CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, details about SU Abroad’s new Poland destination were misstated. The Poland addition is a program, not a center. The Daily Orange regrets this error.  

Syracuse University will offer students new opportunities to study both overseas and domestically next fall, with new programs opening in Wroclaw, Poland and New York City.

Margaret Himley, SU’s associate provost for international education and engagement, described the ideas of studying in a foreign country versus studying elsewhere in the United States as “studying abroad” and “studying away,” respectively. Enrollment in both types of programs is diversifying at SU with the addition of new centers because “students understand that they are implicated in living in a global world,” Himley said.

She said students are looking to travel to places that are significant in their field of study. Himley suggested that students should consider studying abroad from the moment they step foot on campus — to get involved with global reality.

Himley said any locations — from Syracuse to other cities in the United States, from traditional overseas options in Western Europe to alternative options in Africa or Asia — could provide opportunities for high-quality education and in-depth study in certain fields.

“We’re trying to identify places that give us the opportunity to go deep into some important topic,” she said. Accordingly, SU Abroad is looking to expand the options it offers students, including possibly adding centers in South Africa or Ghana.

“It’s a big world and you can’t know everything anymore about anything,” she said. “So the idea is that you identify something that matters to you, and you learn about how different parts of world are responding to those issues and doing about them. I think that’s what higher education should be focusing on these days.”

SU Abroad’s new program in Wroclaw is the expansion of a popular summer program focusing on peace studies, public memory and reconciliation in Eastern Europe, said Jenn Horvath, manager for marketing and communications at SU Abroad.

The Wroclaw program is designed to focus on these specific themes, making it distinct from other programs. The courses are built around political science, anthropology, history and writing, she said.

The Wroclaw program reflects a trend of student interest in nontraditional study abroad locations, Horvath said. The last three centers that have opened are Beijing, China; Istanbul, Turkey and Santiago, Chile, which she said are not typical study abroad destinations.

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will be offering a new program in New York City during the fall 2014 semester. It is planned to be available for all students in Newhouse with a focus on an internship, said Rosanna Grassi, Newhouse’s associate dean for student affairs. New York City is the latest addition to Newhouse’s off-campus studying options, joining Los Angeles and London.

Grassi said one of the core differences with studying abroad in London and studying away in Los Angeles and New York City is the employment opportunities provided with locations in the United States.

She described Los Angeles and New York City as hubs of activity in communications, where many students aspire to have careers. She added that many students choose to study in Los Angeles because of the networking opportunities available in the area, hoping to find work. With students that study abroad in London, she said it is common that they explore Europe and travel while they are there.

“The television, radio and film students have the ability to do both,” Grassi said. “They do the semester in L.A. where they’re very focused on their major and then they do a semester abroad, where they’re more likely taking arts and sciences, kinds of classes that are going to introduce them to culture, politics and the environment that they’re in.”

International students in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs can choose to study overseas or focus on policymaking in Washington, D.C. by doing the Maxwell-in-Washington semester — or both.

“I think they’re two different experiences, and we actually like students who’ve studied abroad to then come to D.C.,” said Samantha Clemence, Maxwell-in-Washington’s program coordinator. “It gives them a different perspective when they do arrive in D.C.”

Students in Maxwell-in-Washington find and participate in internships, Clemence said, giving students who hope to work in the federal government valuable contacts and hands-on experience.

She said she encouraged students to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad, no matter where.

“It’s an adventure,” she said. “I think students benefit from being thrown into different environments regardless of where they are. It makes them adapt, it changes their perspective, makes them look at things from a broader view. Across the board it makes a difference for students.”

Amy Kennedy, an academic adviser in Maxwell’s international relations department, said Maxwell-in-Washington offers pre-professional experience, while studying abroad overseas immerses students in language and culture.

“I think students who are really interested in staying in the states after they graduate and working in the federal government, the D.C. program has huge appeal to them,” she said. But, she added, studying in a foreign country offers irreplaceable experience.

“As a graduate student I spent a semester in Uganda, there’s no way I could’ve gotten the things I got out of that experience in New York or Los Angeles,” she said.

Students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ drama department can also study at a tailored program in New York City in addition to the option of studying overseas.

The Tepper Semester began with 16 students in its first class and has since grown to having 64 students enrolled for the spring of 2014, said Lisa Nicholas, the program’s director. She added that a number of students in VPA’s drama department are able to participate in overseas studying abroad as well as the Tepper Semester’s intensive professional training.

Nicholas said the Tepper Semester is designed to help students launch their careers by immersing themselves in the industry.

To Himley, SU’s associate provost for international education and engagement, any off-campus study program represents what she calls “space place learning”: the opportunity to study, work and research with other people in that location.

“The long range goal for me and my job is that global is actually everywhere, it’s not just elsewhere,” she said.

“They speak 77 languages in the Syracuse School District. That means there are immigrant communities that seem domestic. I think understanding the global connectivity is really important. We can do that abroad. We can do that in L.A.  And we can do that right here in Syracuse.”

 

—News Editor Meredith Newman and Asst. News Editor Alfred Ng also contributed reporting to the article

 

Published on October 30, 2013 at 12:37 am

Contact Maggie: mmcregan@syr.edu