This week the United States celebrates international education and exchange worldwide in honor of International Education Week (IEW). While this week provides an opportunity to highlight the benefits of international education, study abroad is a gateway to a global education, acceptance, and experience. The U.S. Department of State defines international education as the exchange of language, culture, ideas, and development of world leaders.
In light of this, we’re highlighting a variety of opportunities that USAC students have during their time abroad in each of these areas.
Language
Language students participating in the Basque Language and Culture course.
A student converses with locals at a fish hut in Santiago, Chile.
A student plays board games with her host family in Viterbo, Italy. Host families provide an unmatched opportunity to immerse in culture and quickly learn the local language.
Students learn how to write traditional Northern Thai dialect, Lanna, during a field trip to Phrae-Nan.
Culture
Students visit a local village including a visit to the village school to meet with students ages 5 to 14 years old. The village visit also includes playing traditional games, such as Kabbadi, with the children, interacting with school kids, and attending a micro-financial meeting with the village women.
Students participating in and celebrating Bastille Day, which is the French National Day that commemorates the first anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille.
A student captures a cafe chef in Montevideo, Uruguay, cooking a variety of local meats. Uruguay has four times more cows than people and is known for their large exports of beef.
Musicians soar in the air during the Galway International Arts Festival, Ireland’s largest annual arts festival.
Ideas
Students visit and learn from the Guarani Tribe in the Amazon. There are nearly 51,000 Guarani living in multiple states in South America. The Guarani people are deeply spiritual and their authority is based on prestige rather than formal power.
A student uses the Reggio Emilia Approach with local children. This teaching style is used during early childhood education and places value on the idea that children are capable of constructing their own learning and are driven by their interests to understand and know more.
A healthcare student receives a hands-on experience working in a hospital in Costa Rica during her time abroad while learning about the country’s unique healthcare system. Costa Rica is known for having some of the best healthcare in Central America. The country provides universal health care to its citizens and permanent residents.
A student shares his time with local children exchanging cultural ideas and customs, and learning from each other.
Creating World Leaders
Students visit the EU headquarters during a field trip to Brussels. The students meet with an Innovation and Development Consulting company which has a long history of experience in EU affairs, policies, and programs with specific focus on research and innovation. Students also attend a presentation about the European Parliament that covers the legislative procedure of the EU, the role of the three institutions involved and details about the European Parliament.
Students are welcomed by Consul Nathan Austin at the U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Each semester the U.S. Consulate welcomes students studying abroad during orientation week.
USAC students join Chinese students and master’s students from Spain at Shanghai University MBA Center to visit the Fortune 500 company, Sany Heavy Industry. The company ranks 5th in the world in the equipment manufacturing industry.
Students take a field trip and tour of the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Bundestag.
To learn how you can get involved in International Education Week, follow USAC on Facebook.
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