Penn State Education Abroad is committed to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through education abroad.  The idea for Stay Local combines many different aspects of sustainability and incorporates several SDGs into the concept.

The basic idea was this:  What if we incentivized semester-long education abroad students to stay in their host city rather than jet set on certain weekends?  And how could we maximize the educational, cultural, and climate impact of these students staying local?

U.S. sending institutions can implement a Stay Local initiative, but the inaugural Stay Local Weekend in spring 2023 demonstrated that partnering with the on-site host institution to offer specialized events on the designated weekends increases student interest and participation.  Examples of local enagement activities that host institutions may plan are: 

• Free or reduced price tickets to local cultural events or sites

• Neighborhood clean-up event

• Discussions on sustainability in the local context

• Local food celebration

• Group train trip to neighboring community

Aside from the positive environmental impact of avoid emissions from student travel on Stay Local Weekends, the organizing institution can implement strategies to advance Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).  In all student communication and social media posts, the organizers can include educational materials and resources related to sustainability in all its forms.  This way, even students who do not participate in Stay Local programming have access to sustainability information as it relates to education abroad.  For example:

• Carbon emission information from transportation sector

• Carbon calculator for student use

• UN Sustainable Development Goals introductory information

• Articles on sustainability and international education

• Information on local sustainability efforts and priorities