CIEE Leading Change in Latin America Study Abroad Initiative - Spring Update
Authored By:
In 2025, we launched the CIEE Leading Change in Latin America initiative to encourage more students to study abroad in the region. We focused on overcoming the three main barriers to study abroad:
- Cost – We awarded 100 semester scholarships and lowered program pricing for select semester and summer programs, including ALL programs in Merida, Mexico.
- Curriculum – We expanded programs, including CIEE's Semester In, Sustainable Smart Cities, Ecology and Sustainability, and Global Internship programs, and we added new CIEE centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and São Paulo, Brazil.
- Culture – We brought the world to Buenos Aires, Argentina this past November for the 78th Annual CIEE Annual Study Abroad Conference.
To date, we’re encouraged by the results of our efforts. Student enrollment in CIEE programs in Latin America is up over 40% through the spring ’26 semester, and summer applications are up nearly 20%.
And our new centers in Latin America are hosting students for the first time, in San Juan and São Paulo:
As we look ahead to Spring 2026, we are delighted to announce the next cohort of Leading Change in Latin America Fellows, comprised of 73 students representing 38 higher education institutions. These Latin America Fellows will spend Spring 2026 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; São Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Monteverde, Costa Rica; Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; Mérida, Mexico; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Meet the next cohort on our website.
At our Conference in Buenos Aires, our Fall 2025 Latin America Student Fellows shared inspirational stories about how these scholarships made studying abroad a reality for them. Throughout their programs, they experienced all that Latin America has to offer, from culture and history to cutting edge technology, innovation, and design. Hear more from these 2025 Fellows about their experiences in the video below.
We wish our 2026 Fellows well as they begin their journeys, and we encourage you and your students to follow their journeys as you explore our programs in Latin America.