Office of Public Affairs
(315) 312-2265
Dec. 3, 2003
CONTACT: Joshua McKeown, 312-2118
NEW INTERNATIONAL COURSE BUILDS IN A WEEK ABROAD
OSWEGO -- SUNY Oswego's first campus class that
incorporates a study-abroad experience filled to its limit a month
before the registration deadline.
Jeff Storch was one of the 40 Oswego students who
leapt at the chance to learn in London during spring break as the
culminating experience in an international studies class next semester
called "London: A Global City."
"Study abroad was not one of my goals and
expectations of college, but when I saw the opportunity -- and saw that
it was a good price -- I decided to take it," the junior accounting
major said.
"I don't know if I will have another chance in my
life to go abroad," he explained. "Also, there is a class involved, so
I can really learn a lot more this way."
The college twice offered spring break noncredit
programs in London and decided to build the first credit course around
that successful experience, said Joshua McKeown of the International
Education and Programs Office.
"The trend in study abroad everywhere is shorter and
shorter programs," he said. "The reality is that not every student can
take a semester or even a summer away. Short-term, for-credit programs
are more and more important."
Nationally, almost half of all college students
studying abroad take part in programs that last less than a quarter or
semester, according to figures released by the Institute of
International Education last month, and that is nearly a fivefold
increase since 1985. Typically, these are summer or winter session
programs, but one-week spring break programs are also growing.
Tom Larson, a librarian who was involved in the
earlier spring London program, will teach the class, which will meet
once a week from Jan. 28 until the class leaves for London March 13.
Students pay a $995 program fee that covers
round-trip airfare from Kennedy airport to London, daily breakfast and
hotel accommodations in the city's South Kensington neighborhood, field
trips, a theatre ticket and tours. In addition to city sites, students
will make a day trip to the ancient Stonehenge stone circle and the
city of Bath.
McKeown said he sees the London course as a model to
build on. "Maybe we'll have a whole menu of courses abroad," he said.
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