Study abroad/away opportunities at St. Olaf can be experienced through a variety of shapes and forms. Programs offered by the Smith Center vary in length, type, model, focus, and curriculum. Explore what these different opportunities mean below.
While each program is unique, most programs can be grouped into the following categories:
Length and Term
January Term programs occur during the January January Term term. These programs are between 3-4 weeks in length.
Semester length programs are programs that run for a semester’s length of time, usually 3-4 months.
Fall semester programs run in relative alignment to St. Olaf’s Fall semester. Fall semester programs may begin and/or end earlier than St. Olaf’s fall semester. For example, programs in the Southern Hemisphere often begin in July or August and conclude in November or December, whereas programs in the Northern Hemisphere commonly begin in September or October and finish in December.
Spring semester programs run in relative alignment to St. Olaf’s Spring semester. Spring semester programs begin sometime during St. Olaf’s Spring semester, most often in February, though sometimes as late as March or April, and end as early as May or as late as August, though most commonly they finish in late-May or early-June.
Semester programs that include Interim (Fall + Interim or Spring + Interim) programs either continue after the end of Fall semester into Interim term or begin in Interim term and continue into Spring semester. Semester programs that include Interim fulfil a St. Olaf Interim experience.
Academic Year programs are programs that during which students spend the entire academic year studying abroad/away — meaning the program’s dates span Fall, Interim, and Spring terms. Academic Year programs can begin as early as July and finish as early as the following April, or start as late as October and finish in June or July of the following year. Although program dates can vary greatly, most Academic Year programs offered through the Smith Center Office start late-August or sometime in September and run through late-May or early-June.
The Smith Center currently approves three Summer term programs — the Oslo International Summer School, Budapest Semester in Mathematics, and Budapest Semester in Mathematics Education. These approved Summer programs run for a duration of 6-8 weeks.
Faculty-Led
Faculty-led programs are study abroad/away programs that are lead and taught by St. Olaf faculty as an January Term or Semester travel-embedded course. St. Olaf faculty-led programs are only open to St. Olaf students, meaning that all participants are fellow Oles.
While faculty-led January Term courses are taught exclusively by St. Olaf faculty, faculty-led semester programs, Global Semester and Environmental Studies in Australia & New Zealand, feature one St. Olaf faculty-led course and three guest-taught courses.
Direct Enroll
Direct enroll programs allow St. Olaf students to study at one of our many partner universities for one or two semesters. With direct enroll programs, students typically have access to all our partner university’s available courses (with a few exceptions) and study and live with other degree seeking and study abroad students. Students participating in direct enroll programs are supported directly by the host institution’s equivalent to the Smith Center.
Provider Program
This type of program is offered through a provider, such as CIEE or DIS. With provider programs, students take courses at the provider’s study center — a location that is home to the program where classes are taught — rather than a local institution. All of the provider program’s classes are exclusive to the program’s participants. These courses are taught by faculty hired by the program to teach courses designed specifically for the program.
While it is most common for provider program’s to be standalone programs, sometimes provider organizations act as a third party in facilitating direct enroll experiences for students. Under this arrangement, students take courses directly with a local institution with the help of a provider. An example of this model is the CIEE Rennes program.
Hybrid
Hybrid model programs offer the best of both provider programs and direct enroll. With hybrid programs, participants have the opportunity to take courses that are directly taught by the program provider exclusively for their students at their study center and also to take direct enroll courses at a local institution that the provider has partnered with. With hybrid programs, students may take the majority of courses with their program provider and only one or two courses with a local partner university or they may take all but a core course taught directly by the provider with a local partner university.
Field Studies
The program operates as a field station with intensive, immersive work within that field (environmental studies, biology, etc.) Examples of field study intensive programs include: SIT Kenya, CGEE Social Work in Mexico, and the Field Paleontology in Florida interim program.
Research
The program aims to deepen a student’s research skills and often includes hands-on faculty mentorship and rigorous expectations of research process and production.
Language Study
The program is organized to drive intensive language learning. The program may include multiple language study courses, a language pledge, a homestay, or other features to support the student’s goal of language growth. Examples of language study focused programs include: IES Paris, CIEE Argentina, Novgorod State University in Russia, Term in China, and Middlebury in Mainz, Germany.
Internship
The program focuses heavily on an on-site internship, from placement to support to reflection. While the program may include features and coursework beyond internship credit, the internship is the primary driver of the program. Examples of internship focused programs include the Washington Semester Program and interim Norway Internship Reflection Seminar program.
Other
The program may be unique in some other way, such as being theater intensive or women’s and gender studies focused, or having other elements that make the program one of a kind. An example of a program with an “other” focus is the National Theater Institute program.
None
While the program may include an internship, language study, opportunities for research, etc., it is not organized intentionally around any one element. Many of our programs do not have a specified focus.
Flexible
The program’s curriculum includes access to a large list of courses. A direct enroll program that is flexible makes available all (or nearly all) of the curriculum and campus resources that exist at that host institution. Similarly, a program with a program provider that features a flexible curriculum offers an extensive list of courses for students to choose from and allows students to mix and match as they see fit. Examples of programs with flexible curriculums include: most direct-enroll university partnerships and DIS Copenhagen and Stockholm programs.
Balanced
A program with a balanced curriculum style most often limits students to selecting their courses from a curated list of courses offered by the program provider/host institution and/or local partner universities,. Although programs categorized as having a balanced curriculum offer more limited course choices, students have flexibility in organizing their class schedule by selecting from the set of available courses. Examples of programs with balanced curriculums include: University of East Anglia and most program provider programs, such as IES, CIEE, and CAPA.
Fixed
A program’s curriculum is considered fixed when it has a short, set course list with minimal flexibility. Typically, programs with a rigid curriculum have a dedicated focus and are structured to support students toward that focus. Examples of fixed programs include: faculty-led Interim and semester programs or Augsburg CGEE programs.