Stanford students often hear about the pastries in Paris, the karaoke in Kyoto and the soccer in Santiago from the 800 or so students who participate in the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) each year. By comparison, the experiences of the roughly 100 students who enroll in non-BOSP programs each year have not been in the limelight.
The University is, however, beginning to centralize information about all study abroad programs. In particular, it will create what BOSP External Programs Coordinator Naoko Sakata calls a “one-stop shopping center” in the BOSP office. At this center, students would find a research library with information on nearly 300 non-Stanford study abroad programs and concentrated credit evaluation procedures. Sakata herself would act as an e-mail resource for students considering studies abroad.
Nevertheless, BOSP director Robert Sinclair said individual students largely determine Stanford’s involvement when they make their arrangements through external programs.
“What we offer is the resource and contact points and advice,” Sinclair said. “Students who decide to do it are really doing it by themselves. They do it through the programs which they apply for.”
According to Sakata, transfer credit is not guaranteed for non-Stanford study abroad programs. Students must make decisions about whether to seek transfer credit and when to do so.
“They have to work with our office in order to have the courses evaluated with transfer credit,” Sakata said. “Students have an option to request transfer credit pre-approval before they go, or even before making the decision to apply to the program. Or, they can wait until after they complete the program and petition after they return to the campus.”
Students enrolled in non-BOSP programs must also take a leave of absence from the University since they are not enrolled in Stanford courses. This break in enrollment means a break in financial aid during the time spent abroad.
Sakata said there are two major reasons students choose non-BOSP programs: location and timing. Many students want to study in places not currently covered by Stanford’s programs–especially the Middle East, where Sakata estimates half of non-BOSP students choose to go. In addition, students facing scheduling conflicts, required courses and long athletic seasons during the school year may choose to study abroad during the summer instead.
For Alice Bosley ’11, who spent 16 weeks studying in Morocco through AMIDEAST, a quarter abroad simply didn’t seem like enough time.
“I feel like a quarter is a little bit too short to go abroad,” Bosley said.
“In terms of going abroad and living with a host family for a while, I thought doing a semester-long program would fit what I wanted to get from abroad more than a quarter system would,” she added.
Bosley chose to study in Morocco because of her longstanding interest in Africa and the Middle East, and her desire to utilize the Arabic she studied at Stanford. But most people Bosley knows are still inclined to take advantage of the BOSP programs, often for logistical simplicity. This leads to certain trade-offs.
“A lot of Stanford programs abroad kind of transfer the Stanford bubble to a new city,” she said. “And while, obviously, you’re living with your host family and getting the abroad experience, from people I talked to while I was abroad, it kind of seemed like it was Stanford all over again.”
In contrast, Bosley was thrilled to meet “a whole group of new people” during her studies in Morocco.
As BOSP considers opening new centers around the world, it may consider the interests of non-BOSP study abroad students and open centers in places where those students are concentrated, including the Middle East.
“Certainly we are looking at new opportunities for more formalized overseas study in new locations,” Sinclair said. “And of course the Middle East is one of the top priorities.”