Study abroad can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many students at DU. It is an opportunity to go see another part of the world, learn a new language and develop friendships with people across the globe. Unfortunately, the outreach of information to sophomores, who are the main group that will study abroad the next year, could be better.
The only reason that I found out crucial information about study abroad, such as mandatory information session times, is because of a table on Driscoll. To say that this is the only way that information is being distributed, I truthfully cannot say. However, the table must have only been there for a couple hours because I did not see it earlier in the day. Driscoll Bridge is a great way to pass along information, but only if there is a constant table there for a day or two through which information can be distributed to a larger audience.
There is the problem, though, of those students that do not take the bridge on a regular basis. These students are completely unaware of the study abroad information located on the bridge.
It is possible to say that it will only take a few people to get the information and then pass it along to their friends by word of mouth. Word of mouth will get the necessary information to a large number of people, but there are two problems with it. One, it may not always be accurate, especially when the information travels further down the line of people. Two, word of mouth can only travel so far. There will always be people who didn’t have friends that received the information or who had friends who just failed to pass it along.
Furthermore, this information is not just basic study abroad need-to-knows. Each student who wishes to study abroad next fall (the most popular time) has to attend a Study Abroad 101 session at the International House this quarter. For those students wishing to go to an English or Spanish speaking country, then there is an additional session to go to. These are crucial things to know if you are planning on studying abroad next year.
If those were not worrisome enough, now is the time to start looking at programs that would be a good fit so that students can go talk to study abroad advisors to make sure that the student knows what to expect out of that program. In addition to that, students should meet with their academic advisors to make sure that if they study abroad that they will still be on track to graduate on time with the desired major.
This situation is not unmanageable though. There are some quick and easy fixes that both sides can take. First, the study abroad office should have a booth on the Driscoll Bridge more often than it does now. I understand that there may not be enough people to man the table, so in that case, there should be an email sent out to all sophomores that lists the dates and times of the study abroad sessions and advising times.
As for the students, we need to be proactive now and start looking up basic information about study abroad and start thinking about what countries we would like to go see. If the university is going to give us the opportunity to see the world, we should at least be a little proactive.
