International Residency

The AU MSOD International Residency offers an opportunity to broaden your OD skills through an 11-day residency in South Africa, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Scotland, Canada, or another field site. Student teams, coached by faculty, work with local client systems to complete a full cycle of action research consultation. Clients benefit from your input--and you gain valuable hands-on experience applicable to professional work in global and multicultural settings.

Prior to the Residency, students spend a class weekend examining theory, models, and experiences of diversity, focusing on their use of self in diverse settings and pathways to inclusion. They examine their experiences and assumptions as U.S.-based practitioners, including how this background affects their responses – and perceptions that host nationals may hold about them -- as professionals working outside the U.S.

This course includes foundational readings, field activities, the full-cycle OD consultation, lectures and presentations by faculty and leading executives and OD professionals from the host country. Students deepen their learning through written work, team and individual reflections, and presentations to their class. Our students find this Residency to be a landmark experience in the AU MSOD curriculum.

What Students Say:

“Instructors know the OD process so well that they knew it was important to give us certain support, such as emotional, academic, experiential, etc. at specific times. The course was beautifully designed. The closing session with firms and clients was exquisite. The professors are exceptionally qualified and committed to the work.”

“The client systems were impressive in terms of who they were within the community and how they worked with us, the students, in such an open and engaged manner. Our team's Senior Partner was always available and gave us excellent and timely advice and support. The learning we obtained, in partnering with clients of the caliber we experienced, was significant and life changing”.