Students planning to travel abroad will now have more options to choose from, after UCLA recently added five new programs to its travel study and modified two others.
After receiving more proposals for new programs than usual, the International Education Office decided to create new programs in Cameroon, Italy, Spain, France and England, said Yumie Chun, manager of Travel Study and UCLA exchange programs.
Departments interested in adding a travel study program are required to present their proposal to the office, she said. The office staff then review and approve the program proposals on a case-by-case basis, Chun added.
UCLA will offer 28 travel study programs this year. The programs are typically paid for by students who participate, and are managed by the departments at UCLA, she said.
For the newest travel study program in France and Italy, called The Invention of Europe, political science professors Giulia Sissa and Anthony Pagden said they plan to pull from their experiences living in Europe for many years. They said they hope to immerse students in the lifestyle of southern Europe. This is the political science department’s third travel study program.
“(Students can) play the game of being a Parisian or a Venetian and see how it feels.” said Sissa, who lived in France for most of her adult life.
While some of the programs are intended to immerse students in foreign lifestyles, the new Tropical Ecology and Conservation Biology program in Cameroon is intended to give students opportunities to begin research.
Thomas Smith, director of the UCLA Center for Tropical Research, received a grant from the National Science Foundation to help him create a permanent research center in Cameroon, which will allow him to bring students to the country for the travel study program.
The students will go to two areas -– a rainforest, and the transitional zone between the rainforest and the savannah – to examine different species of plants, birds and primates, said Smith, who worked in Central Africa for 30 years. Students will not be in the middle of different cities and staying in hotels, they will be out in the wild in tents camping, he added. Though he has travelled with students before for field research, he said he is eager to teach the program because it will allow him to take more students into the field than otherwise.
Other programs simply modify already existing ones. The Exploring Ancient Rome program is now listed under the history and classics departments. Students enrolled in the program will spend more time in Pompeii, said Robert Gurval, the classics professor accompanying students.
Gurval, who lived in Rome for a year, said the program is a good way to get back to the city as well as teach about many things he would normally teach in class, right at the spots where they happened.
Another program that is being modified is the Italian Language and Culture program, which used to take place in Naples, Italy and was moved to Rimini, Italy to focus more on Italian film, Chun said.
Sarah Mathison, a second-year business economics student, said she heard about the program to Rimini through a teaching assistant.
“I found it cool because the credits transfer directly to my minor and it’s a good opportunity to get involved in the culture of Rimini,” she said.
Students started enrolling in the new programs this past November, with the spots filling up on a first-come-first-serve basis. The deadline to apply is April 5, Chun said.
Email Cashell at ycashell@media.ucla.edu.