Orientation 2010

Editor's Notes

• #2: Coordinator & Emily:Introduce self in relation to office/study abroad Coordinator: (story)Emily: My experience at UWEC includes:Studied abroad in Aberdeen, Scotland in Fall of 2009Senior, English Linguistics Major; Interdisciplinary Language and Storytelling MinorEmily: Ask who has already been abroad and whereAssume everyone in the room is at least thinking about going abroad while at UWEC—do they have any idea where?
• #3: Coordinator:Overview of presentation: Today we’ll briefly cover the following topics.What makes study abroad through UWEC unique? Barriers Study Abroad; “tour” of sites by region. Brief overview of the application process; Info in the fall. Time for questions!
• #4: Coordinator-Time abroad: the length of time students spend abroad is dropping. Nationwide, only about 40% of students study abroad for a semester or more. This is a concern, because many of the long-term benefits of study abroad require that students really integrate into their community abroad—something that is difficult to do in 6 weeks or less. At UW-Eau Claire, nearly 75% of students study on semester or year-long programs. And nearly 25% of a UW-Eau Claire graduating class will have studied abroad, compared to 10% nationally.CI: the Center for International Education works closely with department chairs to identify programs that work best for majors/minors in a particular department. You can see the results of this work in several departments on our Web site, under the “Advising” section.
• #5: Coordinator: On the advising section of our Web site, you can find the Major Advising Pages that we have created. Each page has been created in conjunction with the department and has information on when to go, what graduation requirements you’ll fulfill, and the best programs for that major. We currently have advising pages for: Accounting & Finance, Biology, Communication & Journalism, Economics, English, Geology, History, Management & Marketing, Physics, & Political Science. We hope to finish pages for Information Systems, Music & Theater Arts, and Psychology this summer.
• #6: Emily:-Community involvement: Studying abroad is different from simply traveling or vacationing abroad. One of the main differences is the experience of living in a foreign place for a extended period of time. During that time, it is possible to get below the tourist surface and really engage in the community. Many of our programs offer students the opportunity to get involved in their host communities through their host families, service-learning projects, or other volunteer opportunities. We make a particular effort to include these opportunities in our shorter-term programs, to offset the shorter time abroad.I joined several clubs while at Aberdeen: Scottish Dance Society, Christian Union, & Creative Writing Society
• #7: Coordinator-Our application deadlines are nearly a year in advance. This allows plenty of time for academic & financial planning. We’ll talk more about both of those in a few minutes.-It also allows us to offer a full semester of orientation before you go abroad. Both our partners abroad and the students themselves comment on how well-prepared UW-Eau Claire students are, allowing them to really dive into all of the opportunities available to them at their host site.-Our early deadlines also give you the opportunity to apply for grants and scholarships, including nationwide competitions. Many UW-Eau Claire students have won the national Benjamin Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship in the past few years- 11 students received awards during 2009-2010. Several others have won prestigious Fulbright Student Scholarships to return abroad for a year after graduation. Pick up one of the handouts about how to increase your chances of winning such a scholarship on your way out!Now, on to some Frequently Asked Questions about study abroad at UWEC.
• #8: Coordinator: introduce slideEmilyseveral of my friends learned Scots Gaelic, though Scotland is an English-speaking country
• #9: Coordinator—introduce slide
• #10: Coordinator: For anyone in the room today, this should not be an issue. If you know you want to study abroad, begin talking about it NOW with your academic adviser. Figure out if it is better for you to go as a sophomore and take GE credits, or as a junior or senior and take some major credits. We recognize that there are some professional programs where it is difficult to study abroad without being set back, but even here, you have options. One is to plan carefully and go early, when you still do have some GEs that are not part of the program. If that doesn’t appeal to you: If you’re an education major and already on the 5 year plan, why not do half of your student teaching abroad? For nursing majors, there is a summer program in Costa Rica specifically for students in health care professions.Emily: I will still graduate on time in 4 years because the courses I took fulfilled several degree requirements
• #11:  Coordinator: Go over slide.Emily: Many of the students I met while studying abroad had similar financial situations and were able to afford their experiences by utilizingloans, scholarships, financial aid and saving up money before going abroad. The earlier you start saving, the better off you’ll be. Personally, I really wanted to take advantage of my location in Europe and traveled to a few other countries. That optional travel significantly increased my overall spending, but I did plan for that extra cost ahead of time.     I was able to get a significant amount of financial aid from my FAFSA and UWECCoordinator: Explain there is a “total costs” estimate on each web page. Note that people sometimes get “sticker shock” when they see the total costs listed on the web, and we have heard multiple times that it is “so much more than being on campus.” For some programs, that is true. But often, people are comparing apples and oranges—they are looking at the cost of tuition, double room in a dorm, and the basic meal plan at UWEC, and comparing it to the cost listed on the study abroad Web pages. The figures you actually need to compare are the study abroad cost & the figures the UW-Eau Claire financial aid office provides for a semester of on-campus study. Both of these figures include an estimate for all meals, books, local transportation and personal expenses. In addition, the study abroad costs currently posted are 2011-2012, so we add in an average inflation rate Using the same formula, the estimate for one semester on campus in 2011-2012 is $8,825. That’s the base figure you should use as a comparison for study abroad costs. So there are some programs that are very similar to the campus cost, plus airfare—and there are some that are more than double that amount!
• #12: Emily: On our Web site, if you click on programs it will bring you to this map. You can click on the region of the world where you’re interested in learning about a program & then it will bring up a listing of all programs we have in that part of the world.
• #13: Coordinator: You can choose to study for a summer, a semester or an academic year in Africa. The summer program at Stellenbosch University in South Africa is a great option for education & nursing students who sometimes have difficulty fitting in a longer program. If you want more time to explore, consider the University of Ghana or the Stellenbosch University through the ISEP-Direct program.
• #14: Emily: There are many opportunities to discover in other countries in the Americas. The programs in Brazil, Chile & Uruguay require previous study of Portuguese or Spanish. Mexico offers a range of opportunities for beginning to advanced Spanish speakers. For example, in Costa Rica/ Nicaragua, you can study for a semester, fulfill your entire foreign language requirement, take 2 additional courses in English, AND complete your university service learning requirement. Another program available in Canada offers students the option to study in English or French. Again, there are so many different opportunities to take advantage of. The Center of International Education can assist students in determining which program would be best for them in the Americas and beyond.
• #15: Coordinator: If you’re studying Japanese, consider a semester or academic year of Japanese language and Asian Studies taught in English, at Kansai Gaidai University or Nagasaki University in Japan. You can also study in English for a semester or a summer at Payap University in Chiang Mai/Thailand, or at Thammasat University in Bangkok through the ISEP-Direct program. And we have a summer exchange program at Ajou University in South Korea. Ajou includes international business classes in its offerings.
• #16: Emily: If you want to study Down Under, we have options on both the East and West Coasts of Australia. UW-Eau Claire students have been going to Southern Cross University in Lismore, just minutes from Australia’s most eastern point, since 1995. In the spring 2004, our first group of students headed to the opposite side of the continent to study at Murdoch University in Perth. And students can now study in New Zealand as well through the ISEP-Direct program—the first student went this last spring. In all of these programs, you are integrated into your host university, so you have a wide choice of classes in a variety of majors.
• #17: Coordinator: From Austria to Sweden, our programs in Europe offer a variety of program types that support majors and minors in the humanities, foreign languages, social sciences, and business. And remember, you can study in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, some of the German programs, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden with no language requirements!
• #18: Emily: The U.K. and Ireland have long been popular destinations for US study abroad students—perhaps because students think they speak the same language we do!With any of our university-based U.K & Ireland partners, you study for a semester or an academic year as an international student at that campus, living in the residence halls with local and other international students. Classes will be taught by British professors and class selection is based on any courses offered that you have the background for.I took International Relations & Formal Logic for GEs and Arthur & Folklore for major credit
• #19: Coordinator: We can’t fit this one into a neat category, because it offers you the opportunity to student teach in 42 countries around the world. We are partners with Global Student Teaching, which has been placing student teachers abroad since 1989. Thus far, we have sent student teachers to Australia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, England, New Zealand and Thailand.
• #20: Emily: You can find out specifics of each program including information on the location, university, housing, eligibility requirements, courses, calendar, costs & deadlines, what to do on campus, and more on each specific program page.
• #21: Coordinator: Explain the application is online as a writable PDF. Students will have to get a reference from a faculty member or academic adviser.As we mentioned, we have EARLY application deadlines. This is all part of planning study abroad into your academic career. Let’s say you apply to go abroad spring of your sophomore year. In most cases, you will know whether or not you’ve been accepted as you are planning your registration for fall of your sophomore year—so you can plan to take classes in the fall that you cannot get abroad, or to save classes to take abroad that you know you will be able to get at your site. You also will have the better part of a year to plan for/earn for the financial side of your study abroad. AND you will have a semester’s worth of orientation before you go, beginning with a day-long program early in the semester before you will be abroad.Emily: Sometimes it's ok to wait until junior or senior year to go abroad, like I did; you can get necessary classes out of the way and have more time to explore possible references for your application
• #22: Emily: We encourage students to come & learn more during our fall promotional events. We’ll have information sessions throughout September & October. Our biggest event, the Study Abroad Fair, will be on Thursday, October 7th. There will be tables set up for each program with returnees & our international partners. We also raffle off application fees every 15 minutes, so if you’re thinking of studying abroad your sophomore year, it is worth it to stop by!