30-Minute Flash Topics: Study Abroad

Hello everyone, welcome in. I'll give it a few more seconds to let everyone load in.

Awesome. Hello everyone. My name is Sean Wilson. I'm one of the assistant directors in the Office of Admissions here at Kent State, and I have the honor to introduce Sarah Moratto. She's the assistant director for education abroad in our Office of Global Education. Before we get started, though, 2 housekeeping items. First, if you have any questions, you can pop them in your chat and we will send them out so Sarah can answer those throughout the presentation. And if you need close captioning, you can click the little CC button at the top of your screen.

And that will automatically put on captions for you. So without further ado, I'm going to hand it off and you all are in good hands.

Thank you Shawna said he said my name is Sara Murato. I'm the assistant director for education abroad and we'll talk today about study abroad opportunities for students that are considering coming to Kent State so.

My office is the Office of Global Education and my specific department is education abroad and So what we do in the office is we support students before, during and after their education abroad programs. We have about 200 plus programs in 60 plus countries and some of the services that we provide to students is advising we do different orientations, whether it is predeparture orientations before the students depart for their programs. Sometimes we do reentry.

Orientations when they're coming back from a program.

We also do a lot of different events throughout the the the year we've got a couple different events that we schedule like for example in in February around the Valentine's Day, we've got a whole week of events that are targeted for I love travel weeks or different things that are going to be related to study abroad programs.

So what is education abroad? So in essence, education abroad is an international experience that allows students to take courses internationally in a foreign country and they will count towards their academic credit and hopefully towards their degree. So we have programs that could be very specific to someone's majors. It could, you know, classes taken towards the Ken core or maybe towards the minor. We also have opportunities for students to be able to do internships.

Abroad, or perhaps they would like to do some volunteer abroad or some research abroad so it's not only credit courses towards credit, but also those high impact opportunities such as internships and research, and volunteer and things of that sort.

So we're going to start talking about the different type of programs that we have available for students.

We have what we called our Kent State centers, so specific Kent State centers. We've got our program in Florence, Italy that is can state on. We've got three other centers that are in partnership with other universities, so a partnership with Webster University and that's how we have the Geneva, Switzerland Center. A partnership with Anglo American University and that has the Prague, Czech Republic Center and then an internship with Shian International Studies University.

For the Shiyan China Center, the Shiyan China Center is only available in the summer time, whereas the Florence, Geneva and Prague centers are open for students to be able to participate during semester. So both fall and spring as well as summer and so some of the benefits of students participating in this Kent State centers. As I said, they're available throughout the entire year. All of the classes are available in English, and so if students.

I don't know Italian or they don't know Czech or Chinese. That's perfectly fine. There's still are able to participate in these programs and take their courses in English, and there is also strong on site support. So for example, for our Italy program the Florence Center, we have faculty and staff that are Italians and are going to be available for students, not only to teach them better class, but also to provide them support if they have questions regarding traveling or.

Housing or things of that sort.

As you can also see, both our Geneva and Prague centers also provide students with the opportunity of being able to do an internship while they are abroad for that semester. The Prague Center also provides internship opportunities during the summer time.

We also have what we call faculty LED programs, so these are our short term programs. This range anywhere between a week to 14 days. They can happen either in the summer time over spring break or over winter break, and so essentially what a faculty LED is. There is a professor at Penn State that will be teaching a Class A course. Let's say they're in the spring semester and so students enrolled in that class.

During the spring term and over spring break, they travel with the professor and their classmates for the entire length of spring break to participate in their abroad side of the class. So we have had multiple locations just as a couple examples listed here, students have gone to Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Greece, Ghana, so it's a wide range of options and selections. It is a more.

In depth and in context type of program because it is related and geared to a specific course in a specific subject matter. As I said, these are typically shorter in length and it allows students to be able to take advantage to be able to maybe utilize that as a form of advancing in their degree in their major.

We also have our exchange programs and so these are going to be bilateral programs between Penn State and another institution abroad, so we have a multitude of exchanges, so we have exchange programs in Japan in Egypt, in South Korea.

In many parts of Europe in Spain, France, England in South America, so lots of different options. So essentially how the exchange program works. It allows students to participate in them for a semester and entire academic year and also in the summer time, but majority of our exchange programs will also be based on the tuition of Kent State. So a student might decide to participate for a semester at our partner University in Murcia.

Spain and students will be paying can state tuition to participate in that program.

The courses are also available in English, so again students don't need to know prior language to participate in these programs. But there is also an option for students to be able to take classes in the language of the host country. So if a student wanted to practice their Spanish, they could do that at the University of Morcia.

It also allows students to have more of an immersion with the host culture. Oftentimes, our exchange programs will allow students to.

Have different types of accommodations, so depending on each university on institution, sometimes students can reside in residence halls just like they would here in the US. Other times they might be able to live in an apartment, and sometimes they also have host families that they can choose from to reside with them.

So like I said, lots of different options around the world and throughout the world. For this exchange programs.

Our direct enroll programs are very similar to the exchanges, so it's also partnerships between Penn State and those universities abroad. The main difference between the exchanges and the direct enrolls is that when a student participates in a direct enroll program, they will be paying tuition of that host institution. So like I said, with exchanges, you pay your Kent State tuition with direct enroll. You pay the host institutions tuition, so sometimes that could mean that a tuition could be a little bit.

Higher that can state. Sometimes it could be a little bit less. They can state, sometimes it could be the same, as can state, but overall the rest of the information is very similar, still available for semester, summer year, round courses are still gonna be in English. Also providing opportunity for the specific language of the host country and the same type of immersion in the culture based on accommodations on the length of participation that the student decides to do for this one.

Our isop programs. This is a consortium that we are members of along with other international institutions, and so that also allows us to be able to provide more a bigger range of opportunities outside of the partnerships that Kent State has directly with those institutions. So Isip also has exchange and direct enroll programs, so similar to the way that can states exchange and direct enrolls function.

Is it does the same way? So if a student participates in an exchange program through isep, they still pay constituition and in terms of their accommodation and meal plans and things like that, we're able to assess that into the students account. The same goes with the direct enroll, so they will pay that whole institution tuition, but they don't pay directly to the whole institution that's accessed through the students bursar's account.

And as I had mentioned earlier, we also have different experiential programs available for students. So those internships or research or volunteering that students might be able to do that is a possibility. We actually do have a really cool program for student teachers that they can actually do their student teaching abroad through the cost program. So the benefits of doing this type of experiential programs is, you know, gaining those practical experience skills, being able to see how student teaching might be done in a different country other than the US, and then bringing that back.

To you know to the perspective of the US, so lots of different opportunities, lots of different programs, lots of different links in terms of you know how long can a student study abroad from like a whole year to a semester to a month in this summer to two weeks to a week. So lots of different options. And obviously the price range will also be varying depending on the type of program that a student is selecting.

And so, how does the student go about finding the right program for them? So on our website we are have a link to our online program database and this database has a lot of different parameters that students can choose from to be able to select their their program type. So you can look based on the major that you'll be studying. Perhaps is based on the program type that I just talked about. Maybe it's a specific country that you've always wanted to go, or maybe you've always dreamt of studying in Paris, and so you will be interested in seeing what type of programs we have available for Paris, and so you can do that.

I'm looking through the city specifically.

There's also a couple of other resources that I would like to share with students, so obviously talking with us in the Education Abroad Office is one of the best resources because we're able to share with you the different programs the application process and logistics in terms of, you know, like what accommodations would look like, what type of courses are available for you to take while you're abroad, how you know, how long should you be there for, what will be the cost and things of that sort so anything related to the program specifically, you can talk to anyone of us.

We are able to be contacted via our general email which is listed here which is abroad account.edu that's EDABROADI n.edu and we also have students are able to also make appointments with us through TSA advising. So OK you advising is what the university utilizes for students to make appointments and we're able to meet with students both in person and virtually so if this is something that you're interested in, maybe learning a little bit more about different programs, feel free to either like reach to us via email or you can.

And look for kissing even if you're not in state student yet. You can still set up an appointment through you advising as a non Penn State student, so we're happy to meet with you. We can meet with your support systems and and and talk about all these different logistics.

Another really important resource is financial aid. We have a specific financial aid counselor that just works with education abroad, which is really important. So this person is able to talk to students and family members about how can student utilize their financial aid to be able to study abroad. For most of our programs.

And if financial aid, any scholarship, any lungs that students are receiving to participate, or to attend Kent State, most of those things will also transfer with them during their study abroad programs. So that's also a a good way to try to minimize the cost of a program for students to participate. The financial aid counselor can also provide information about different scholarships, so we have a wide range of scholarships both at Kent State and outside of Penn State. So internal and external scholarships that are both dedicated to studying abroad and that studying abroad and so.

It's really important for students to remember that because this is an academic program, you don't need to only apply for study abroad scholarships. But you can also apply for academic scholarships because you're able to utilize those monies to help you pay towards your study abroad program.

And other things that the Council or the financial counselor can also talk to you about are different strategies for fundraising, saving and budgeting. So we always like to talk to students early on on on their careers. I can so you know, freshmen is where we like to always like start because it's easier to start planning for when you would like to study abroad. So if we know that there is a student that might wanna study abroad their junior year and we started talking to them and we know how much it's going to be, they essentially have two years to be able to save and.

Budget for their time abroad so it makes it a lot more easy for them to be able to participate in the programs. We also will meet with students who just reach to us. You know, like a couple weeks prior to where the deadlines are and we can make things happen. But the more time that we have for planning the better, the better it is for both us and the student. So if you're interested in reaching out to the financial aid counselor, she can also be reached. The KSU advising and there is also specific email to reach out to them and that is fin aid educational route akanda. Edu and that's.

FINAIDEDUCATIONABROAD akanda Edu.

We are on different social media. We are on Instagram. We are on Twitter. We are on Facebook. So if you wanna follow us, our handles are at study abroad, Kent so feel free to follow us on social media. We're always posting different things related to our programs, posting stuff, about scholarships.

Some things you know events that we're doing. Orientations are happening, so lots of different things that you can get different information through our social media. We also have our website which is WWW dot dot Edu slash education abroad, so you can always visit our website as well and we have a ton of information in there and if you're really interested in would like to get more information you can take a quick snapshot of this QR code right here that is on the screen and that will take us take you to our interest survey. It's just a quick one.

Where you you know? Filling your name, last name, email address and then you will get an automated email with a bunch of different information for all the different type of programs. And if you have a specific question on one of them, you could always follow up with us and then we are happy to continue sharing that information. Another resource that I didn't listen here, but I think it's important to are going to be your academic advisors so your academic advisors are going to be able to provide information regarding the academic side of the study abroad. So just like

they provide the logistics, you know the information on the country and how to get there and things like that. Your academic advisor will work with you and figuring out OK, so you're going to Geneva and you're interested in taking these four political science classes. So how are those going to transfer back to Kent State, and how are they going to account specifically in your major? So it's really important for you guys to also meet with your academic advisors so that you can get that side of things situated.

That is all I have for you all for this evening. Thank you for your time. If there are any questions, I'm happy to answer those right now. So yeah.

Yeah.

So Sarah, I have a couple of questions for you, so first.

Can any major study abroad?

Absolutely any major concluding abroad they can. They also need to only have participated again stay for one semester. So essentially, if you are a freshman and you start in the fall, you could technically start going studying abroad in that spring semester, or even that first summer of your freshman year. But yeah, we have different options for majors for class standings, all these different things.

Is there any major that requires you to study abroad?

There is actually, so if you go into either fashion design or fashion merchandising, you will have a study away component that is required and so you know we love those students because they go abroad. And then there are also some majors that encourage highly encourage students to study abroad. So architecture is one of them, interior design being another one, the international business minor will also be one that is highly recommended for students to study abroad.

So that they can meet those requirements in the minor. I think if you are a language major you should definitely study abroad. That is a really good way for you to practice and get emerging. The in the culture and and be able to become more fluent in the language that you're studying.

So if I were a new student, what steps would it take for me to go on a study abroad adventure? So I just started? It's my freshman semester. I'm new to Kent State. What steps should I take in order to go on a study abroad trip?

Yeah, absolutely. So the first thing you'll want to do is you will want to meet with your academic advisor and let them know that you're interested in in studying abroad and when will be the best time because every major is gonna be a little bit different when they can study abroad, right? Some majors are better if you do a your junior years. Others maybe are only allowed to do it in the summer time, so having that first communication with academic advisor is very important.

After you meet with your academic advisor and you have an idea as to when can you go, how long can you go abroad for then you can come and set up an appointment with us in the Education Abroad Office and then we can help you determine. OK, so based on your major, these are the best programs. Or maybe like I said, you have, you've always dreamed of studying in Paris, so we can take a look to see what's available in Paris for your specific degree. And then we'll talk and we'll do all these different things with you. And then we'll make sure that you also set up an appointment to meet with the financial aid.

Counselor because it's also important for you to have an understanding of what the cost will be and how can you pay for that and how are your scholarships going to transfer and things like that. So those will be the three steps primarily.

Perfect and then my last question for you. Why should I study abroad?

Yeah, that's that's a great question. You know. I think one well there's a couple things, so one we're starting to see that a lot more employers are looking for students with this international experiences and just a little bit of data here. So one in every four student I can state studies abroad, one in every ten student in the US studies abroad. So if you really think about the quantity of universities that we have in the in the US and one in 10 are only studying abroad, that still is putting yourself a little bit.

It's.

Ahead of some of these other students that didn't have that opportunity, there are so many amazing transferable skills that you are going to bring from you from studying abroad that this employers are looking for this. You know, things like problem solving and being able to, you know, interculturally be competent and things of that sort. So those are like a couple of the different reasons. And I also think that whether we like it or not, the world is becoming more global. So even if we are staying here.

In the US and in there's you know, no connection to anything outside you are going to be interacting with someone who is not from the US, or maybe even from a different region of the US that has a different culture than you. And so again, those intercultural competencies are always going to come in handy that you're going to bring back from being abroad.

Awesome, well that is all the questions that I had. I don't see anymore in the chat. I want to thank you for spending time with us here this evening. Sarah, I want to thank all of our participants for being here this evening. And if you have any other questions at all, can we put your contact information back up on the screen just in case.

Yep, absolutely let me get to the link right there.

Perfect so if you have any questions at all, reach out to the Office of Global Education at the links there and they'll be helping answer any questions you have about study abroad. But again, thank you all so much for being here with us this evening and hopefully we'll see you soon. But thank you all and have a good night.

Goodnight, thank you.