Ten Unique Study Abroad Programs

Field Experience/Internship Programs

There are several study abroad programs out there that provide an opportunity to observe or get involved with a culture through volunteer work or internships. This is a great way to make friends, improve your language skills, and learn about a working world outside of the U.S. Also, many programs offer opportunities for independent field research projects while abroad, which can be a great way to start a senior or master's thesis.

Arcadia University internship programs

Arcadia University's Center for Education Abroad offers five fall or spring semester internship programs, as well as summer internship programs, for academic credit. These include the Australian, Dublin, or Scotland Parliamentary Internship programs, the London Internship program, and the Sydney Internship program. For each program, extensive coursework in the subject area or prior internship or professional experience is preferred. Because internships are for academic credit, they are unpaid. The Australian Parliamentary internship offers an internship with the Australian Parliament or in a public service agency, an industry or community organization, or a lobby group. In addition, you are responsible for completing coursework in Australian politics and government at the Australian National University (ANU).

The Dublin Parliamentary internship pairs you with a member of Parliament and requires that you take courses at the Institute of Public Administration with other North American students.

The Scottish Parliamentary internship also pairs you with a member of Parliament and expects you to pursue some coursework at the University of Edinburgh in British and Scottish politics and government, as well as Scottish society and culture.

Both the Sydney and London internship programs offer the opportunity to earn academic credit while working side-by-side with Australian/British professionals in areas such as arts, business, communications, public policy, or the social sciences. You'll also need to participate in and receive credit for courses that complement your professional and academic interests.

Arcadia University's Center for Education Abroad, 450 S. Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038; phone 866-927-2234; Web site www.arcadia.edu/cea.

Consortium for Overseas Teaching

The Consortium for Overseas Teaching (COST) is a student teaching program that sends college seniors overseas to fulfill their student teaching requirements in American-sponsored overseas schools or in overseas schools under the supervision of institutions with which COST has an agreement. Placements are available in Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Switzerland.

COST strives to arrange student teaching experiences that help prospective teachers not only develop the skills associated with teaching, but also teach in a bilingual setting and learn how to bring an international perspective back to their classrooms in the U.S. Some of the student teachers who participate in this program accept full-time jobs abroad after finishing. Students typically live in homes of local citizens during their stay abroad.

COST is a voluntary pact among a group of U.S. colleges and universities working together on student teaching placements in a setting outside the U.S. The COST offices are located at the University of Alabama.

Office of Clinical Experiences, College of Education, University of Alabama, 105 Graves Hall, Box 870231, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487; phone 205-348-1153; Web site www.teachabroad.ua.edu.

International Partnership for Service Learning

The International Partnership for Service-Learning (IPSL) offers a study abroad program that combines academics with volunteer service and homestays, which immerse you in the host country culture in many different ways. IPSL has programs in the Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, India, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, and on a Native American reservation in South Dakota.

The program's courses are designed to increase your fluency in the host country's language, provide a thorough understanding of the local culture, and integrate your volunteer experience with classroom learning. Undergraduates take 12-18 credits per semester, 24-36 credits for a year-long program, and 6-12 credits if participating in a summer program.

IPSL students are not housed as a group with other Americans. They live with host families or in university housing where they can interact with students from the host nation and speak the local language.

Your IPSL program director secures a volunteer placement for you that hopefully fits with your interests and skills, as well as the community needs in the area you plan to visit. You spend approximately 15-20 hours per week volunteering. You study with other IPSL students, but you may be the only IPSL student in your volunteer placement. At most, you work with only one or two other IPSL students, which maximizes your contact with and contribution to the agency. Service projects usually fall into three categories: teaching and tutoring, health care, and community development. Examples include serving at schools, orphanages, healthcare institutions, or recreational centers. For example, at a school in Jamaica, volunteers provide one-on-one tutoring. Healthcare volunteers have assisted at a trauma center in Scotland and distributed pharmaceuticals for Medicine without Frontiers in France.

You don't receive credit for just showing up to your volunteer placement and working the requisite 15-20 hours per week. That fulfills your service requirement, but your school credit comes from the courses connected to your service project, in which you demonstrate what you've learned in papers, presentations, and examinations that are evaluated by the professors of the host university.

A transcript is issued by the host university at the conclusion of the program, and The International Partnership forwards it to you and to your home college or university.

The International Partnership for Service-Learning, 815 Second Ave, Suite 315, New York, NY 10017; phone 212-986-0989; Web site www.ipsl.org.

Lexia

Lexia offers more than 12 different semester-long international study abroad programs in locations all over the globe. Lexia's semester starts out with highly structured coursework and concludes with weeks of independent study and field work.

In all non-English-speaking sites, students must take an intensive language course taught by faculty associated with the Lexia program at the local affiliated university or a specialized language institution. All students also take an interdisciplinary civilization seminar, which covers the history, society, politics, art, economics, geography, and cultural aspects of the host country and is led by professors from the host institution.

The less structured portion of the semester begins with a research methods seminar that introduces students to fieldwork methods (observation, participation, surveying, interviewing, analysis, and so on) and how to report knowledge gained in the field in academic writing. Finally, students are expected to complete an independent field research project on a topic of their choice that relates to the host country's culture.

Lexia also offers the option of completing an internship in addition to required coursework. Internships must be requested in advance, are unpaid, and require only ten hours per week. Lexia students have completed internships in government, the arts, health care, business, media and non-profit organizations.

Lexia International, 25 South Main Street, Hanover, NH 03755; phone 800-77-LEXIA; Web site www.lexiaintl.org.

School for Field Studies

The School for Field Studies (SFS) focuses on environmental studies and research. SFS offers fall and spring semester programs as well as shorter summer courses. Their field study centers are located in Australia, Canada, the British West Indies, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Mexico. While the SFS program is particularly attractive to students interested in environment-related fields, students from a wide variety of academic backgrounds study with them. SFS uses an interdisciplinary case study approach to solve environmental problems.

Each SFS Center has a director and three full-time faculty members (usually an ecologist, a resource manager, and an ecological economist) who live on-site. SFS programs incorporate lectures with hands-on field work and directed research projects. The research projects are designed based on the requests of local residents or organizations. The results of students' projects are put to use by local clients for helping to improve conditions or direct progress on environmental issues.

All SFS participants are registered at and receive credit from Boston University, which accredits SFS programs, unless students are from SFS Affiliate and Consortium schools, in which case they receive credit directly from their home institutions.

The School for Field Studies, 10 Federal Street, Salem, MA, 01970; phone 800-989-4418; Web site www.fieldstudies.org.

School for International Training

The School for International Training (SIT) offers 55 experiential, field-based-learning study abroad programs. SIT, which is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., aims to advance international understanding, help students work and learn in multicultural environments, and aid community and country development. Most programs include an orientation, intensive language studies, an extended homestay, coursework, a field study seminar, an independent study project, and field trips.

SIT constructs programs around a theme related to the host country's culture: environmental studies, development studies, arts, gender studies, multicultural studies, peace and conflict resolution, or social justice. Each theme-based program has an interdisciplinary curriculum taught by local professors, experts, and professionals.

SIT offers language study coordinated through universities, language institutes, or qualified private teachers. The field study seminar teaches you research methods for independent fieldwork. Your independent study project (which makes a nice springboard for a senior thesis) is conducted on the topic of your choice and supervised by your academic director and a local professor. SIT arranges field trips to the region's major cultural, natural, and historical sites related to your course of study.

School for International Training, Kipling Road, P.O. Box 676, Brattleboro, VT, 05302; phone 800-257-7751; Web site www.sit.edu.

Programs with Multiple Locations

Can't decide where to study? Would you like to see more than one city during your abroad experience? Then maybe choosing a program that allows you to sail down the Atlantic coast or check out locales along the route from the U.S. to Europe to Asia to South America is for you.

International Honors Program

The International Honors Program (IHP) allows students to study abroad in multiple countries for either a semester or a year. IHP focuses on interdisciplinary study and cross-cultural comparison. IHP offers four different programs, each with its own theme and itinerary: Global Ecology (England, India, the Philippines, New Zealand, Mexico, and the United States), Challenges of a Global Culture (Nepal and Tibet), Indigenous Perspectives (United States, India, New Zealand, and Mexico), and Cities in the 21st Century (New York; Chennai and Bangalore, India; Cape Town, South Africa; Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, Brazil; Boston).

IHP programs are relatively small, with about 30 participants in each one, and major fields of participants vary. Students are expected to take a full course load, and courses are taught by traveling IHP faculty and coordinators from each country visited. Course work includes traditional classroom meetings as well as guest lecturers, fieldwork, case studies, and frequent field trips. Students typically live with host families.

IHP partners with Boston University, Bard College, and Trinity College.

International Honors Program, Boston University, 232 Bay State Road, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02215; phone 617-353-9888; Web site www.ihp.edu.

Sea Education Association

The Sea Education Association (SEA) offers both a twelve-week semester program and an eight-week summer program for undergraduate credit. Located on Cape Cod in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the program combines coursework, research, and hands-on experience. The first half of the program, or "shore component," is spent on coursework in which students study maritime history and literature, ship navigation, oceanography, and technology. Students also design the research projects that they will conduct at sea during this part of the program. The second half of the program, or "sea component," is spent at sea, where students have a chance to apply what they learned during the first six weeks, complete their research projects, and develop sailing skills.

The SEA program emphasizes critical thinking, problem-solving, team-building, and leadership skills. This experience is most suitable for marine biology, geology and physical science, or environmental studies majors, although participants come from all areas within the liberal arts and sciences. SEA has partnered with Boston University to grant academic credit for the semester.

Sea Education Association, P.O. Box 6, Woods Hole, MA, 02543; phone 800-552-3633; Web site www.sea.edu.

Programs for the Artistically Inclined

How amazing would it be to study sculpture in the same city where Michelangelo walked the streets more than 400 years ago? Or what about learning to perform Shakespeare's works just yards from his favorite stage at the Globe Theater? All of you artists out there will be happy to know there are programs where you can do exactly that — and more.

Studio Art Centers International

Studio Art Centers International's (SACI) study abroad program in Florence, the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance, offers a multitude of courses in studio art, art history, and art conservation. The program takes advantage of Italy's rich resources for both field trips and class assignments.

All SACI students enroll in full-time course work. Most SACI courses award three semester hours of credit. During the school year (fall and spring), students typically take four or five courses. SACI also offers a late spring and summer session, in which students usually take two courses. The academic year program includes a series of student exhibitions and ends with a major student art show that gives students an opportunity to display their work. Students are housed in SACI apartments with two to six other students; apartments are usually no more than thirty minutes' walking distance from the school.

SACI is administered through the Institute of International Education (IIE, www.iie.org). SACI is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and Bowling Green State University.

Studio Art Centers International, c/o Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017; phone 212-984-5548; Web site www.saci-florence.org.

Tisch Performing Arts Programs, NYU

New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of Arts offers semester-long programs focused on the performing arts in London, Dublin, South Africa, and Prague. Students can expect to register for 16-18 undergraduate credits; all courses are fully accredited NYU courses. Non-NYU students should apply as non-matriculated or visiting students. Qualified students need to participate in an interview and audition (if applicable).

The London program, based at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), is designed to expose students to all facets of London's performing arts culture. Courses are taught by instructors at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, and Trinity College of Music. Students may study in any of the following programs: Advanced Directed Projects in Photography; Musical Theatre; Shakespeare in Performance with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA); Television Production with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); British Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts; Writing with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain; Playwriting; and Screenwriting.

The Dublin program is run in collaboration with faculty from University College Dublin, the Irish Film Centre (IFC), and several theatre companies including The Abbey and The Gate Theatres. Students may study documentary, dramatic, and cinematic arts as well as take courses on contemporary Ireland. Field trips and cultural activities supplement coursework. Students receive associate membership to the IFC with access to all of its resources, including the Irish Film Archives, Ireland's largest public archive collection.

NYU offers a spring semester program in Johannesburg, South Africa, in conjunction with the University of Witwatersrand. Since 1994 when Nelson Mandela was inaugurated, there has been tremendous development of arts programs and institutions, which represent South Africa's rich history and multicultural heritage. Students earn credits toward their degrees by participating in one of three programs: Theatre-Making, The Arts and Culture of South Africa, and Media Arts: The Picture as Truth.

The newest international study program at the Tisch School is a fall directing semester in Prague (considered the emerging film capital of Europe). Hosted at FAMU (The Prague Film and Television Academy of the Performing Arts), the program is essentially an intense semester of filmmaking with instruction in directing, cinematography, writing, and editing.

Tisch School of Arts, 721 Broadway, 12th floor, New York, NY 10003; phone 212-998-1500; Web site www.nyu.edu/tisch.