common goals. Andrea shares: "As a group, we found three common goals that we are going to focus on for the remainder of this year, into next year. Increasing awareness of the global campuses and opportunities for students to have global experiences on these campuses, making all of the campuses more accessible and including for our D/deaf and hard of hearing students, and increasing communication on changes and opportunities from the main RIT campus to all of the other campuses."

"Being an RIT student opens me up to diversity, new experiences, and new ideas. I could not be prouder to be an RIT student. I am able to thrive in any area I desire with such a supportive community both locally and globally", concludes Bobby. RIT Croatia is happy and proud for hosting this event again and we look forward to new Global Student Consortium on another global campus J.