Brenau University welcomed a new cohort of Panamanian students in March through the partnership with the Institute for the Development of Human Resources (IFARHU), Panama’s financial aid agency.
Students are chosen through a highly selective process emphasizing academic merit and financial need for the five-year program, which includes a year of college readiness followed by four years of undergraduate study. The newest group of 12 students is the second cohort in the program.
Rosi Ponce, Brenau’s executive director of international strategy and partnerships, has said that the university checks many boxes the Panamanian initiative seeks in forming partnerships.
“We are committed to a long-lasting relationship with the country of Panama and working with IFARHU,” Ponce said after the first cohort arrived. “Brenau has the resources and expertise to provide Panamanian students with the skills required to help them be successful in their academic pursuits.”
Having international students at Brenau enriches the college experience for all students and faculty, which is part of the university’s mission and a focus of the newly created Miller Institute for Global Education.
A total of 34 Panamanian students have come to Brenau since the partnership was established in November 2020. Earlier this spring, Brenau also welcomed six students with visual impairments into the university’s inclusion program.
Students from all three cohorts tried their hands at sculpting in sessions led by Huy Chu, director of the ceramics program at Brenau.
