Deadline for Study Abroad Program Nears

In last summer’s Accra Global Health Program, students traveled to Ghana to observe the inner workings of the country’s health-care system and to explore issues of public health. Photo by Nana Kofi Acquah

• More than 2,500 BU students study abroad every year
• The deadline to apply for most fall study abroad programs is March 15; April 1 for most summer study abroad programs 
• Financial aid is available

Where better to perfect your French than in the foothills of the French Alps, or to immerse yourself in Latin American culture than studying in Argentina’s capital?

Both sites are represented among the more than 90 study abroad programs—spread out over 30-plus countries on 6 continents—offered by BU. Meg Lucas (COM’10), Study Abroad university relations and campus outreach senior manager, says approximately 2,500 BU and non-BU students choose to go overseas through the BU programs every year.

The deadline to apply for most fall study abroad programs is this Thursday, March 15. Most summer study abroad programs will consider applications until April 1. (Students should refer to the Study Abroad website to double-check the exact dates for the program they are interested in.) Financial aid is available.

Summer offerings include Fus’ha (modern Arabic) courses and working with a local volunteer organization in Morocco, learning about the historical development of architectural styles and aesthetics in Paris and London, and arranged internships in cities that include Dublin and Brussels. Fall programs range from an immersive Chinese Language & Culture program hosted at Fudan University in Shanghai to a tropical ecology program in Ecuador.

Some recent changes in the Study Abroad portfolio: the Sydney STEM Program (a redesigned version of the Sydney Engineering Program) now allows upper-division students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields to pursue courses in their designated field at the University of Sydney. Beginning this summer, students enrolled in the Washington, D.C., internship programs will be able to enroll in the international relations course Conflict, Violence and Peacebuilding, an introduction to the field of peacebuilding and conflict. The new course will examine the various facets behind the subject to equip students to analyze the social and political dynamics of peace and conflict. New this summer to the Madrid Study Abroad programs is the anthropology and archaeology course Deep Histories of Conquest: Aztec Mexico and New Spain, which will be taught in English.

Lucas is quick to rattle off the numerous benefits students gain by studying abroad: the chance to become immersed in a foreign culture while living in the local community, completing general education or language requirements, and gaining global work experience through internship programs. What’s more, she says, students who study abroad have an advantage in the job market: employers say the top skills they look for in prospective hires, like analytical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and adaptability, are “the same skills typically acquired and enhanced by going beyond one’s comfort zone through participation in a study abroad or internship abroad program.”

The deadline to apply for most fall Study Abroad programs is this Thursday, March 15. Most summer Study Abroad programs will consider applications until April 1. (Students should double-check their program’s exact dates on the Study Abroad website.)