Arcadia University has the #1 undergraduate participation rate in the nation, marking its leadership in international education with an undergraduate participation of 132.2 percent, higher than any other college or university in the United States, according to the Open Doors 2010 report released today.

“It’s no accident that we have this distinction,” says Arcadia University President Jerry Greiner. “We have intentionally set out to make the world our classroom, to prepare the leaders of tomorrow for a rapidly changing global marketplace.”

Greiner cites the popular “Preview” program, which gives freshman an introduction to study abroad and serves as an integral part of the first-year experience at Arcadia. Preview began with one destination—London—in 1994, and in spring 2011, Preview will feature faculty-led, credit-bearing courses to seven countries and one U.S. city. New destinations for the spring break travel component include New Zealand, Mexico and France.

Arcadia also pioneered the First Year Study Abroad Experience (FYSAE) in 2003, taking a group of 60 freshmen to London to start their college careers. Since then, Arcadia has sent 500 freshmen abroad in seven years. (See Arcadia magazine.)

“Arcadia has been on the U.S.News list of Top Up-and-Coming universities identified as being on the cutting edge in academic innovation,” says Greiner. “After introducing a ground-breaking new Undergraduate Curriculum that includes a sustained cross-cultural Global Connections Experience for all of our students, we pioneered nearly a dozen Majors Abroad Programs (MAPs) that require two semesters of study abroad within each major. And we were one of the first universities to introduce the three-year accelerated degree for high-ability students in 2010, with opportunities to study or intern abroad even in a three-year format.

“Arcadia now is well known nationally and regionally as a leader in global education. We have infused a focus on global learning throughout students’ experience. We are sending at least three times more Arcadia students abroad than we did in 2003, and our College of Global Studies has expanded its offerings by 40 more international programs than we had that year,” he adds.