photo by Ty Smith
French tour guide Vincent Lauferon speaks to Point Park students about
the history of the Eiffel Tour in Paris, France on May 15. A group of Cinema and School of Communication students traveled to London and Paris this past May creating films and visiting various media outlets.
Point Park students can venture to England for a semester and study at Regent’s University London.
Or they can jet off to Italy and take courses at the American University of Rome.
If those aren’t what students seek, they can sign up for a variety of non university-affiliated study abroad programs. This will allow students to go where they please; however, they run the risk of not receiving full credit.
“If you’re looking at an outside program, you have to look at their specific criteria,” said Sarah George, Director of Student Engagement at an informational meeting Thursday.
A total of 289,408 American students studied abroad for academic credit from their universities in 2014, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors 2014 report. At Point Park, students can take courses in their field of study to get a full semester’s worth of credits by paying Point Park tuition and for the host school’s room and board.
Hannah Harley, a junior photography major, was one of those students who studied overseas in the City of Love last semester.
“I originally fell in love with photography in Paris. I went for a softball tournament four years ago in high school. I decided the day of to bring a camera,” Harley said in her apartment Feb. 6. “My skills then were bad but the photographs were better than I’ve ever created. I fell in love with the images that were coming out and fell in love with the city and how beautiful it was in every turn.”
Harley knew that she was going to Paris despite having to do it externally through Cultural Experience Abroad, instead of through one of the University-sponsored programs.
“I already knew I was going. When I turned in my application is when I found out that they cancelled [the] program like two days before. I was disappointed, but that in a sense kind of strengthened my resolve,” Harley said. “It wasn’t easy but when I got there, it made it that much more worth it.”
Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Keith Paylo said that Point Park is hoping to get Paris back as a university-sponsored program in the future. The University previously had a partnership with Wells College, who cancelled their Paris program in 2013.
“We hated giving up Paris. We didn’t give it up; no offense to the University we were working with,” Paylo said Feb. 5. “We would love to open the doors of Paris. We have made contacts, and we’re working with some departments. In the best interest of you all, we’re trying to find it for the best price that we can so that there’s not a lot of out-of-pocket cost.”
Federal and state financial aid can be used for study abroad. But only a portion of institutional aid can be used through University programs depending on the location and whether you’re Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA) or a non-COPA major.
Currently, Point Park offers Rome, Italy and London, England as study abroad destinations. Full-time undergraduate students who are sophomore status or higher, have at least a 2.5 GPA and cleared of required obligations can study abroad according to George. There’s a maximum of 15 students per semester allowed if done internally. The Office of Student Affairs is currently in the works of organizing programs in Manchester, England at the University of Salford and Spain.
“We are working on a third program for the fall [and] it will not be ready for summer—at Salford in Manchester. We had a cinema group go there this past May,” George said at an informational meeting Feb. 5. “We’re also in the talks of doing a program with the Dance Conservatory in Spain but that’s most likely not going to be until 2016.”
Dan Dix, a junior sports, arts and entertainment management (SAEM) major spent last spring in Italy and said that doing it through Point Park made the process easy.
“They took care of all my paperwork and scheduling and stuff like that so that was really helpful,” Dix said.
While in Rome, Dix had the opportunity of visiting many other countries including Austria, Amsterdam and Czech Republic.
“I like traveling and I wanted to experience new things, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do that,” Dix said.
For students who cannot spend a whole semester abroad and still would like to travel to a foreign country, different departments offers shorter trips usually in May. The School of Communication is preparing for its eighth annual global trip as a part of the International Media course, which will go to Spain and Portugal this year. The class that non-communication majors can also take as an elective has been to the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France in the past.
Students who chose to do outside programs can run into problems with getting credits to transfer. Doing a non university-affiliated program is also on a pass/fail basis and will not be weighed into students GPA, according to George. Harley is still waiting to see if any classes she took in France will transfer.
“I have high hopes that they will transfer but I went knowing that there’s a possibility that none of these credits will transfer,” Harley said. “I think there’s so much to gain in another culture that you can’t measure in a classroom.”
Alli Noto, a senior acting major, spent a semester in London in spring 2014. Noto described her international studies experience as the best.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Traveling is such a big deal to me and I’m so happy I was able to do it,” Noto said.
Applications to study abroad in the summer and fall of 2015 are due on Monday, Feb. 23 and can be accessed via OrgSync through the university’s website.
“You can’t put into words the things you learn interacting in another language, interacting with people that dress differently, talk differently and see the world in a different light is an eye opening experience,” Harley said.
