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Studying Abroad In England While Getting Your Degree
Study Abroad programs in England take students beyond the country’s castles, theater, history, nightlife and shopping. For a summer or a semester, students become residents. They study at local colleges and universities, explore diverse sites, live with area families and come to understand different cultures and traditions. The international study abroad scholarships participants are only a few of the millions of people who each year visit the England each year, and they are likely also among those who get to know it best as they live and learn amid sites such as London Bridge, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace.
Study Abroad programs have been becoming more and more popular over the years. In 2007-2008, the Institute of International Education’s 2009 Open Doors report notes, Study Abroad participation on the part of American students was 8.5 percent higher than it was for 2006-2007 and more than quadruple what participation had been in about 1987-1988. When it comes to destinations of choice England, the most popular destination and with Ireland, Wales and Scotland a part of the United Kingdom, has been a consistent leader, according to the Open Doors report.
Through international studies abroad opportunities, history students might explore the gothic Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster, more commonly known as Westminster Abbey, where royal coronations and burials have taken place. Study Abroad participants in England can visit the ancient Roman baths, where a vaulted building dating back to the 60-70 AD Roman occupation encloses below-ground pools into which warm rain water in the ground bubbles. Archaeology students in Study Abroad programs in England might venture to the prehistoric collection of stones in Wiltshire England that form Stonehenge, which is believed to have begun as a 3000 BC burial ground.
From business to the arts, students studying a variety of topics can spend time in the London, which is Europe’s financial capital, browsing the Tate Britain and National galleries, the British and Natural History Museums and shopping Savile Row, Bond Street, Soho and Covent Garden. England is the country that gave birth to the likes of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, the Beatles and Elton John, even the fictional Bond, James Bond. It’s a place where people gather at plazas such as Picadilly Circus, where five major roads meet, and Trafalgar Square, which is also known as Charing Cross.
As part of environmental programs, Study Abroad students might notice erosion as they stand overlooking the English Channel at the White Cliffs of Dover. Environmental students might also visit Kew Gardens or the Royal Botanic Gardens, as it’s sometimes referred. Here, amid 300 acres said to form the world’s largest botanical collection, Study Abroad participants can stroll above ground walkways traversing the treetops and where a seed bank is intended to prevent plants from becoming extinct.
Study Abroad programs to England are offered by colleges and universities and private organizations, some working in partnership with any number of the country’s institutions of higher education. As part of at least one Study Abroad in London program, American Institute for Foreign Study participants take courses in business and the liberal arts at Richmond, the American International University in London. London South Bank University, on the other hand, hosts Study Abroad programs offered by the Knowledge Exchange Institute.
Study Abroad programs in London are abundant and diverse, including everything computer science and software engineering to business law and diplomacy, from media and film to the visual and performing arts. The Institute for the International Education of Students alone offers a Study London program with courses in British literature and theater, international business, political science, women’s studies, history, sociology and more. A company known as the University Studies Abroad Consortium provides Study Abroad programs in a variety of disciplines at London Metropolitan University as well as the Universities of Brighton, Bristol and Reading. Field excursions might include visits to the Houses of Parliament, also known as the Palace of Westminster, and the 150-plus year old chiming clock, Big Ben.
Study Abroad participants might expect to pay somewhere around $15,000 for semester-long programs in England, with airfare, housing meals and study materials additional. When considering academic studies abroad from outside organizations, students might want to make sure the college or university they attend accepts all of the credits and determine whether they have to achieve certain grades in order to receive those credits. Students might also be able to apply financial aid to the programs and obtain Study Abroad scholarships specifically, which might make the educational travel experience even more enjoyable.
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