The College of Education will encourage students to engage in study abroad opportunities with new programs beginning next fall, although participation will not be a requirement, according to Dean of College of Education Kathryn M. Moore.
The programs are expected to be a condensed version of the typical study abroad program that usually spans an entire semester.
“I don’t think we can require it. Some curricula wouldn’t be amenable, and some students couldn’t afford it,” Moore said.
According to Moore, her first choice of locations for the programs include Spanish-speaking countries.
“I have personally visited Mexico and the Dominican Republic and spoken with their colleges of education about a potential partnership,” Moore said.
Moore also spoke of a program in Oman as a possible safe location to study in the Middle East.
The college plans to make existing study abroad options more widely known. Moore said current programs in countries such as China, Czech Republic and Chile would make great locations for an immersive experience.
Liz Daw, a junior in English education, said she has not participated in the study abroad program mostly for financial reasons and because she did not look into it very much.
“I had resources, and I’ve been informed about the programs, but I was more worried about summer school and graduating on time. It just wasn’t a priority,” Daw said.
Moore said she feels a study abroad experience would benefit College of Education students, particularly because of a growing population of school children that have English as their second language.
“For students who are going to teach, they expect mostly Spanish, but North Carolina has 80 different home languages such as French and Farsi,” Moore said.
Moore also said she felt any student would benefit from living and learning in a different country and witnessing the values and cultures that exist where many of these children were born.
Daw agreed.
“It’s important for anybody in the education field to find out about other countries — to learn the culture and how they teach so they can bring some of these ideas back to America,” Daw said.
In an attempt to make programs more affordable, the college is working with the Study Abroad Office as well as other UNC campuses, Moore said. She also said Latin American countries tend to be less expensive than European countries.
“It would be great if someone wanted to start an endowment program,” Moore said.
Moore said many students consider studying abroad in their junior year, but for many College of Education students, junior year marks entrance into the college’s professional program and formal teacher education candidacy.
“A lot of those courses are not ideal to study abroad because students are working toward North Carolina teaching licenses,” Moore said.