How can science (and pre-health professional) undergraduates gain global perspectives in their education? One way would be for the students to enroll directly in a university in another country for a semester or two, although there are a number of very serious deterrents (e.g., language, prerequisites, calendar, transfer of credits and grades).  Another would be for them to engage in a summer research internship abroad (such as IREU, RISE, GREET, etc.), although that might interfere with other necessary summer activities (e.g., working, taking courses, hanging out on the beach).  This talk will explore the study abroad option during the academic year in which science students have historically been extremely underrepresented.  They do not believe it can be done within their seemingly inflexible programs of study, the administrative obstacles appear daunting, and the faculty is not necessarily supportive of the idea. The Boston University science study abroad programs in Dresden, Germany (since Fall 2006), Grenoble, France (since Fall 2009), and Madrid, Spain (since Fall 2012), are models that afford students the opportunity to study abroad for a full semester as science majors (e.g., chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pre-health professions, etc.) while avoiding the common real and perceived obstacles.

Providing global perspectives for the education of science undergraduates: Study abroad

248th National Meeting (2014)

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