with 1200 Madison students directly enrolled in the UW’s study abroad program, this can only be compared to the 22,000 students who chose to study abroad last year in several different programs. Featuring 150 different programs in the UW’s system as well as students from 130 majors, UW-Madison tries to make the most of each student’s study abroad experience. This includes so much more than the traditional concept of being plucked from the cold tundra of Wisconsin and being planted into another university; it has now become a tailored fit excursion for everyone.
UW-Madison’s study abroad programs range from every department including that of the Business School as well as the International Engineering Studies Program. Students have the option of choosing the type of trip they want to take, ranging from a short term summer session to an entire year. For programs found in the International Engineering Studies & Programs department, there is the available option of earning a certificate in International Engineering, allowing individuals to specialize in specific areas as well as to strengthen their credentials. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) provides several opportunities such as the Khorana Program where students have the ability to work in top research labs while interning in parts of India. Students in other programs may also choose to take classes or seminars that specialize in the area and program they choose to go to before actually departing. A key feature of UW-Madison’s study abroad is that students keep their “in residence,” meaning that no matter where they are, they’re still Badgers. Students maintain their same GPA and all credits transfer, there’s no need to re-register at Madison when you come back. No matter where you are on the globe, having that “in residence” status allows students to accomplish things such as registering for next year’s classes while still abroad. Course equivalents are already matched up for the classes students typically take in the program, so if a student needs three classes to finish their degree, there are the abroad course equivalents, giving students the option of graduating outside of the U.S. Costs typically are the same as UW tuition considering that it’s an exchange, however, if prices do exceed a student’s budget, there are a variety of available scholarship and students are still eligible for US financial aid.
Study abroad trips no longer have to be a semester or year-long programs. With the introduction of short term programs, faculty members host programs for a couple weeks at a time such as Winter or Spring Break. This can involve trips such as a theater themed experience to London, England or to Oaxaca, Mexico with an emphasis in art. There is also the “island” experience where faculty takes a group of exchange students so they can experience culture but with the comfort of those from back home.
Madison understands that some students like to go off the beaten path (aka not the typical countries) and therefore have coordinated study abroad programs with third party groups. Many of these experiences, as well as certain ones provided specially through UW-Madison’s study abroad program, create a more hands-on curriculum. Instead of the typical university experience, these study abroad programs do total immersion where students are interacting with area residents, culture, and environment. Some programs emphasize on field studies where students work on problems such as the pollution of a community and how that affects the residents and then they implement strategies on how to fix it. In a certain Nepal study abroad program, students who have never spoken Nepali in their lives have the opportunity to study it for about two hours a day and actually interact with both English and Nepalese citizens. Many of these total experience study abroad options have an independent study feature tacked onto the end. The CALS’ programs start with seminars as ways of introducing the topics they’ll be covering and while in their specific country they learn about eh challenges the communities face in growing and supplying their own resources. Students sometimes have the opportunity of Independent Study Projects to specifically work with what they’re interested in or what they’re fascinated by. It becomes their own project based off of what they’ve learned thus far in their study abroad adventures. The beauty of studying abroad is that you make your trip how you want it to be. You choose your location, the type of academics, the curriculum, and how comfortable (or not so comfortable) you want to be and therefore you create your own foreign adventure.
By Kimberly Chatto
Spotted Staff Writer
