New! Programs for 2012 and Beyond
Building on BCA’s 50-year history of study abroad programming and our long-standing commitment to questions of peace and social justice, we are pleased to bring to your attention a series of new programs that are designed to continue our tradition of engaging students with critically important global issues, as well as language and intercultural skills to further their understanding of the world.
Available Now
- Summer Seminar in the Hague: Using globalization as a master concept, the program engages students in major questions concerning the human condition. Among others, the program content focuses on subthemes of human rights, urban diversity, and global governance. In doing so, students are active participants and learners in and beyond the classroom. Download a Fact Sheet here.
- Universitas Castellae in Valladolid: Building on both Universitas’ and BCA’s long traditions in study abroad, this partnership allows us jointly to provide a strong study abroad experience to a wider range of students. Our academic courses include advanced Spanish (Castilian) language, literature, art, history, culture, and various courses in the social sciences that are of particular interest to visiting international students. Download a Fact Sheet here.
Available January and Spring 2013
Birzeit, Palestine
Arabic Language Palestinian Culture Modern and Contemporary History
with the BCA Signature Seminar: Perspectives on Palestine
A significant component of this study abroad program, both through traditional classroom education and in field learning, is dedicated to grasping, to the extent possible in a relatively short sojourn, the historical, social and cultural context of the big questions in our selected area of the Middle East. The curriculum of the program focuses on the rigorous, trans-disciplinary, and comparative study of Palestinian society and cultures in the Middle East, with primary attention to questions surrounding the relationships, historical and contemporary, among Palestinians. The program is designed for students of all academic disciplines with strong interests in societies and cultures of Middle Eastern peoples. Although there are no strict academic prerequisites, it is expected that students applying to this program will have completed at least two university-level courses in languages, the societies, politics or histories of the Middle East.
Given the program focus and subthemes, BCA Study Abroad seeks to engage a small number (no more than 20) of students with decidedly diverse academic and topical interests. In particular, our aim is to enroll a core of students from a wide range of backgrounds in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences, and a variety of interdisciplinary subjects. We are also interested in students from the performing arts who can show how their academic interests can be enhanced by participation in this program.
To accomplish our educational goals, the curriculum of this program includes a BCA Study Abroad “Signature Seminar” dedicated to a variety of themes, and to a series of carefully selected educational excursions, visits and lectures in Palestinian towns, colleges and universities including Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin as well as to a range of villages and refugee camps in the Occupied West Bank.
Upper Amazon, Ecuador
Sustainability Studies Biodiversity Spanish Language
The BCA-Yachana Semester in the Upper Amazon is a collaborative project between BCA Study Abroadand Yachana (a non-profit educational organization founded in 1992). The program is designed primarily for US undergraduate students and focuses on education about local, regional and global questions of environmental sustainability, biodiversity, and leadership.
Located in the Upper Amazon Basin on the Napo River in Eastern Ecuador, the program is housed on the campus of the Yachana Technical Institute, entwined with primary and secondary rainforest, only a few minutes’ walk to the Napo River, Ecuador’s largest tributary to the Amazon River. International students, researchers and conference participants live, work and study with local indigenous and mixed ethnicity students from throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The last two decades have raised the world´s level of awareness regarding serious global issues that we must face as a species. Among the most pressing challenges are those of global climate change, the planet’s disappearing natural resources, a reduction in bio-diversity, water contamination, the endless cycle of consumption and waste, not to mention war, ethnic tension, and the effects of an accelerated globalization.
BCA Study Abroad and the Yachana Foundation have designed this program in a way that will allow students to learn first-hand about one of the harshest realities: the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest and the need to educate ourselves about a more sustainable existence on the planet. For action to occur we believe that there first must be awareness and education at the local, regional and global levels. This program is one step in that direction.
Shanghai, China
Global City Media and Journalism Urban Diversity
Media and journalism is a distinctive feature of the program curriculum. BCA’s partnership with Shanghai media insider John Lu will give students access to a wide range of resources within the city as they explore issues and perspectives in urbanization. Journalistic and media perspectives will be integral part of student coursework and play a particularly important role in student fieldwork, bringing them into direct contact with local experts who can provide a unique understanding to Shanghai and its changes during the reform period.
BCA is partnering with Fudan University, one of China’s most academically prestigious universities. Located in Shanghai, Fudan University has an enrollment of over 26,000 degree students and over 3,000 international students.
Students will take a rigorous courseload of 15-18 semester credits (5-6 courses), which includes three required courses: Modern China, and two Chinese language courses. In addition to required courses, students can choose from a range of electives offered directly through BCA. All courses, excluding Chinese language, will be taught in English.
Students interested in pursuing academic and professional work in the field of journalism and media will be given the opportunity to take the course Media and Society in Contemporary China (3 credits, syllabus forthcoming). Depending on student background and previous work experience, internship opportunities will also be available on a competitive basis.
Rome, Italy
Italian Studies Italian Language Independent Study
Become part of the dynamic contemporary life and rich history of this remarkable city. Our program offers opportunities to gain a facility with the Italian language, to learn from both scholars and ordinary people in a variety of settings, and to broaden cultural interests and knowledge in an attempt to understand the world.
Rome is a city to discover. Students willing to engage with it and take moments of solitude to reflect upon it will make surprising and informative discoveries throughout the semester. The overall environment of Rome and of our academic program will be the stimulant for important changes in worldviews and understandings of history, art, social values, and research skills – just as it has been for so many sojourners in this city throughout history.
The BCA Study Abroad program includes three major educational components:
Italian Language
Italian Area Studies
Independent Study Project
The program is designed to facilitate student adaption to Italian culture while learning about its many-faceted historical, social, political and artistic heritage. With superb guidance by our on-site resident director and other teachers, step-by-step, students gain the contextual knowledge, language skills, research methods, and an understanding of the culture. This highly educational program culminates, in the final phase of the semester, with an Independent Study Project.
Vienna, Austria
The Human Condition at the Crossroads of Europe
If ever there were a city that could fittingly be described as the place for exploring the human condition, regardless of whether from a philosophical, artistic, political or psychological perspective, that city would likely be Vienna, Austria. Situated on the Danube River and just to the north of the Balkan Peninsula, Vienna is Southeast Europe's melting pot, Europe's gateway between North and South, East and West. Especially during the late 19th century and well into the 20th century, Vienna was the stage for major intellectual developments and political events, including the founding of psychoanalysis by neurologist Dr. Sigmund Freud. What remains of this cultural peak period - known as the Fin de siècle Vienna or the Wiener Moderne - has, to some extent, become definitive for Vienna itself: the coffee house culture, the countless theaters, world class museums (not only for art) and operas, and some of Europe's finest architecture, particularly in Vienna's first district.
BCA Vienna students will foreseeably be coming from a wide array of academic backgrounds. The program will serve to educate our students in a way that they better understand their individual role in the world around them, with BCA adding a significant component to their undergraduate education. Upon successful completion of the Vienna program, BCA Vienna students should be able to:
• speak and write German at a level of A2 or higher on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale.
• understand and appreciate the history, culture and social aspects of Austrian history and its place in the European Union today.
• understand and appreciate contributions made by prominent Austrian historical figures to the ongoing dialogue on the human condition.
• take their acquired skills in adapting to a new and foreign environment and apply them in other settings, both in private life and in future employment.