Study Abroad Programs

College Search & Selection
1

Hello all - My rising senior D has consistently expressed an interest in studying abroad while in college. I’m not sure the specific characteristics of a school’s study abroad program will be a top factor for her, but I am wondering the following:

How “important” in terms of the quality of the program or experience is it that the study abroad program be run by the college itself?

From what I can tell, it looks like colleges either run the programs through their own institutions or “contract out” (for lack of a better term) the administration of the program to a third-party. That may be a misunderstanding though.

Does anyone have a sense of the advantages or disadvantages of one model or another (or if that dichotomy is wrong or too limited, what the models are and their advantages and disadvantages)?

My starting point is a perception that a college run program may be more likely to have that college’s faculty as the overseas faculty and perhaps some sort of residences and/or classrooms dedicated entirely to that college’s program. I’m not sure though, and I’m not sure about the pros and cons if so (more connected to home college, but maybe more insular vs. programs that brings students together into one program from multiple colleges or are run through the host country’s own institutions and housing).

In the end each program, even within the same college, will stand on its own, but wondered about any general thoughts about the various models.

Thanks much all!

2

Studying and living with students plus learning from faculty from other institutions in the country you are visiting is the whole point of studying abroad, in my opinion. What’s the point of staying in an isolated bubble with only people from home? Studying abroad is not meant to be a vacation; it’s meant to be a immersive experience, and that includes living and breathing next to your native counterparts, and learning from faculty that may be able to offer a unique understanding of how different cultures and countries view the same subject differently; ie economic theory, language, social justice, etc.

3

Even programs run by colleges would differ a lot.

Plus there are straight exchanges where you are an exchange student.

Really, you’d have to explore the details of each program. Many schools put that info on the internet, though.

4

I skipped right over the organized study abroad programs offered by my university and enrolled directly in a foriegn university, I believe I was classified as a transient student. It worked well for me, but there were no support mechanisms in place, if something happened to go wrong (which it did) I had to navigate it myself. The pro to this method, I got to choose a uni that more closely aligned with my course of study and really felt a part of the university. Cons, it was a lot more work setting things up, transfer credit etc and I truly was “on my own”.



My husband went abroad through an programm recognized by his home university, but that is about it, there was no real support system in place for him either, just that there was an established curriculum of transferable courses.



My daugter is about to embark on a brief, multiple week, study abroad experience with her university…conducted by one of her professors in consortium with some other US universities where she will earn 3 credits and study a bit at 2 Italian music conservatories and perform concerts with a group of Italian student musicians, some sight seeing thrown in for good measure. This is not a traditional study abroad experience IMO and seems a bit more like vacay to me!



If your kiddo has never travelled abroad. Then I am not sure I would suggest going the route I went ( I had been abroad before and did an exchange in HS too) and possibly not even the way my husband did it. Many universities run their study abroad in consortium with other universities. As you said you need to evaluate a program on an individual basis. I don’t think there is any reason that any model outweighs another, you really need to evaluate it in whether it meets your indiviual needs.



That said…without a doubt I clearly feel a study abroad experience in invaluable, but I wouldn’t use a universities study abroad programs as a huge factor in my decision making process, unless you were looking at a specific “must do this one” study abroad experience. You can make it work.


5

There are so many variations and permutations of study abroad programs and details of each particular program can be very important. I wouldn’t worry about it other than to seek out a college that has a study abroad program with a variety of options (which at this point most every college has) and a sizeable percentage of students who participate.

6

Study abroad was very important to my D. When we were searching for colleges we looked for schools with a strong study abroad office and where a large percentage of students study abroad. This indicated to us that the college worked at making study abroad accessible to anyone who would like to do so. I think this is more important than the specific types of programs that are available. At pretty much every school we looked at, many types of programs were available. Best advice is to have your D visit the study abroad office at the college she finally chooses in her first semester on campus because what works best will vary by student and planning ahead is very helpful.

D just finished freshman year and is currently on a summer study abroad program run by her university and managed by API, studying language and culture in a South American city. She’s living with a host family, is one of about a dozen students from her college (she did not know any of them before the trip), and is taking one class taught by a professor from her university and another class taught by a local professor. She’s had a wonderful experience so far and has been well-supported. She has been encouraged to and offered many opportunities to interact with the local culture and language through this program. She’s traveled and explored quite a bit with other students. She is also hoping to study abroad spring semester next year through an exchange program. I think the summer program has given her confidence in her ability to handle a semester abroad outside the built-in support group of students from her own university as well.

There are a number of different kinds of study abroad programs–Programs run by the university, exchange programs, direct enroll programs, etc. Some include internships or volunteering. Costs can really vary. Most colleges my D considered (both small and large schools) offer several types of programs. We looked for exchange programs that allowed us to pay our usual costs and apply the usual financial aid and scholarships to the home university while the student studies abroad. We weren’t expecting to be able to afford a summer program but this one fit into our budget and the study abroad office was careful to look at our daughter’s major and gen ed requirements and budget and help her decide when and what type of programs were the best options for her. Our D also applied for and received a study abroad scholarship.

7

If cost is a factor, consider.:

Some schools make sure anyone who wants to go abroad can, by making the cost of that semester or year the same as it would be at the home institution for students on financial aid.

If money is a concern but you won’t be on FA, then sometimes a study abroad program (or direct enrollment in the school abroad) where you pay for that instead of the home institution can save money.

Generally, programs college “outsource” to are reputable and students from the college have done them before. Most colleges seem to have students write evaluations after, which are posted on the web site, though most often in a private login area. With a “program” you can expect helpful things like orientation, travel assistance, maybe some activities while there, someone onsite to call for help, etc. As you would with a home college-sponsored program.

Colleges that run their own programs often allow students from other colleges to go too. And no college can run programs in every country a student would want to go to.

What credits will transfer, count for the major, or distribution reqs etc are things to consider too.

Every college I’ve looked at has a web page(s) for study abroad info.

8

Not important at all. Some colleges/universities run very good study abroad programs and others don’t

Some colleges run study abroad programs that they either limit to their own students or allow students of all colleges to participate in. Then most colleges allow their students/accept credit from a select number of study abroad programs. Then many colleges have direct exchange relationships with a few universities. They’re not mutually exclusive options, and a given college may offer some or all of these kinds of programs.

There are lots of companies and institutions that specialize in running study abroad programs that students from many colleges participate in, and many of those are very high quality (like SIT, Butler-IFSA, Arcadia, etc.)

Well, I think it more depends on the program than who’s running it. Generally speaking, direct exchange programs will have the least amount of support for students as they will essentially be transient/visiting students at a university and not in a formal program - but even that’s not a given, because the home university’s study abroad office might have a lot of support that they provide. Also generally speaking, programs (whether by the home college or someone else) will have a cadre of American kids that all go together. That can be both good (a built-in network of kids) and bad (students may be driven to socialize only with other American kids and not with local students).

Not necessarily. In fact, I think it’s unlikely that a college-run program uses that college’s faculty overseas. Many colleges simply hire or contract out the teaching work to local faculty, or arrange for the students to take already-existing classes abroad. It would be really expensive to hire a full-time faculty member and send them abroad to teach what would likely be one, at best two courses a semester.

It’s also not necessarily true that they would have classrooms dedicated entirely to the program; they may rent out space from a university in the country. In some cases some programs have purchased space. Students may also not necessarily meet for all of their classes in the same space, too.

I don’t necessarily think they are more insular, either; in fact, the most insular programs MAY be the ones that bring many American students together, since on average they have more students and it’s easier for students to only socialize within the group and not venture out. A college-based program may only send a few kids from the college together overseas, and so they may be more likely to venture out. In fact, despite having gone on one myself and enjoyed it, I would say that you should thoroughly investigate any program that’s predicated on a bunch of American college students going over all at once and see how it’s run and set up.

The program I went on was very good because the last month was an unstructured independent study, which forced us American kids apart somewhat and was an opportunity for us to explore our own interests and travels independent of one another (while still having a support system). One of the most beautiful things I learned studying abroad was the value of solitude and being alone with one’s thoughts. We were also all in homestays, so there was interaction with the local culture. You want a program that has something built in so that students integrate well into the local culture; programs that throw a bunch of American kids together in the same classes and the same dorms (whether they are all from the same college or not) has a tendency to look like “American college, just in a different country” rather than a true study abroad. It’s one reason that my college did not accept credit from Semester at Sea and our study abroad advisor was adamant about not changing that policy.

9

Wow, thanks so much each of you for the replies. They are of real help! I’m taking away that the shell in which a particular study abroad program sits (college-run, “third-party,” or combination of the two given varying levels of home college support within the program abroad) is less important than the nuts-and-bolts of how the experience is structured in terms of student participation and in-country learning and living experience. After reading the posts, that now seems obvious to me, but beforehand I had kind of thought the shells would have more definitive influences over the study abroad experiences.

Overall, the replies have actually made me more excited for her should she choose to study abroad. If she selects a school with a study abroad program that allows her to make choices between programs that offer pretty different experiences with different pros and cons, she will have some interesting opportunities from which to choose what best suits her. By the time she chooses, who knows what sort of program that might be. But it will be helpful to look at each college’s study abroad program through this lens of exploring whether multiple models are available to students and what models are rather than thinking, for example, a college-run program with home-college faculty is “better” or “worse” than a “third-party” option

Really appreciated everyone - truly terrific replies!

10

BTW, with regards to cost, at some schools and programs, fin aid and scholarships carry over. At some, they do no. In some cases, study-abroad may actually be cheaper than studying on campus. For instance, GTech charges everyone the in-state rate for their study-abroad programs. UIUC has a bunch of study-abroad programs that cost less than the OOS price (and some that are even cheaper than the in-state price).

11

IMO one of the most important things is to make sure the classes are transferable and will actually satisfy curriculum requirements. Sometimes, even if the study abroad program is run through the school, not all the classes are automatically transferable.