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STUDYING ABROAD: A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE

If you ask any University of Scranton student who has studied abroad to describe how their experience has changed their life, you will receive a variety of answers. Personal, academic, cultural and professional growth are some of the most significant areas of growth in University of Scranton students who have studied abroad. Spending time abroad opens a window to a world of new experiences. Students who incorporate overseas study into their academic programs deepen their knowledge and understanding of international, political, and economic issues. Like other students, you may return from your sojourn abroad with a better perspective on world affairs and a broader understanding of your own country and its way of life.

Study abroad does more than promote academic enrichment and personal growth. It also enhances your employment prospects. Employers are increasingly looking for graduates who have studied abroad. Why? Because students who have returned from a successful study experience abroad possess skills that are valued in today's competitive workplace: not just international knowledge and second language skills - important as those are - but also cross-cultural communication skills, flexibility, resilience, and the ability to adapt to new circumstances and deal constructively with differences. Study abroad returnees have demonstrated that they can thrive in new and often challenging environments.

University of Scranton students who have studied abroad students have incorporated their international experience in their academic and professional careers. Graduates have been funded to study and research in eighteen different countries, and our study abroad graduates are consistently recruited by international employers.

In short, studying abroad allows you to grow personally as well as gain professional skills. It serves as a building block for future endeavors of all kinds.

Since 1986, students from the University of Scranton have studied in over 50 countries world-wide. Upon their return, they have consistently reported the following:

• Friendships with students that last lifetimes
• A sense of global awareness
• Enhanced foreign language skills
• Increased interest in and focus on their major
• Greater appreciation of the United States
• Enhanced problem solving skills
• Greater flexibility and increased capacity to adapt to new situations and places
• An enhanced sense of career path

WHERE DO YOU GO FOR INFORMATION?

The International Programs office is located on the 5th Floor of the St. Thomas Hall Communications Wing. The office offers space and materials for students to research study abroad opportunities, cultural adjustment issues and foreign cultures and customs. Additionally, students may avail themselves of free coffee and tea and enjoy world news broadcasts in a "home theater" setting.

Students are assisted in their research and receive comprehensive advising from a professional international education staff that includes study abroad veterans; students who have returned from studying abroad. Students receive advising on a wide range of topics that include, but are not limited to: planning the study abroad experience, choosing a study abroad site, academics at home and abroad, cultural adjustment, adjusting to new academic systems and travel.

The International Programs office takes pride in the close relationships it builds with students and their families as they plan their study abroad experience, while they are abroad and when they return to the University.