Summer Newsletter 2012: Off-Campus Study

By Bates News. Published on July 25, 2012

David Al-Ibrahim ’09 made this photograph during a week spent documenting sustainable energy technologies in Denmark. It shows a wind turbine sited in a farm of canola flowers, whose seeds are made into biofuel.

One hundred and fifty-nine Bates students have left or will soon be leaving to study abroad for the fall or year.

Among them are 25 students who will be studying in Spain with professors Francisca Lopez and Karen Melvin.

As in the past, Bates students in the Junior Year Abroad and Junior Semester Abroad programs will cover the globe, with individuals in Europe from Italy to Sweden, in Africa from Namibia to Morocco, in Latin America from Uruguay to Bolivia, in Asia from China to India, and in Oceania from Australia to New Zealand.

Many students studying in the Southern Hemisphere have already departed, because the “spring” semester at universities there began in mid-July.

The most rewarding experiences occur when these students become worms while abroad, burrowing deep into their settings — rather than birds, observing from afar and landing only lightly.

In the fall, we will welcome back 128 students who studied off-campus last semester or for the full year. We look forward to the wisdom and insight they bring back to the campus. A “Welcome Back” reception is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 6, at 5 p.m. in New Commons.

We encourage these students (and other seniors as well) to investigate the fellowship opportunities for additional international study and travel through the Dean of the Faculty’s office. (Six of the seven students to receive Fulbright awards this year studied abroad.)

Information sessions about off-campus study opportunities and procedures are planned for Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 7 and 9 pm in Chase Lounge. These will be followed by a “Study Abroad Fair” on Wednesday, Oct. 3, with representatives from programs and universities abroad. This will include information on the Bates Fall Semester Program in Russia planned for the fall of 2013.

The SAFE program continues again this year. SAFE facilitates study abroad by students with limited family resources and no prior international travel experience. It has three parts: outreach to ensure all students recognize this part of the Bates curriculum is available for them, special efforts to identify lower-cost programs and special federal and program grants, and for some students, extra financial support from the Barlow Endowment for Study Abroad.

Learn more about the Off-Campus Study office at Bates.

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