Our Mission

The Umbra Institute seeks to offer its students outstanding, sustainable, international, and financially accessible academic programs based in Perugia, Italy. More simply, the Umbra Institute’s primary goal is to offer students the safest most-rewarding study abroad experience possible. The following points articulate in greater detail our pathway to achieve our objectives:  

Outstanding Academic Quality

Instruction: The Institute pursues academic excellence by selecting faculty on the basis of outstanding credentials/career records/professional profiles, teaching expertise, and significant/acknowledged scholarly accomplishments.

Innovation: The Institute is dedicated to the development of academic and intercultural programs that embrace interdisciplinary approaches and incorporate creative and pioneering pedagogical methods. Innovative international-scope research and scholarship are also ongoing enterprises at Umbra in order to further invigorate curricular offerings. 

Transformation and Intercultural competence
The Institute seeks to implement the best practices in Education Abroad as it capitalizes on Italy’s outstanding cultural resources to enable a truly transformative student experience. The Institute merges academic enterprise with a strong focus on community engagement and global awareness, thus facilitating the students’ progressive intercultural skills and knowledge.

Community Engagement

The Institute is united in supporting and collaborating with the communities to provide students with unique and culturally immersive opportunities for community engagement and service-learning. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Institute recognizes that an essential part of the study abroad experience is embracing cultural differences and being open to people, views, and practices that may be different from one’s own experiences. It and its members, therefore, commit to fostering and promoting a diverse and inclusive learning environment.

Sustainability

The Institute strives to be socially and environmentally responsible. The Institute’s practices and academic offerings encourage the research and study of sustainable travel, consumption, and education.

Accessibility/Affordability

In keeping with its public status mission, the Institute is committed to offering affordable and competitive rates, thus making this unique learning experience in Italy accessible to the largest cohort of students.