On Wednesday, Nov. 16 in the EMU Main Ballroom, Global Education Oregon (GEO) will host the annual fall study abroad fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will feature representatives from all 200 programs featured in GEO’s arsenal. According to Sam Bethel, Campus and Partner Relations Coordinator for Global Education Oregon, attendees can expect some new changes in this year’s fair.
“It’s going to be the biggest fair we’ve ever had,” Bethel said.
The fair will include tables manned by faculty in charge of programs abroad, alumni of study abroad sharing their experiences, study abroad advisors, departmental advisors and other staff from the GEO office.
“In addition to that…we have about 12 professors who are going to give short, 15 minute presentations in the Oak Room on their study abroad program,” Bethel said. “This is the first time we’ve ever had these presentations.”
One of these such presentations will be given by international studies professor Stephen Wooten, who is in charge of the new Food Studies minor at the UO. He is leading a Food Studies program in Athens, Greece.
“The overall goal of the fair is to raise awareness about Study Abroad and the possibilities available to UO students,” said Bethel. “We have over 200 programs in 90 different countries and we really want to encourage students to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Bethel also said the fair will address the financial costs of their programs, a major concern many students have when considering studying abroad, in the form of a table dedicated toward spreading awareness of the many scholarship opportunities available for study abroad.
“What we’re looking to do is help students apply for our scholarships,” Bethel said. “There are also departmental scholarships throughout the university that students can use to apply towards their study abroad experience, and there are national distinguished scholarships as well.”
Another criticism of study abroad is that it is more of a luxury or vacation rather than a part of one’s academic journey. Bethel recognizes that to a certain degree.
“Study abroad has historically been that,” Bethel said. “It’s been a trip — people would call study abroad a trip and you would go to western Europe and spend junior year abroad. And there are lots of people who still go to Europe their junior year — and that’s awesome. We are happy they do that.”
But Bethel says his office is committed to changing that notion. He sees study abroad as more of a continuation of one’s studies on campus.
“We live in a world where we see a global economy and in order for our students to compete in this global economy, they need to develop multi-lingual abilities and develop cultural competencies,” Bethel said. “Study abroad is one of the best ways to do this. Our job as educators is to develop a workforce that can compete in a global economy and what we want is to help [students] gain these skills.”
In the future, Bethel said he would like to see additional research abroad opportunities added to the GEO program, particularly for science students.
“We have a lot of exchange opportunities for these students and we have certain programs that work well for them, but that is a huge population at UO. We want to have a lot more research abroad.”
One recently introduced program features biology professor Janice Weeks. She has developed a global health, development and service program in Accra, Ghana that is specifically for biology students to go abroad and study tropical diseases.
“We have programs that are tailored to our students to help them fulfill major requirements, gain professional skills and graduate on time,” Bethel said. “That is a huge strength of ours. Students can go abroad and get ahead, not the opposite.”
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