By RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
As part of last week’s celebration of International Education Week, Fort Hays State University’s Global Affairs Office hosted a Study Abroad Drop-In Advising event to offer students information about opportunities to travel internationally, expand their academic horizons, learn about different cultures, and foster personal growth.
FHSU Study Abroad Coordinator Stacey Lang leads the initiative to raise awareness in students.
“We want to give students the opportunity to drop in informally, and ask a few questions,” she said. “If they’ve heard about us, great. If they haven’t, it’s an opportunity to sit down with me, and learn more about what programs we offer. We have a large variety of programs that students can participate in: short-term, long-term, international, and domestic. They don’t have to set up an appointment.”
The opportunities her office presents vary depending on the students and the capacity they are willing to travel.
“We have over 500 programs,” Lang said. “In our Tiger Travel Directory, we offer programs all over the world. We offer programs in the Summer for four to eight weeks, or even shorter than that. They can do a full semester or a full year abroad. If there’s a country that has a good educational system and is safe to travel to, we have a program there. We have them in South America, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America; basically on almost every continent. They can take one course, or a full semester of courses, depending on the length of their program.”
Lang wants to help students fulfill their goals and expectations when studying abroad, which she attempts to do when sitting down with them at the Drop-In.
“We talk about their personal objectives and goals for their study abroad experience,” she said. “Most students are looking for a cultural immersion experience but they also know there’s a lot of personal development that’s going to take place. There’s a lot of what we call transferable skills obtained through study abroad; they’re building their independence and confidence, are going to work with diverse populations of people, and they have to adapt to a new culture. So, there’s things that come with doing a study abroad that builds a student’s personal and academic pathway.”
The experience, based on Lang’s account with students, helps them develop who they are as people.
“When they come back, we sit down and do their exit interview,” she said. “Usually, the first thing they say is how they’ve changed personally. They’re more confident, feel more worldly, and more independent.”
Fort Hays’s study abroad programs come with a supportive financial aspect.
“We have amazing donors through the FHSU Foundation,” Lang said. “They’ve given scholarship funds to provide to students who have financial need. We also have an internal Tiger Ambassador Scholarship through the study abroad office that students can apply for, and we like to assist students with travel expenses.”
The most popular destinations for studying abroad have been Italy and certain regions in Asia.
“Students have been really interested in Italy as well as South Korea and Japan,” she said. “Asian countries have been very popular recently, and so has Europe. I had a ton of Spanish majors and minors come, and we work with a great partner in Central and South America; there’s an increased interest in that area as well.”
For more information, visit the Study Abroad office in Memorial Union 104, or call 785-628-4176 and email studyabroad@fhsu.edu.