Study abroad handbook

Authors: Velliaris, Donna M. Millions of students seek short- and long-term study abroad options every year, and this trend is a key illustration of the internationalization of higher education. Because a global perspective has become mandatory in the largely globalized workforce, many institutions look to study abroad programs to prepare their students.

This outbound. The USG recommends that all study abroad programs reconcile their budgets within a reasonable amount of time from the end of the program, but no later than six months from the end of the program. Students pay their tuition for study abroad the same way they pay for non-study abroad credit.

Technology Fee, etc. The relevant provision [7. An institution may award out-of-state tuition differential waivers and assess in-state tuition for certain non-Georgia residents under the conditions listed below.

Tuition and fees charged study abroad students shall be consistent with the procedures established in the USG Business Procedures Manual and as determined by the institution president. If feasible, the USG recommends that institutions consider a student application management system. These can be useful for program planning, student applications — both for programs and for scholarships - and some are set-up to additionally serve as a CRM customer relationship management tool which can contribute to the growth of study abroad numbers.

There are additional software and application programs available that focus on traveler safety. USG institutions work with Keynect Up — which acts as a contact card so that students always have access to important contacts, whether they have access to the internet or not. Social Media is a useful tool in connecting with prospective, current and alumni study abroad students. Social media programs are also used to advertise deadlines; share scholarship information; introduce staff and student workers; post photos of the day from a photo contest; connect with other offices and departments on campus and remind students of advising hours.

Marketing and recruitment efforts should be considered, especially in order to reach enrollment goals. Successful marketing needs to extend beyond providing brochures and putting up a few posters. Recruitment activities should be coordinated amongst the study abroad office and involved staff and faculty and all should be actively involved in reaching out to students who might benefit from participating in the program.

Consider where you might reach the kind of student who will benefit from your program: are you looking for students in a particular major or who haveve completed a particular set of academic requirements?

Are you looking for students who are working on introductory requirements? Then consider ways that you can meet these students where they are to get information out to them about the benefits of study abroad and of your program in particular. When preparing a marketing and recruitment plan, consider how you can successfully target underrepresented students in study abroad, which include:.

If a program does not recruit sufficient students and does not have enough funding to provide the experience for the number of students who have signed up, the program will need to be cancelled. Decisions about viability should ideally be made at least 3 months prior to departure. Depending on your institutional policy, programs that are cancelled may need to refund monies paid by students, and this factor needs to be taken into consideration in determining a timeline for assessing program viability.

Many students will perceive study abroad as out of their financial reach, and so it is important for study abroad offices and Program Directors to provide students with information that can help them understand their financial options. This information can help campuses increase access across the USG. Financial aid is a critical issue for students wishing to study abroad. In short, federal and state financial aid is disbursed to student accounts and excess money is refunded to the student, just as if the student were studying on campus.

An institution can award Financial Aid if the home institution awards credit, and if the student remains concurrently enrolled. Study abroad offices should inform students upfront about programs that are not approved for Financial Aid.

The USG recommends that, where possible, study abroad programs are set-up so that students may use their Financial Aid. Keep in mind when financial aid money is disbursed and by what method, and how this can be affected by external deadlines. Study abroad offices should know what students need in order to apply for Financial Aid e. If the student is participating in a non-home institution program, both the study abroad and Financial Aid office need a written release from the student before providing information to any third party e.

The goal is for study abroad professionals to have a thorough understanding of how processes work so that the burden on students is lessened. The scholarship provides money to assist students with the educational costs of attending a HOPE eligible postsecondary institution. The scholarship provides money to assist students with the educational costs of attending a Zell Miller Scholarship eligible college. HOPE and Zell funds can be utilized for study abroad as long as the home institution accepts the credits earned and the amount paid is the same as what the student would have received if they would have been at the home institution.

If another U. A handful of USG institutions have been approved for an International Education fee and make use of these funds for student scholarships. Other institutions may consider establishing an institution-specific study abroad scholarship on your campus. Some government agencies, private foundations, and other external organizations offer scholarships but more often these are for semester or year-long study abroad.

For example, the U. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad. The program has been successful in supporting students who have been historically underrepresented in education abroad, including but not limited to:.

Also, it is important to work with the Financial Aid office for disbursement, if necessary. When determining your student application process, focus on transparency and ease of submitting the necessary information. The USG recommends the use of software and an online platform to collect application information. Ideally your software should be integrated with Banner. The USG recommends that all study abroad offices work with the appropriate offices on their campus - Legal, Registrar, Information Technology, Procurement, Security, etc.

USG institutions should work with their Institutional Study Abroad Committee and, in particular, their legal team, to set a policy and practice around study abroad students and medical disclosures. It is understood that students not disclosing medication or medical issues has the potential to cause problems.

In study abroad, the most common example of negligence is a failure to counsel students sufficiently about risks and dangers—natural, social, political, cultural, and legal—inherent in living in a foreign environment. Also, other forms of liability stem from not providing the services or quality of services promised. It is important to emphasize that the standard of care in study abroad programs is higher than at the home campus because students are in unfamiliar environments without the support networks to which they are accustomed.

In addition, students may be operating in non-English speaking populations. We encourage USG institutions to be conscious of these facts during pre-departure preparations and on-site management of the program.

Specifically, USG institutions may consider the following:. Institutions should decide who will evaluate study abroad applications and how much time is needed. If the program is a Faculty-Led program, you may decide to involve the Program Director s.

If the program takes place at another institution e. Direct Enroll or Exchange , you should keep in mind that institutions abroad may have their own application procedures and criteria. In general, study abroad students should be in good academic and disciplinary standing, must maintain appropriate standards of behavior and meet any course prerequisites to be eligible to apply. Individual programs may determine higher requirements for GPA or other qualifications for entry such as minimum language proficiency , based on the program content.

Study abroad programs may request other materials to assess eligibility for admission, such as a personal statement or essay or letter s of reference. Your Institutional Study Abroad Committee may consider asking students for the following documentation for evaluation:. As a reminder, the American with Disabilities Act calls for reasonable accommodation to enable a disabled person to accomplish the same task as a non-disabled person.

However, as foreign entities cannot be compelled to provide access based on U. Also, sometimes international students wish to participate in a study abroad program in their home country and the study abroad office or similar should discuss if this is allowed at your institution.

Most institutions require that study abroad student participants are at least 18 years of age in order to participate in study abroad. Answer: Dual Enrollment students wishing to participate in USG study abroad programs must first review the study abroad policies in place at the postsecondary institution offering the study abroad program.

The majority of USG institutions do not allow students under the age of 18 defined as Minors hereafter to participate in study abroad programs. If the USG institution offering the preferred study abroad program does not have a policy preventing students under the age of 18 to participate then the USG institution should consider the following issues before allowing a minor to participate in a study abroad program:. A sample letter of consent to travel is available on the U.

It is best practice to have the letter of consent signed by both parents and notarized. If there is no second parent with legal claims to the child e. In some countries e. Additional information regarding this topic is available on the U. Customs and Border Protection website: Traveling with children - Minors under 18 years of age traveling to another country without their parents and Child traveling with one parent or someone who is not a parent or legal guardian or a group.

Passport Minors under the age of 16 cannot apply for a passport by themselves. Additional details regarding U. Department of State restrictions on issuance of passports to minors are available online: Children Under Visas Depending on the location, minor children may be required to obtain special visas or stay permits.

Institutional Approval The USG institution considering minors to participate in study abroad programs might consider the type of program the student is interested in e. Faculty-Led, Exchange, Third Party Provider programs and make decisions either based on this type of program, or on a case-by-case basis.

If the institution will allow Minors to participate, then the institution should create templates of the following documentation, at a minimum:. Again, it would be best practice to have the letter of consent signed by both parents and notarized. Faculty Training If the institution will allow a Faculty-Led study abroad program to accept Minors, then policies need to be considered and specific trainings should be required of the faculty leaders. The following is a non-inclusive list of questions to help institutions further guide their evaluation when considering the participation of Minors:.

Instead, institutions may wish to refer Minors to age appropriate study abroad programs that will better serve their age group. There are numerous opportunities from Third Party Program providers, specifically designed for high school aged students, or Minors might be interested in Gap Year programs. Also, the U. Department of State offers full scholarships to high school students to study abroad for one academic year, more information online: Exchange Programs: High School Study Abroad.

Students who are enrolled full-time and are degree-seeking at another U. Individual institutions should decide, in advance, which of your programs are available to Transient Students.

The study abroad office should coordinate with the Admissions office to determine what types of forms the transient students will need to complete e. Home Institution Notification Form.

Also consider whether or not transient international students will be allowed to participate in your programs and how this may affect their visa status. Community members and others may participate but should do so as admitted students who are registered for academic credit appropriate to the program. These visiting family members or friends shall have no official role or function with regard to the program and may not interfere with the program in any way.

If the USG institution offering the study abroad program does not have a policy preventing others e. The USG recommends that student participants not be allowed to bring spouses or other family members with them on programs they are attending. Again, if the admitted student has family or friends who would like to visit them while on the program, then these individuals must be lodged separately to the program and should not attend classes, nor accompany the program on any field trips or excursions.

After students have been accepted onto your program, the study abroad office should consider targeted communication with the following on-campus offices. Accepted student lists can be sent to these offices so that they could reach out to students who are known to them and offer additional assistance:. Information for accepted students should be informative, while keeping the students engaged in the process but not overwhelming them.

We recommend that institutions put all of the information online so that students can easily access it. We recommend that the pre-departure information be available to students upon acceptance and before pre-departure orientation. The USG strongly recommends that an in-person pre-departure orientation be offered and is mandatory for all study abroad students. Program Directors faculty and staff directly responsible for the program should lead and, at the very least, are required to be present at the orientation.

If possible, include alumni and returnees, especially prior participants of the program you are discussing. International students and scholars from the host country may be useful in helping to explain local customs. An argument is always strengthened by anticipating the obvious objections. The best historians will attempt to answer those objections.

Students sometimes get confused by the bewildering variety of historical experience, e. Your essay should be concise; normally somewhere between and words should be adequate. You should, in any case, acquire word-processing skills while at Oxford, as they are a definite career advantage. All essays should include a margin of sufficient breadth to allow for written comments by the tutor.

You should always include a list of books and articles you have read at the end of each essay, or you may wish to footnote quotations. If you cannot read the comments ask for them to be deciphered. One of the most initially intimidating aspects of learning at Oxford is the reading list.

You will undoubtedly be expected to read more than you have ever done at school. Your tutor should give you some guidance as to the order of priority to be observed among items, distinguishing between outline surveys, monographs, and articles. It is important that you realise that different types of text require different types of reading.

You will read a few sources, articles and chapters in full. But you will also need to read some things at speed, especially if you are just trying to get a general sense of the argument.

Varying your focus and speed so as to take in what you need, but no more, is one of the skills you will need to develop. Textbooks you should read to get an idea of the order in which events happened and a notion of key personalities and historical issues. They are best read in the vacation preceding the term in which you study the paper. I do not advise you to take extensive notes from textbooks; you will end up virtually copying them out, and they will often leave you ill-equipped to answer questions because they rarely give a sense of the current debates.

It is better to buy the textbook and use it for reference purposes as you cover the paper. Confine any note taking you make to analysis rather than narrative, while taking care to ensure that you have supporting evidence.

Students are often deterred from reading monographs because of their bulk; this is a pity because they can often provide new angles on familiar topics. Because writers of monographs are engaged in an academic discourse they tend to labour their conclusions, giving ten examples where one will do. Similar prescriptions apply to the reading of articles. Make sure that you learn to use indexes. Sometimes you will be looking for information on a specific topic or individual; if the book has been properly indexed alas, not always the case you will be able to pinpoint what you need.

But look carefully at how the index is arranged in particular at the level of thematic indexing ; sometimes it is necessary to engage in a certain amount of lateral thinking to find what you want. Your reading should always be active. It is perfectly possible to spend long hours in the library but to make zero intellectual progress. This happens when you read passively, in others words without a set of questions in your mind.

To generate a set of questions: think about the assignment you have been set what is the broad structure of the subject? Use textbooks for initial orientation, then move on to monographs and articles, preferably looking at as many as possible briefly in order to determine which will be most useful for the kind of questions you have become interested in.

Remember that while reading you are thinking about the ways in which the past has been investigated and interpreted and debated by historians, as much as trying to learn about the past itself. When was it written especially in relation to other items on the same topic?

What are its assumptions and prejudices? Which sources is it relying upon and which has it missed out: do these make a difference to its line of argument? You should always be building up a picture of how historians work, and of the variety of ideas they entertain about the past.

Some students seem to think that a text is irrelevant if it does not directly answer the question they have been set. The reading you will be given often requires thought; some of the connections will not be immediately apparent.

But, and this is very important, if you feel that a text has been irrelevant or indeed if you have had difficulties in understanding it , use the tutorial to ask about it.

Students often complain that they do not know where they stand. There are a number of mechanisms for feed-back. Sometimes tutors do not use them properly, and students have cause for complaint.

But remember that any act of communication involves two parties, and if the mechanism has broken down, it may be because you have done little to activate it. Your tutor should provide feedback on essays in tutorials. Note that by feedback I do not mean grades. This can have the effect of discouraging students who are trying hard but who do not necessarily register improvement in the short-term. You can only expect to make significant strides by sustained effort.

But note that you may ask for some indication of the level of your performance at the end of each term. Once your tutorial time has been set, you should stick to it. If you know of some regular commitment which may make attendance at a particular time difficult, you should tell your tutor in Noughth Week.

Note that it is particularly difficult to rearrange the times of group classes once they have been fixed because of the number of parties potentially inconvenienced.

Always turn up for appointments on time. If you think that you are unable to make an appointment, please write to the tutor indicating your reasons. Never leave apologies until after an appointment has been missed; your failure to arrive on time will have generated a considerable amount of resentment in the mean time.

These considerations apply with added force to tutors outside Keble. If your tutor has asked for an essay to be handed in prior to the tutorial, please ensure that it is handed in by the time specified. If it is late, you should not be surprised if your tutor refuses to mark it. It is illegitimate to expect your tutor to be marking your essay in the early hours of the morning simply because the poverty of your own organisation has resulted in its being handed in late.

Behave courteously towards all those with whom you have dealings fellows, secretaries, College staff, and other students. Always show yourself willing to apologise, preferably in writing, if you have lapsed in any way.

The first call on your time must be your work. This does not mean that you are not encouraged to engage in other activities sport, drama, music, College and University Societies.

On the contrary the flexibility of your timetable is one of the chief advantages of an Arts course. But you must learn to organise your timetable so that your work does not suffer.

Some hints on time management are offered below. But one important point to be emphasised is that before undertaking any time consuming activity e. You should avoid such commitments in the third year.

One hopes that your enthusiasm for the subject is such as to make these exhortations unnecessary, but bear in mind that there are sanctions against students who do not work. In many ways this is the biggest challenge of your time at Oxford.

For much of your previous academic career you have been bound by timetables imposed by external agencies. It is also worth emphasising that most future careers will also impose demanding schedules. While at Oxford, however, you are given a considerable degree of freedom to manage your own time. You may occasionally receive invitations while at Oxford, some from tutors, some from College Officers, some from College and University Societies.

If the invitation says RSVP it is frankly rude not to reply. Some people are unclear on how to reply to formal invitations. If you have enjoyed a social occasion hosts generally enjoy receiving written thanks, particularly on nice postcards! It makes the host feel that the occasion has been worthwhile and induces the kind of benevolence which is likely to produce further invitations!

It is a good idea to send your tutor a copy of your C. Make sure that your instructions are crystal clear, e. Such instructions should be written down. Oxford can provide an incredibly vibrant and stimulating intellectual and cultural environment. How far you benefit from this will be the real test, because the fulfilment of your intellectual and cultural potential depends on choices you make. Many of those choices are outlined above, but note the following tips to increase your enjoyment.

They are not merely undergraduate teachers, important though that is to their role; they have administrative duties in both the College and the University; the have responsibility for graduate students both in their College and elsewhere; and, most importantly, they are part of an international research community. This is not to discourage you from approaching them; but it is to encourage you to observe the guidelines outlined above.

Remember that Oxford gives its students a unique level of access to its faculty members, and you should therefore respect the demands on their time by conducting your relations with them in a thoroughly professional and mature manner. In that way you will get the most from them. Your academic impression of Oxford will be formed mainly by your experience in tutorials — and how well this functions is bound up largely with the choice of subject. In theory there is a wide variety of subjects on offer at any one time, yet the choice you make must be limited by certain important factors.

The tutorial system is completely unsuitable for study on the introductory level: the idea that a tutorial, especially a secondary one, might be a good way to have a taste of a subject is quite misguided.

All Oxford courses are taught at the US advanced level, equivalent to junior, senior or M. For example, to ask for a secondary tutorial in logic without having any background in philosophy would be very foolish. Bear in mind that your tutors will be used to dealing mainly with British students who are required to specialise at a much earlier age than in the United States, beginning even at high school.

The best subjects to choose to study at Oxford are thus those where you already possess a good basic knowledge. If you need to take a subject at an introductory level for credit requirements then you should do so at your home university, where such a course will certainly be provided.

Of course, you will be studying in a geographical locality in which these topics would come to life. We want to stress that when you plan your Oxford courses you should not think about what you would normally study next term at your home college.

You could take those courses later. Please bear these comments in mind when making your tutorial choices, since they will have a large bearing on the success of your studies here.

It must also be pointed out that your Academic Adviser will not arrange tutorials in particular subjects if he believes that your background is not sufficient to enable you to profit from the course. Please note that the provision of any particular course cannot be guaranteed in any way. For all these reasons no tutorial arrangements for your first term of study in Oxford will be confirmed until you have been interviewed by your Oxford Academic Adviser.

All Oxford courses are taught at the U. We want to stress that when you plan your Oxford courses you should not only think about what you would normally study next term at your home college. Please note that though OSAP will always do its best to accommodate your tutorial choices, the provision of any particular course cannot be guaranteed in any way.

The tutor who will teach your chosen subject will be assigned in consultation with senior colleagues in the subject concerned. The primary responsibility of a professor is to research and to lecture; apart from the occasional graduate supervision, they do not tutor at all, so you will not often meet them directly in tutorials. Where appropriate, however, the Advisers do persuade chairs to teach Associate Members.

Tutorial fellows form the backbone of the teaching system in Oxford; Fellows often hold university lectureships. The equivalent of fully tenured American professors, they are assisted by college lecturers a misnomer, since they do not lecture at all.

Research fellows whether senior or junior are engaged primarily in their own research, although they may take on a very few pupils for particular special subjects.

You may expect to be taught by tutors from any, or indeed all of these categories during your time at Oxford, since you will be taught by the same specialists, in the same way, and to the same standards as matriculated degree students.

You may, of course, request particular tutors and every care will be taken to make appropriate arrangements where possible. However, no guarantee can be given that any particular tutor will be available to teach in any given term. Many of the senior faculty Fellows and Professors never bothered with a PhD.

They earned a First and wrote a book or books the equivalent of a PhD and were offered a Fellowship in international competition. Some of the most distinguished scholars have only earned a BA degree the MA is honorary. Remember, it is a different system. Oxford has always been a very international university…it was founded in large part by scholars from all over Europe at that time every educated European spoke Latin.

The Academic Advisers in the colleges that we have been working with are all well aware that a OSAP student will only be in Oxford for a relatively short time. They will make a special effort, therefore, to see to it that these students get the most out of their time in Oxford.

Students accepted should know that they will be taught by the best teachers available in their subjects regardless of which college they themselves are affiliated. In the academic sense, therefore, it makes little difference with which college you yourself may be associated.

Changing tutors once arrangements have been made is only permitted in unusual circumstances, after consultation with your Academic Adviser. You should be aware that matriculated degree students are only rarely allowed to change tutors in the middle of the term.

Given the close, one-to-one nature of the tutorial, it is inevitable that occasional personal problems arise. If you ever do have a problem of any kind with a tutorial you should talk to your Academic Adviser right away.

It is highly decentralized and individualistic. This allows for a very individual treatment of students. You will not be an IBM number here. Many U. On the other hand, the academic process is not so cut and dried as it can be in the U. If you cooperate fully with the guidelines in this handbook, you should expect to have all your tutorials set before the end of First Week. Sometimes an especially good tutor for a secondary course may only be available in the second week.

If you wish to enrol in a difficult or esoteric course, or one for which few, if any, tutors are available at the time, you will be so advised. You must realise that such a course may take more time to process. Naturally, if you change your mind this will also delay the process. During the period in which arrangements are made you should keep in close contact with your Academic Adviser note his office hours,etc.

Difficult subjects , however, will inevitably take longer to arrange. Oxford dons naturally have many responsibilities, and sometimes will not be able to respond immediately. You should remember that they are used to thinking in long-range terms most of their students are three or four year students and may proceed a bit slower than they might in a U.

Most U. You should ask your tutor right away which libraries are the best for the books he or she will assign. All the libraries are decentralized and each has its own admissions policy. Associate Members may thus be admitted to the faculty departmental libraries in most cases. Each such library has its own policies. Normally, as in the Bodleian, borrowing is not permitted. Your college libraries offer you free use on the same basis as matriculated students.

Borrowing is permitted. If you have any difficulties, you should consult with your own tutor, with the academic advisor, or with our staff, all of whom will do their best to help. Naturally, like all other students, you should obey the rules of each library. All libraries have the right to ban students from admission if the rules are violated.

Your college will take a dim view of this if they are informed, as they would be. As a courtesy to other students, you should not borrow more books than you can read in three days, and you should return those books as soon as you have finished with them.

As you have been told very clearly, Associate Members are permitted to use the main university library the Bodleian during normal opening hours, on the same basis as degree candidates. The advisers and tutors we have talked to agree that many not all of your tutors will be able to lend you hard-to-get books. Your advisers are convinced this system will make it easier for you to gain access to the books you will need in Oxford.

As you know, you will also be able to borrow from the Oxford Union if you decide to join , which has a large lending library, our own library of 3, frequently used books we buy back academic books at half-price and the Oxford City Library. As in all colleges, it is customary to buy frequently used books, especially paperbacks. You will have access to at least 11 million books while you are in Oxford. You will have to be prepared to make use of a large system which is sometimes not easy to use.

The authorities at Oxford, like all universities, change their policies from time to time, so a change in these policies is always a possibility. Toward the end of each term your tutors will be asked to provide a brief written report of your work and progress during the term and to give assessment. This is usually based on your written essays and tutorial discussions; in some cases tutors may set a written examination as well.

You will be measured against the standards expected of matriculated degree students and graded accordingly. No allowance is made for unfamiliarity with the Oxford system. The scale used in Oxford is based on Greek letter grades and although it cannot be directly translated into American terms the following table written in consultation with the dons who have taught at leading US colleges offers a carefully considered comparison:.

However, you must be aware that these grades are not open to negotiation and that only in exceptional cases will tutors be asked to reconsider their marking — your Academic Advisor will already have discussed directly with the tutor any grade which seems unclear, or incompatible with the written evaluation.

Because your Oxford tutors and your home college advisors want you to have the opportunity of completing a substantial and coherent body of academic work during your relatively short time in Oxford your term as an Associate Member will be thirteen weeks in length your housing is included for 3 months.

A one term student, therefore, will be able to complete the academic work of a US semester 14 semester credits. Students enroling for the full academic year will normally have 12 or 13 tutorials a term and thus will be able to earn 36 to 39 US semester credits for the academic year.

Some U. They must enroll before the deadlines listed elsewhere on our website. It is possible that you may need a more detailed statement than the transcript can supply, in which case you should ask one or more of your tutors for a reference.

The more you prepare now, the better adjusted you will be when you arrive, and the more you will learn about your host culture and yourself. We encourage you to reach out to UW students who have previously participated on your program, if applicable, as an additional resource in your preparation.

Our handbook contains important information for programs abroad as well as in the United States. For students on programs in the United States, there are sections in this handbook that are specific to going abroad and do not apply to you.

Review the information thoroughly upon your acceptance to your program. Use it as a reference when you have questions later on.