Duquesne University, one of Pittsburgh’s three largest universities, has been living its values-based education in action and one of the ways by which the university does this is by holding “Twenty Dinners.”
Twenty Dinners is an outreach program where Duquesne University’s lecturers and employees open their homes to international students for meals and conversation. “We’re trying our best to get them out into the local communities,” says Joseph DeCrosta, executive director in Duquesne’s Center for Global Engagement.
He adds that this initiative aligns with the need of many international students for more immersion into American culture outside of the Duquesne campus. The university is known for its commitment to an education that not only provides intellectual growth but also ethical development. It is also committed to prepare students to make solid contributions in their field and in the community.
A 22-year-old international student, Fabiana van der Wegen from the Netherlands, extols the benefits of the Twenty Dinners program: “Not only did I get to know other international students better, but it was nice to have that personal connection with our professor.” She talks about her visit to the Shadyside home of her health science lecturer who cooked Italian food and invited her own family to join her and the other students last year.
Fabiana is part of a student organisation that brings together experienced overseas students at Duquesne with new campus arrivals. She is currently in her senior year taking up a double major in international business and supply chain management.
Duquesne University has a total of 9,300 students, and about 700 are international students from China, Saudi Arabia, India, Canada, Nigeria, Germany, Vietnam, Turkey, Brazil, Bangladesh and Colombia.
International students in the undergraduate and graduate degree programs are all given the chance to assist their professors with research projects that are changing the world even as the Carnegie Foundation classified Duquesne University as one of only seven Catholic universities in the United States with a “research university with high research activity” distinction.
For details about Duquesne University’s degree programs, scholarships, intake schedules, IELTS and other requirements, students and education agents can refer to the EduCo Course Finder.
