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Group Study Exchange Committee

Chair, TBD

Committee description: To plan and coordinate district Foundation Group Study Exchange scheduling and organizing of the itinerary of the outbound and inbound teams.

Outbound Chair, TBD
To plan and coordinate district Foundation Group Study Exchange scheduling and organizing of the itinerary of the inbound team.

Inbound Chair, TBD
To plan and coordinate district Foundation Group Study Exchange activities, including selection and training of the outbound team.

History of District 6920 GSE Countries

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE (GSE) HISTORY:

The GSE program began in 1955 as the idea of a New Zealand district. Originally known as the Rotary Overseas Travel Award (ROTA), it was adopted by the Trustees as an official educational program in 1965. As of the end of the 2000 Rotary year, 8,063 teams had traveled, with another 587 scheduled in 2001. For 2002, more than 590 teams were paired, adding nearly 3,000 more participants to the total.

Expenditures through 2000 were more than US$73 million. In 2000 alone, the Foundation spent US$3,835,111.81 for the program.

In prior years, our District has had exchanges with Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, France, Poland, India, Scotland, Indonesia, and Japan. Most recently, our exchange was with Italy. Participants in these exchanges have included non-profit agency director, a vice president of United Way, college and middle school teachers, an attorney, a judge, a hospital government affairs person, a minister, city and county government employees and many others.

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE PURPOSE:

The purpose of a Group Study Exchange (GSE) is to promote international understanding and goodwill through person-to-person contact.

TEAM MEMBER APPLICATION PROCESS:

All interested applicants must first have their candidacy endorsed by a Rotary club in the district where they works or lives. From there, endorsed applications are sent on for consideration at the district level.

Additional valuable information about GSE is available at:

http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/gse/index.html

TEAM MEMBER ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Team Members Must:

Be between the ages of 25-40.

Be employed full-time in a recognized profession.

Not be a Rotarian, honorary Rotarian, or employee of a Rotary or the lineal descendant or a spouse of a lineal descendant.

Not a spouse of another team member.

Not be an ex-Rotarian, or the lineal descendant or spouse of a lineal descendant of an ex-Rotarian or ex-Rotary employee who resigned less than 36 month before the time of application.

Ideal Candidates Are:

Between ages 25-40.

Employed full-time in a recognized profession.

A citizen of the country in which they reside.

In good health.

Neat in appearance and able to express themselves clearly and logically.

Of a sound, general educational background.

Interested in and clearly enthusiastic about their chosen vocation and in possession of outstanding vocational skills.

Open minded, tolerant, and FLEXIBLE.

Willing to take on some very basic conversational training in Korean.

Comfortable working as part of a TEAM with a schedule that is physically and emotionally demanding.