After five years of preparation, USF will send students to study abroad in Vietnam for the first time. Students will have the opportunity to learn beside Vietnamese students from July 8 through July 30, 2012.
“Many powerful lessons are going to be explored during this course,” said Frank Biafora, dean of the USFSP College of Arts and Sciences.
USF students will be combined with Vietnamese students from Vinh University, and they will attend classes and cultural events together, according to the online brochure.
Vinh University has opened its doors to USF, giving students free dormitories to stay in, where USF students will be sharing living quarters with Vinh students. This free stay helped lower the overall cost of the trip, which is currently $2,000 per person. The cost is the same for in-state and out-of-state students.
This price includes six undergraduate level credits, a place to stay, program-related transportation within the country and program-related trips. Most meals will be paid for and each student will have emergency health insurance and 24-hour emergency support. It also covers the cost of USF faculty to be on-site with the students and a USF study abroad T-shirt.
The $2,000 does not include the cost of obtaining a passport and the visa process, the international airfare, personal expenses, trip cancellation, an International Student Identity Card, and the books and materials needed for classes.
“This is a joint education abroad between USF St. Petersburg and USF Tampa,” said Biafora, who has been planning this trip with Sarath Witanachchi, a USF Tampa physics professor. “It’s the first that we are aware of where USF St. Petersburg and USF Tampa are collaborating in a joint program.”
Both professors will accompany students on the trip and each will be teaching a general education course, making this trip ideal for freshman and sophomore students. The classes are Self and Society, and Energy and Humanity.
“They have a lot of course work before we leave, because I don’t want them to be overwhelmed and burdened with reading in Vietnam,” Biafora said.
Biafora has taken several groups of students to Vietnam over the years, through other universities. He is responsible for initially planning this trip. He wants to talk individually with each student who signs up before they commit to going. The sign-up process will be first-come, first-served.
“This is not going to be an easy journey,” he said. “Spending three weeks in Vietnam can be very arduous.”
Aside from taking classes, students will also have the chance to partake in a civics engagement project where they will help out at a local orphanage.
There are currently 16 spots available for this trip, and the deadline for most study abroad scholarships is Feb. 15. It is recommended that interested students sign up as quickly as possible so they can apply for funding.
“The world that our students will inherit and the tools that you’re going to need to be successful in the new global world, it’s almost a necessity that you have international travel experience in an educational setting,” Biafora said.
USF St. Petersburg has many other study abroad programs coming up this summer such as programs in Spain, France, Costa Rica and Panama, and a program in Europe in which students will travel to London, Paris and Munich.
“The USF St. Petersburg programs offer students an international study experience while providing the comfort of having a faculty member along with them,” said Wendy Sage Baker, faculty services administrator and study abroad coordinator.
Email: life@crowsneststpete.com
