Spending a semester or year abroad is certainly an interesting way to escape the never-ending rush between classrooms, dining halls
Here is some of what you need to know before studying abroad.
The International Education Center at the University of Rhode Island is a hotspot for students and faculty members wishing to expand their learning globally. According to it’s official website, it offers study abroad, internship and research opportunities for over 200 destinations all over the world.
“The first step that we typically recommend is for our students to come to our URI Abroad 101 and 102 sessions,” Michelle Carrara, the international education advisor said. “One hundred and one gives very general information about the study abroad programs at URI. Once you’ve figured out that you want to go and this is the type of program that you want, what are your next steps? One hundred and two gets into the information about that process.”
Each of these sessions are offered multiple times a week all through the academic year. Each session lasts about 45 minutes. A 20-30 minute appointment with the advisors is advised following these sessions to address any specific requirements that the student may have.
Students have a wide variety of study abroad options to choose from, such as the URI faculty led programs, affiliated third party providers or even non-affiliated programs.
“If the student is going abroad for the academic year or a semester, more often than not they are going on a third party program with a few exceptions,” Carrara said. “There are a few URI run semester abroad programs. However, there are different parameters depending on the type of program.”
Typically, the students are advised to start applying about four to six months in advance. An exception to that is the National Student Exchange program, which is a network of about 175 universities throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.S. territories. The applications of this program need to be submitted at least a year in advance.
Kelsey Young is a junior double majoring in textiles, fashion merchandising and design and public relations who studied at the University of Wollongong, in Australia, last year. Young also emphasized the importance of planning ahead.
“I started looking around the fall of 2017 to go in the fall of 2018,” Young said. “I went to the study abroad fair, connected with TEAN (The Education Abroad Network), went onto their website and applied through them. Once I was accepted through TEAN, I went onto the URI abroad portal to apply there.”
Carrara recommends students to meet with their department or their academic advisor to talk about when it would best be appropriate to study abroad. For some majors there are classes that are only offered during certain semesters or that have to be taken on campus.
Young said that when she studied abroad, she made sure to meet with her department heads before actually going abroad.
“What every study abroad student has to do is to fill out a course approval form,” Young said. “You find the classes that you will be taking abroad, once you’re accepted into the University, you will have access to these things, you print out the description of every single class you are going to take with the exact outcomes and then you take it to the appropriate department head(s). Once you get that signed, you are set to enroll in those classes.”
One of the major concerns for students wishing to study abroad is funding. Fortunately, there are many programs that have scholarship opportunities and some that even range in costs very similar to in-state or out-of-state tuition.
“The cost depends on the program,” Young said. “I had to pay for the plane tickets and extra expenses. As far as my tuition was concerned, I paid what I pay here. All of my scholarships transferred, all of my financial help that I get when I am here, also applied there.”
Apart from planning ahead, Young also wants other students planning to study abroad, to know that it is a unique and unparalleled opportunity to travel.
“As much as you are there to study, you are also there to experience another part of the world,” Young said. “Go to a place where you have access to a lot more than what you get here.”
Applications for studying abroad during J-term or spring 2020 semester are due on Oct. 1. For more information on studying abroad, visit: https://web.uri.edu/global/study-abroad/.