International Center University of Florida

GAINESVILLE 05/09/2025 – The University of Florida is ranked No. 3 in the top large schools’ category among Peace Corps’ 2025 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list*. There are currently 34 volunteers from the University of Florida serving in 21 countries around the world, including Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, North Macedonia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Senegal, Thailand, Uganda, and Vanuatu.

“We are incredibly proud to see the University of Florida ranked No. 3 among the nation’s top large schools for Peace Corps volunteer production,” said Marta L. Wayne, Dean of the UF...

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Dr. Ana Maria Porras, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, was recently interviewed by UNICollaboration, a European-based Virtual Exchange network. During this interview, Dr. Porras describes how she developed a virtual exchange program in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Suarez Venegas from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. Their virtual exchange project, which has already been implemented twice, requires students to identify global health issues in their partners’ country and propose solutions. 

To check out the interview and article for the full story, ...

Amila Tica— "Tica, like pizza," she joked—is UFIC’s Coordinator of Exchange Student Services, advising and assisting all inbound international students studying abroad here at UF. Amila is a double Gator, with a B.A. in International Studies and English and an M.Ed. in Student Personnel in Higher Education.

Born in Germany to Bosnian parents, Amila moved to the United States when she was 5 years old. “My family escaped from the war in Bosnia and lived in Germany for 7 years—it’s where my brother and I were born. We came as refugees to Jacksonville in 2000, when our residence in Germany became tenuous.” Growing up in Jacksonville, she always was close to her Bosnian heritage, “...

Now on their third annual virtual exchange (VE) project implementation, Dr. Luis Mejia-Puig, Assistant Professor in the UF Department of Interior Design, and one of his VE partners, Prof. Edgar Martínez, Director of the Industrial Design Program at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Colombia, were recently interviewed by UNICollaboration, a European-based VE network. They describe their VE project, which requires students to exchange knowledge on their local communities so they can design building interiors for each other's contexts. 

To check out the interview and article for the full story, ...