Hope College has been recognized as a pioneer in providing study-abroad experiences for students.

IES Abroad honored Hope as one of the consortium's first 10 institutional members during the organization's 60th-anniversary celebration in October.  The recognition included a citation dated Thursday, Oct. 14, that "acknowledges the continuous and long-standing membership of Hope College in the IES Abroad Consortium.  We are grateful for this dedicated support of our programs and mission in the field of study abroad."

Hope became the second member of IES Abroad (formerly the Institute of European Studies) when the college joined the program in 1964.

The college's engagement with IES Abroad had actually started some eight years earlier, in 1956, when Dr. Paul Fried worked with the program as he developed Hope's popular Vienna Summer School.  IES's first initiative in 1950 had taken 23 students to Vienna for a year.

In commemoration of its anniversary, IES Abroad also published a book that chronicles the organization's history.  In citing Hope's involvement, the volume includes the cover of the 1965 Vienna Summer School brochure as an illustration.

Today IES Abroad has 72 member schools and 117 associate-member schools, and more than 5,000 students annually participate in more than 90 IES Abroad programs in 32 cities.

Each year, approximately 300 Hope students study abroad through either semester-long or full-year programs or shorter summer programs, many through IES Abroad.  In addition, Hope is hosting 61 international students from 29 countries during the current school year.