The Office of International Affairs will host the first annual Education Abroad Fair on Oct. 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Don Taft University Center Spine for undergraduate students to learn more about international travel programs.
Representatives from study abroad programs, NSU faculty who lead travel study courses, and representatives from the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement will provide information on study abroad and travel study programs, volunteer opportunities and scholarship offerings.
Alejandra Parra, associate director at the Office of International Affairs, said, “We want to give students the opportunity to see how NSU will contribute to the creation of their globalized mindsets.”
Study abroad experiences are programs that allow students to spend an extended period of time in another country to pursue educational opportunities in exchange for credits that will transfer back to their major at NSU. Students can choose to stay a semester or year at a school of their choosing.
Parra said that the requirements to participate in study abroad vary for each program, but in general, students must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and work with the Office of International Affairs to apply to the program and get all documents, courses and financial obligations in order.
Marco Baez, senior international studies, criminal justice and history major, went on a study abroad trip to the American University of Rome in the summer of 2013. He said that students should take advantage of traveling while in college because it is the time they are more open to learning and have an open mind for new concepts.
“Traveling teaches you different things about yourself and makes you appreciate things that you can often take for granted,” Baez said. “If you leave it for later, life can get a little more complicated with your career and family and it will be more complicated to get away.”
Travel study or faculty-led courses are organized by a professor. Students register for a specific course and have the opportunity to travel to another country as part of the course criteria. Travel study courses include Biodiversity of Alaskan Ecosystems, Genocide in the 20th Century and Beyond, Amazonia Cloud Forest Biogeography, The Ecology of the Galapagos Islands, Changes of our Chemical World, Evolution of Sports Medicine, Northern Ireland Study Tour, Medical London: Culture and Context, Comparative Criminal Justice and Survey of Marine Mammals.
Baez said that traveling abroad is different from learning information in a classroom because hands-on experience teaches you concepts in a more in-depth way than a textbook.
“Books teach you the theory; traveling makes you practice that theory. What better way of mastering a subject than by practicing it?” he said.
Students can also take part in an international service trip to Hagley Gap, Jamaica. This will be the third year that the SLCE Office will take part in the Blue Mountain Project, where students will work in classrooms with students from prekindergarten to sixth grade in literacy groups and assist in after-school programming.
Parra said the Office of Risk Management monitors all locations for international trips. If they deem a location to be high risk, the university will cancel the trip and work with students regarding courses and financial obligations.
Parra said that having international experience makes a significant difference when students have to apply for jobs.
“If they see that the person has international experience, they will consider that person as a global person — a person who has experience in dealing with different situations and cultures,” she said.
The Office of International Affairs serves as the central support, advisory and information center for the NSU community. It offers travel study, study abroad and medical rotations for students at the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship and the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. More information on the programs can be found at nova.edu/internationalaffairs.
“Learn, travel, have fun and enjoy it because you might not get to do it again,” Baez said, “Don’t wonder what’s on the other side of the world, go and experience it yourself.”
For more information, contact Parra, at 954-262-7240 or at aleparra@nova.edu.
