Students and administrative officials gathered Tuesday at the Talley Student Center for an award ceremony to honor scholarship recipients who have or will be studying abroad all over the world.

The Study Abroad Office hosted the event in an effort to not only honor students’ accomplishments, but also to stress the importance of worldly knowledge in today’s society, according to Vice Provost of the Office of International Affairs Bailian Li.

Li said he hopes to expand the study abroad opportunities for students and make international awareness a priority for the University.

“The purpose is to bring international globalization to the University’s agenda,” he said.

Assistant Director for the Study Abroad Office Kelly Kirkwood said studying outside the country can be an important resume builder.

“Studying abroad helps students to learn about the world outside North Carolina, so that in their future careers, they have the skills to work with people of diverse backgrounds,” Kirkwood said.

Li expressed similar sentiments, commenting that without global knowledge, students will be lost in an expanding technologically based economy.

“The world has become a global economy,” Li said. “Without understanding the political systems, languages, cultures and religions of other countries, our students cannot compete in the world market.”

Director for the Study Abroad Office Ingrid Schmidt said the knowledge students gain studying in different cultures can change their perspectives on life.

“It encourages students to step outside their comfort zone and experience personal growth from exposing themselves to something very different,” Schmidt said. “It can be a scary thing to find someone with a complete different perspective than you.”

Budget Manager for the Study Abroad Office Alane Basco-Yu said there are plans to expand the opportunities offered to students to study in different countries by supplying more scholarship opportunities.

“Our plan is to start in the N.C. State community, getting more departments and colleges to contribute [and] then extend into the greater Triangle area,” Basco-Yu said.

Nidhi Sharma, a sophomore in biochemistry and one of the 150 scholarship recipients for the 2006 – 2007 school year, said the money the Study Abroad Office granted her is invaluable to her plans to study in Japan, and receiving a scholarship was relatively simple.

“It was pretty easy,” she said. “Everything was on the Web site. Receiving this scholarship has encouraged me to expand my educational future.”

Kirkwood said Tuesday’s ceremony is an important commemoration of the University’s continued growth in its study abroad endeavors, but there are many planned improvements for the future.

“We are here today to recognize the outstanding achievements of these students and to increase awareness about the availability of these scholarships,” Kirkwood said. “We still have more work to be done.”