# LIU Global

LIU Global (formerly: Friends World College, Friends World Institute, Friends World Program, and Global College of Long Island University) is one of the Long Island University's schools that offers a four-year Global Studies degree program that sends students abroad to Latin America, Europe, Asia, and/or Australia.

## Academics

LIU Global offers only one degree, a B.A. in Global Studies. Students from other LIU campuses and other universities can study abroad for a semester or year in one of LIU Global's centers.
All freshmen are required to travel to the Costa Rica Center, based in Heredia, Costa Rica. In their second year, students study in the Europe Program which is based in Alcalá, Spain in the fall, with field trips to London and Berlin or Morocco and Andalusia, Spain. The Europe program is based in Florence, Italy for the spring semester, with extended field trips to Vienna, Budapest, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Juniors can choose to spend a year at the China Center in Hangzhou, China which usually includes field trips to Beijing, Shanghai, Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in Western China; Hong Kong; and Taiwan. They may also choose to travel with the Asia-Pacific Australia Program to Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand in the fall and Australia and Bali in the spring. Students spend their year doing an International Research and Internship Semester (IRIS), a research project centered around an internship in the location and on the topic of the student's choice. The last semester is spent at LIU Brooklyn in New York City, where students complete a series of capstone experiences, a second senior-year internship, and a senior thesis.

## History
### 20th century

LIU Global was founded in 1965 as Friends World College through an initiative of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Originally conceived as an international Quaker seminary, FWC's first campus was located on an abandoned airport, Mitchel Field, near Hempstead, New York, where the College's programs occupied unused barracks and hangars.
In the early 1970s, the College acquired the Livingston estate in Lloyd Harbor, New York through a bequest, and by 1972, it had relocated its North American center there, and in accordance with its vision for international education, had established satellite campuses in England, Kenya, India, Guatemala, and Japan. Later, it established campuses in Costa Rica, Israel, and China.
In order that its students might qualify for federally-guaranteed student loans and other Federal programs, the College dropped its formal Quaker affiliation in the mid-1970s and became nominally non-sectarian. However, the President at that time, Dr. George Watson, had already established a Quaker meeting on campus, and this remained until shortly before the College merged with Long Island University.
By the mid- to late-1980s, the College had encountered financial difficulties, and the sudden failure of its Israel program, plus the loss of a U.S. student to malaria in Kenya, helped bring about the Trustees' decision to accept an offer for merger from LIU. The Lloyd Harbor campus was sold to provide a much-needed cash influx, and the school was renamed Friends World Program. The North American campus was moved to LIU's Southampton College. during the 1991–1992 academic year.

### 21st century

In the Fall of 2005, the program moved to LIU's Brooklyn Campus, after the campus was sold to Stony Brook University; thus the New York City Center was established. During this period, "Friends" was dropped, and the College became known as Global Studies LIU. In March 2007, the name Global College was adopted.
In January 2012, LIU launched an institution-wide rebranding campaign, and Global College became LIU Global. Around 70-90 students are currently enrolled at their centers and program sites worldwide.

### Currently operating centers

* New York Center, Brooklyn, New York
* Costa Rica Center, Heredia City, Costa Rica
* China Center, Hangzhou, China

### Currently operating programs

* Asia-Pacific Australia Program, Byron Bay, Australia
* Europe Program, Spain, London, Berlin, Italy, Vienna, Budapest, Bosnia and Herzegovina

### Suspended centers

Regional centers are sometimes shut down indefinitely due to lack of funds, lack of demand, or security or health risks. As of July 2017, these included:
* West Africa Center, Kumasi, Ghana
* East Africa Center, Machakos, Kenya
* European Center, London, England
* Middle East Center, Jerusalem, Israel
* Japan Center, Kyoto, Japan
* Global Issues in South America, various sites in Peru and Ecuador
* South Africa Center, Durban, South Africa
* Comparative Religion and Culture Program, India, Turkey, Thailand, and Taiwan
* India Center, Bangalore, India

## Notable alumni

* Marla Ruzicka, class of 1999, an activist and aid worker who founded the Center for Civilians in Conflict