Case Study: University of Maryland, Baltimore County grows international programs with Terra Dotta

University of Maryland, Baltimore County grows study abroad programs from 1 to 10 with Terra Dotta

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) faced a challenge managing its growing international and study abroad programs with entirely paper-based processes. This analog system led to incomplete records, manual data entry errors, and consumed approximately 30% of staff time on processing, leaving little capacity for student engagement or program development. To modernize, UMBC turned to vendor Terra Dotta and implemented its solutions for incoming and outgoing students, including the ISSS portal, Study Abroad application system, and AlertTraveler.

By implementing Terra Dotta's cloud-based platform, UMBC automated application and compliance workflows, centralizing all student data into a single, accessible system. The results were significant; the study abroad team regained time to focus on growth, increasing faculty-led programs from one with 7 students in 2016 to 10 programs with over 100 students by 2019. Annual study abroad participation grew from an estimated 125-150 to 200-250 students. The solution also provided critical self-service features for students and enabled a seamless transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (umbc)