A Broader Study Abroad

Yesterday’s editorial highlighted the overly strict policies that deter Columbia students from studying abroad during the academic year. While fall and spring study-abroad programs are supplemented with summer international programs, limited options and a shortage of financial assistance pose difficulties for students who wish to spend the summer working or studying overseas. The University should expand its international summer options and scale up sources of funding for students who need it to make a summer abroad feasible.

Columbia offers its students two academic tracks to study abroad during the summer. Columbia-sponsored programs offer students full Columbia credit for any courses completed, but they are limited in number. Students in Columbia-approved programs—courses of study abroad operated by other universities—can only receive Columbia credit for language courses. Approving additional programs would broaden students’ options and afford them access to regions not available through current programming. Outside of academic experiences, Columbia students can also choose to volunteer or work abroad through organizations like the British Universities North America Club. These nonacademic programs are typically of short duration and can be pursued in conjunction with domestic jobs or internships for the balance of the summer.

Though the University’s requirements for participation in overseas summer programs are looser than those enforced during the academic year, international summer programs remain financially out-of-reach for much of the student body. Summer is a time when many students feel the need to make and save money, not spend it. Yet students are responsible for all costs incurred during summer study abroad—a burden that has grown heavier as the dollar has weakened—and cannot lighten the load by receiving financial aid. The existing scholarships tied to particular academic programs are narrow in scope, and they often have stringent qualification requirements—in other words, inadequate funding often makes international summer programs effectively impossible for many students. Travel costs and a lack of income can discourage students from exploring even short-term internships and volunteer programs in other countries. University President Lee Bollinger has spoken of his desire to create short-term study abroad trips of two weeks or less. Such programs would make for an ideal alternative, but the institutionalization of such a system seems far away given the complex bureaucracy and restrictions students are faced with now.

Changes to the University’s summer programs should focus on increasing the number of approved programs and expanding financial support. In addition to soliciting sponsors for academic programs, volunteer work, and unpaid internships abroad, Columbia should spread awareness about the sponsored programs already in place, such as the German Academic Exchange Service’s undergraduate scholarships and the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarships. All agree that students have much to gain from spending time abroad, if only during the summer months. The University should muster up the resources to match its rhetoric on becoming a global university.