School Notes: Yale College
July/August 2011

Supporting experiences abroad

There are no lazy days of summer for Yale College students—nearly 1,000 of whom travel the globe each summer through programs offered by Yale’s Center for International and Professional Experience and other offices across the university. Whether students participate in study, research, internships, or service, international travel has become a key component of the Yale experience and of a twenty-first-century education. Yale College has provided expanded and enhanced resources for meaningful, engaging time abroad with initiatives such as the International Summer Award (ISA), International Bulldogs internships, and the Global Summer Program, just to name a few.

Established in 2005, the ISA program guarantees funding for one summer experience abroad for all undergraduates receiving Yale financial aid. ISAs may be used to pursue study abroad, summer fellowships and independent research, and Undergraduate Career Services–sponsored international internships. Summer 2011 saw ISA recipients (nearly 500 students in total) studying Kafka in Prague, Arabic language in Morocco, international relations in London, and Spanish language and culture in Quito, Ecuador.

International Bulldogs, Yale College’s cornerstone program for international internships, provides students the opportunity to spend the summer living and working abroad. Since its creation in 2003, International Bulldogs has grown to include 18 cities around the world. This summer Yalies explored career options in the arts, politics, health, technology, community advocacy, finance, journalism, and law. A few of their activities included: doing clinical research in Buenos Aires, pursuing marketing and communications in Hong Kong, and working in journalism in Istanbul.

Now in its fourth year, the Global Summer Program, an initiative of the International Alliance of Research Universities, connects students—and faculty—throughout the world. Students from ten partner institutions have traveled to schools within the network to participate in a selection of 19 courses—built upon a combination of lectures, tutorials, and field trips—such as International Environmental Policy, Interdisciplinary Aspect of Healthy Ageing, Southeast Asia in Context, and Global Challenges of the 21st Century. In New Haven this year, visiting students and Yalies explored Topics in International Economics with Visiting Professor of Economics Miguel Ramirez.