SPCS launches Spring Break Study Abroad experience to Milan for 2024
SPCS Student Update
The School of Professional & Continuing Studies is pleased to reprise its popular Spring Break Study Abroad experience for 2024, studying over spring break in Milan, Italy.
Students accepted into the Spring Break Study Abroad experience will enroll in “Immigration, Labor Markets & Leadership” during the spring 2024 semester. The hybrid course will include several class meetings leading up to spring break, when enrolled students will travel to Milan, Italy, for the week of March 10-16.
After returning to campus following the week-long study abroad experience, students will conclude and present projects based on their experience in Italy.
The course is cross-listed to enable both undergraduate and graduate degree-seeking students to apply the course credits to their program of study. Academic advisors and program chairs will work with students to help them determine how the course can meet their degree program requirements.
The experience is exclusively available to SPCS degree-seeking students enrolled for the spring 2024 semester.
The Spring Break Study Abroad experience is unique to the School of Professional & Continuing Studies and follows previous spring break study experiences in Mexico, Ireland and Spain. The program is designed to enable nontraditional students, for whom a long-term study abroad experience isn’t feasible, to have a less disruptive short-term international learning experience.
“Learning from faculty and students from other countries is a transformative experience that challenges us to understand how history and culture influence our approaches to complex problems,” said Ann Hodges, paralegal studies program chair and law professor emerita, one of the two faculty organizers of the experience. “Comparative study provides new insights and encourages critical thinking about important issues facing leaders in government, business, law practice, and nonprofit organizations.”
The cost of the program seeks to make it affordable and accessible to as many SPCS students as possible. The costs are outlined below:
- Standard 3-semester hour tuition fee (undergraduate or graduate)
- $1,000 study abroad fee (includes housing, cafeteria meals, instruction and excursions)
- 36 Euro (approx. 39 USD) MetroCard for transportation
- Spending money (souvenirs and meals not eaten in the cafeteria)
- Cost of roundtrip airfare to/from Milan (arranged and paid by the student)
Details about the spring break study abroad experience, including inclusions, exclusions, housing, daily schedule in Milan and more, can be found online.
On September 12, the online application for the program will open and its leaders, Hodges and Gretchen Flynn Morris, will host an online information session at 5 p.m. Once opened, applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The School of Professional & Continuing Studies is partnering with the University of Milan Bicocca and Milan-area industries to offer this study abroad experience. Milan-based classes, combined with Italian students, will be taught in English.