When Langley Smith boarded her flight to Uruguay to study abroad, she expected a semester of travel and new scenery. What she didn’t anticipate was how deeply the experience would reshape her sense of identity, community and calling.
Smith’s first study abroad experience was to ACU’s hub location in Montevideo, Uruguay, in Fall 2023. Later, she interned in Leipzig, Germany, with Leipzig Notenspur, a public-history organization dedicated to preserving the city’s musical heritage. Her research focused on how music helped two Jewish girls survive forced labor during the Holocaust.
The academic learning was only part of the experience for Smith, a senior from Murrieta, California, with a double major in political science and history.
“I believe there are many different purposes of education,” she says, ranging from acquiring hard skills and field knowledge to “learning how to present oneself, navigating independence, and developing our emotional boundaries and moral beliefs, all while introducing us to a diverse set of ideas and individuals.”
Smith found her study abroad experience was a catalyst for all of those aspects of her education, she says. Her time in Montevideo challenged assumptions and expanded her cultural understanding. Leipzig strengthened her research abilities and gave her professional experience in an international workplace.
“To put it simply, studying abroad made my education bigger than simply my classes or extracurricular activities,” she says. “It’s a cringy statement, but I really do feel like the world is my classroom now.”
A competitive edge
Smith, a Rhodes Scholar finalist for 2026, believes her global experiences elevated her application for the prestigious award. “Studying abroad provided the opportunities to practice cross-cultural and interdisciplinary communication,” she says. “Studying abroad also developed my global perspective. I believe that this global perspective also contributed to my application and ultimate selection as a finalist.”
And as a bonus, she adds, “I made lifelong friends and had life-changing experiences all before I turned 21.”
Smith’s reflection echoes a pattern ACU sees year after year – students discovering not just new places, but new parts of themselves. It’s a defining strength of ACU’s student experience, and one the university has been nationally recognized for once again in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
ACU earned honors in four categories that spotlight programs proven to enhance the student experience: Learning Communities (#11), Service Learning (#11 and highest-ranked in Texas), First-Year Experiences (#13) and Study Abroad (#36).
A broader worldview
“Study Abroad is widely recognized by educational researchers as one of the ‘highest impact practices’ a student can engage in as a college student,” says Dr. Mark Barneche, director of ACU’s program. “When students step onto ACU’s global campuses in Leipzig, Oxford or Valencia, or when they attend one of our other international programs around the world, they’re invited to engage their faith, intellect and curiosity in new and meaningful ways.”
Barneche stresses that immersion changes how students learn and who they become.
“Learning in another culture strengthens independence and resilience, deepens relationships with faculty and peers, and helps students connect their academic work with the realities of an interconnected world,” he says.
“Because high-impact practices are proven to strengthen engagement and personal growth, ACU students often return from Study Abroad with a clearer sense of calling, renewed confidence, and a broadened understanding of how their education can serve God and neighbor across cultures,” he notes. “It’s not just a semester or short-term program away from home – it’s a formative experience that shapes students for life.”
For Smith, the practical and the personal came together across two continents. Her semester in Montevideo offered community and language practice; the Leipzig internship provided workplace experience and specialized archival research tied to her double majors in political science and history.
The support before, during and after the experience “really makes it feel like there’s a slice of the Abilene campus abroad,” she says.
The ACU difference
Barneche echoes the importance of that support. “What truly sets ACU’s Study Abroad program apart is the level of care, intentionality and community woven into every part of the experience,” he says.
Because ACU owns its global properties and employs its own faculty abroad, he explains, “we have an unusually high degree of control over the environment in which students live and learn.”
Each location is directed by ACU alumni who were once Study Abroad students themselves. Faculty-in-residence accompany students overseas, living, learning, worshiping and traveling alongside them.
“Each site becomes a vibrant living-learning community marked by strong relationships, shared experiences and a genuine sense of belonging,” Barneche says. “We find this chapter abroad becomes a defining part of a student’s ACU story.”
A program built on purpose
At many universities, studying abroad is a luxury. At ACU, it is a deeply integrated educational strategy, one that shapes students academically, spiritually and personally.
The program’s national recognition aligns with measurable outcomes: 46% of ACU’s university scholars last year were Study Abroad alumni and applications for 2025, released in November, reached 302, an increase of 60 over the previous year.
Students also participate in spiritual formation overseas, including baptisms, small groups, and communal worship. Earlier this year, two students were baptized at Cenchrae, a sacred site visited during the Leipzig program.
The recognition by U.S. News and World Report affirms what he sees every day, Barneche says – that the depth of care, creativity and excellence poured into ACU’s global education programs is genuinely making a difference in students’ lives.
“For our team, this ranking isn’t just a badge of honor – it’s external confirmation that the intentional work of resourcing and improving our global campuses, investing in spiritual and academic formation, and creating a transformative community abroad is being noticed beyond our own walls,” he notes. “It validates the long hours, the behind-the-scenes work, the cross-cultural partnerships, and the commitment to delivering a high-impact educational experience shaped by ACU’s mission. Most of all, it encourages us to keep innovating and expanding the opportunities our students have to engage the world with curiosity, courage, and Christian purpose.”
For students like Langley Smith, the journey has been both academic and deeply personal.
And for ACU, that journey is exactly the point.
