Description
Students from any major can go abroad for two weeks to more than an academic year and, with careful planning, can maintain progress or even accelerate toward their degree. With study, work, internship, volunteer, and travel abroad, students can increase their awareness, understanding, and appreciation of other cultures. The incredible experiences they will discover may include studying indigenous dance or martial arts in India, assisting a rural doctor in Ecuador, or participating in an internship in corporate psychology in London. Other students might study business from a European perspective or engineering in a different academic system.
Learning abroad may enhance a student’s language proficiency, add an international perspective to their chosen major, or strengthen their intercultural communication skills in an employment setting. It allows students to take advantage of experiences that cannot be found on campus and to study subjects from a different perspective. Work, internship, and volunteer opportunities may enhance a student’s career preparation and personal development.
Learning Abroad Center
The Learning Abroad Center in the Office of International Programs is the central University of Minnesota office for study, service learning, intern, volunteer, work, and travel abroad opportunities. It offers a full range of advising and support services for students on such issues as program selection, academic planning, financial aid, credit, registration, cultural adjustment, and re-entry. Services are provided for all U of M study abroad programs as well as for programs offered by a variety of other U.S. and foreign organizations and universities. The Learning Abroad Center works closely with colleges and departments across the U of M campus to identify programs that work well for their students.
One product of this close collaboration has been the development on major-specific advising materials, available on-line at http://www.umabroad.umn.edu/academic/majors/index.html. These advising tools provide guidance from each department, including academic considerations to help students fit learning abroad into their degree plan most effectively and specific program suggestions.
The U of M offers an unusually wide array of study abroad programs that vary in length, level, academic focus, teaching format, language requirement, cost, and degree of independence demanded of the participant. The Learning Abroad Catalog highlights over 230 U of M options. Also, the study abroad resource center in 230 Heller Hall provides a variety of program materials, computers to research study abroad programs on the Internet, and evaluations from past participants. A smaller resource center on the St. Paul campus (190 Coffey Hall) is open daily, with a program selection adviser available during weekly office hours.
First Step Meetings
First Step Meetings are held in 94 Blegen Hall on the West Bank, and in 190 Coffey Hall on the St. Paul campus. For a current schedule, go to www.umabroad.umn.edu/academic/FirstStepSchedule.html. These sessions introduce learning abroad opportunities and provide tools to get started. After attending a First Step Meeting, students may meet individually with a program selection adviser, available on a walk-in basis to define their needs and identify programs.
Study Abroad Academic Planning
Students can take courses abroad to meet major, minor, college, and/ or liberal education requirements. Over 1800 study abroad courses have already been evaluated and approved for University of Minnesota liberal education credit. Students and advisers can receive information from the Learning Abroad Center on liberal education credit for individual study abroad programs and courses using an on-line searchable database available at www.UMabroad.umn.edu/academic/. New courses can be submitted for review using this same tool. Prior to departure, students will be required to meet with major, minor, and college advisers and complete an Academic Planning for Study Abroad Form to assure their plans are academically sound and realistic. Students are urged to plan well in advance to ensure that application deadlines do not slip by and to facilitate academic credit.
Financial Aid
Financial aid may be applied toward study abroad programs as long as students meet aid eligibility requirements including those regarding credit loads. All scholarships awarded by the University of Minnesota can be used for study abroad, and, in addition, more than $500,000 of scholarships and travel grants are available specifically for study abroad. Study abroad scholarship information is available at www.umabroad.umn.edu/financial/scholarships/. Financial aid is not available for opportunities that do not award academic credit.
Credit for study abroad
Credit for study abroad may be obtained by any one of four routes. Students should consult with a Learning Abroad Center adviser regarding credit as soon as possible when selecting their study abroad program.
- Residence Credit: The Learning Abroad Center and some academic departments, both in CLA and in other colleges, operate U of M sponsored programs. In addition, Learning Abroad Center cosponsors many programs administered by other universities and organizations. Students on sponsored and cosponsored programs earn credit and receive grades in the same manner as if coursework were completed on campus. The only difference might be that courses that are not U of M department based will be listed with FOST designators.
- Transfer Credit: Students who enroll in foreign universities either directly or through an exchange or who enroll in programs sponsored by other U.S. universities or a consortium of universities generally obtain transfer credit.
- Credit by Exam: Students enrolled in institutions, universities, or programs from which the U of M does not accept transfer credit may attempt to earn credits by exam. Financial aid may not be used by students pursuing credit by exam.
- Directed Study: The various directed/independent study options available to CLA students may also be used to earn credit for study abroad. Students are strongly advised to have a written agreement with an instructor before their departure.
University of Minnesota Adviser Training on Study Abroad
The Learning Abroad Center (and its predecessors, the Global Campus and the International Service and Travel Center) has been working with faculty, professional advisers, and department representatives to incorporate study abroad into a student’s undergraduate experience. Building on current programming, advising, and communication tools, international program professionals from Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and the Twin Cities are collaborating to fully integrate study abroad into all University of Minnesota undergraduate majors and minors on all four campuses. This will make study abroad a permanent and integral part of student academic plans and will provide students with the international experience that will be essential to succeed in every field in the coming decades.
The Learning Abroad Center received grant support from the Bush Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) to address just a few of the issues students must face when considering study abroad: curricular fit, support of faculty and advisers, and finances. Success in departments like Chemical Engineering and Retail Merchandising has shown that if students are given the opportunity to study abroad without delaying graduation and without significant financial burden, they will take it.
The president of the University of Minnesota supports Study Abroad Curriculum Integration. There has been a call to increase student participation so that (STRIKE beginning in...) 50% of the graduating class will have studied abroad. Support has also been seen in the form of scholarships specifically for study abroad. Faculty and staff around the University are encouraged to make students aware that:
Study abroad is recommended at the University of Minnesota as an important step to meeting academic and career goals. Every student can study abroad in their major or minor. There are many scholarships and other funding sources available, including financial aid. Students can get more information from staff at the Learning Abroad Center-Study Abroad office, 230 Heller Hall on the West Bank.
Your Department and Study Abroad
Each college, and sometimes departments, handles the study abroad process a little differently. There are some overarching principles, however, that you can rely on. The Learning Abroad Center will provide:
- Study abroad advising.
- Resources to help students locate the most current course information for their study abroad program.
- Detailed program information.
- Information on funding study abroad, including Study Abroad Cost Estimates (SACE) that are officially accepted by the Financial Aid office and can possibly result in an adjustment of a student’s award.
- Database of courses that have been evaluated to fulfill Liberal Education Requirement, and the opportunity to submit a request for evaluation for a new course.
- Pre-departure orientations and other preparation materials.
- For information specific to your department, you may want to ask your supervisor:
- Who approves study abroad credit in our department when a student is planning to go abroad?
- Does our college have an international office or offer its own programs to students?
- Does our college or department have scholarships specific to study abroad?
- Where are the study abroad resources specific to our department that I can provide to students?
- Even though all options are open to our students, what “ideal” times have been identified for students in our majors or discipline areas to study abroad, taking into consideration the restrictions of the curriculum?
The answers to these questions will give you a good understanding for how your office works with study abroad.
The Steps Students Take
Step 1: Ask Questions & Consider the Timeline: Students begin thinking about things like: What do I want to learn abroad? What language do I want to learn in or do I want to learn a language? How long do I want to study abroad? Do I want an internship? What country do I want to go to? Students should begin planning as early as possible. Some program application deadlines are a full year before the program starts. Most are generally only a semester in advance. Although, the earlier a student applies, the more program options, less expensive program options, and scholarships are available.
Step 2: Research and Identify: Students are encouraged to attend First Step Meetings at the Learning Abroad Center to learn the basics of study, work, intern, and volunteer opportunities abroad, and then to begin looking at programs. They can also speak with a program selection adviser or go to their college’s study abroad office.
Step 3: Apply and Prepare: Students are encouraged to apply early to the program and investigate scholarships. At the Learning Abroad Center in 230 Heller Hall students can buy (at a student discount) passport photos, guidebooks for their destination, railpasses, international student identity cards, and more.
Step 4: Academic Planning: Students enrolling in a study abroad program need to identify courses to take and fill out an academic planning form. They need signatures from college, major, and minor advisers. Depending on what factors were important in making their program choice, they may have done this as part of Step 2.
Step 5: Go Abroad!
Step 6: Re-Entry: This time can be very disorienting. We encourage students to participate in international activities on campus and in their community. Also, they can share their experience and pictures with the Learning Abroad Center.
Help Prepare Your Students
When a student indicates interest in studying abroad, there are many things you can do.
Encouragement is always first. It helps students to hear their adviser say that study abroad is possible and worth pursuing. Help the student frame their preliminary questions. Where, when, for how long? What do they want to learn? What level of independence am I ready for? Is an internship or research project a priority? Thinking about those questions early will help them set some priorities that will help them use time efficiently once they get to a study abroad adviser. What is standing in the way of doing this? Look at the student’s APAS report and outline liberal education, major, or minor requirements they still need to fulfill. These courses may become the framework for the program they choose. This information is key to the student’s ability to use their study abroad experience to earn credit towards requirements and not spend extra time on campus. Saving a specific Liberal Education requirement to fulfill during study abroad is one simple and effective way to make sure credits fit, for example.
You are invited to visit the Learning Abroad Resource Center in 230 Heller Hall or check out the Learning Abroad Center website.
Learning Abroad Center
230 Heller Hall
612.626.9000
888.700.UOFM
UMabroad@umn.edu
http://www.UMabroad.umn.edu/
