Global Education and Field Study

Overview

Global Education With Colorado College

Colorado College's Block Plan is not only an innovative academic model for study on campus, it is a gateway to study abroad and away.  Whether it is a single course, led by a CC faculty member that takes students across the country or around the world, a summer course far from campus, a multiple-block program led by a team of CC faculty, a semester, or even a full year away, the possibilities are vast and the programs engaging, transformative, and highly impactful for our students. 

Thanks to a combination of flexible scheduling, a broad pool of faculty-led and partner-sponsored programs, and financial aid policies designed to minimize the financial impact of selecting to study away, Colorado College has made study away a reality for upwards of 70% of all graduates over the past decade.  It is not uncommon to see 70%, 75%, even 80% of all graduates in a given year with study away on their transcripts, in many cases with more than one experience.  Off-campus study is a highly-valued academic endeavor that can add perspective, challenge, and insight into any area of study at Colorado College, for all majors and minors.

Students choosing an off-campus study program to pursue have many options at Colorado College, meeting a variety of academic needs. The Global Education staff look forward to working with you to make study away possible and to make sure it is an intentional, interconnected, and impactful part of your undergraduate education at Colorado College. 

Study Away Options at Colorado College

It might actually be easier at times to list the places Colorado College students don't go.  Since the Fall of 2021, when international travel resumed for CC groups and our partner programs, we have offered a combination of faculty-led or partner-led study away programming in 57 nations across 6 continents, including many destinations where students can choose between a faculty-led block away or a longer CC or Partner-led semester option.  Looking at the map below, you can see the diverse array of destinations available. Then, in the sections to follow, you can get some examples of CC Faculty-led programs and the more than 150 different semester options available.  
CC-Study-Away-Map-2023.png
For those who prefer a list, here are the nations indicated above:

Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania,Thailand, Tunisia, Turks & Caicos, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam

 

Picture a block length course, 3.5 weeks, with one of Colorado College's outstanding faculty working with a group of CC students intensively in a single field of study.  Now picture that group in Tokyo, or Berlin, or the Andes.  That is what block away is at CC.  No transfer credits, no student visas required, just a group of students and the faculty leader together, experiencing a new place, engaging with a new community, and taking their learning into the world.  And, unlike most schools with semesters or quarters, where single-course study away is very limited, at CC, the Block Away can happen during any block from September to May. 
In a typical year CC will offer 12-16 different courses across the entire 8-block academic year.  It could be Block 2 in Paris, Block 4 in India, Block 6 in Chile, or Block 8 in Los Angeles.  Programs can be domestic or international, in any discipline offered at the college. No conflicts with other courses, no complex inter-university agreements, the same high quality Colorado College educational experience enhanced with local experts, site visits, and learning through both experience and academic study. 
Some examples of recent Block Away Courses include: 
  • Art History 275: 19th Century Paris
  • Classics 260: Gender & Sexuality in Antiquity (Greece)
  • Computer Science 341: Study at the Lawrence Livermore Research Laboratory (California)
  • Dance/Theater 230: Performance Away (India)
  • Economics 260: The Industrial Revolution (London)
  • Education 110: Linking Literacy, Language, and Linguistics (Spain)
  • Environmental Studies 209: Ecology & the Environment in Costa Rica
  • Film 200 Politics & Poetics in Urban Space (New York)
  • German 320: Global Berlin: Film, City, and Identity
  • History 200: Art & Power in Florence
  • Italian 320: Gusto: Italian Food as Art, Culture and Tradition
  • Music 397: In the Footsteps of Bach (Germany)
  • Organismal Biology 370: Tropical Forest & Coral Reef Ecology (Belize)
  • Psychology 178: From Pearl Harbor to Honouliuli (Hawaii)
  • Religion 200: Martyrs & Saints (Rome)
  • Sociology 267: Globalization & Resistance in Latin America (Chile)

While the academic year features 8 potential blocks when faculty can offer their course at an off-campus site, the summer provides 2 additional blocks.  Each summer Colorado College faculty offer between 12-16 additional off-campus block courses across a wide spectrum of academic fields. All courses are CC credit and are led by our own faculty.  Students can even use the college's unique Summer Wild Card to waive summer tuition charges for their first summer program (on campus or around the world).  Summer Blocks are not only a great option for students who may want to accelerate their studies or add a topics course with experiential learning, they are an opportunity to expand the curriculum of Colorado College in interesting ways through global study. 
A sampling of the courses offered over the past few years includes:
  • Anthropology 208: Indigenous Environmental Activism (Ecuador)
  • Asian Studies 350: Food in Japanese Literature & Culture
  • Classics 223: Greek & Roman Art and History (Italy)
  • Education 250: Constructing Childhood in Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Steiner Schools (Italy)
  • English 225: Shakespeare in London
  • Environmental Studies 120: Himalayan Odyssey (Nepal)
  • Feminist & Gender Studies 214: Hidden Spaces, Hidden Narratives (Berlin)
  • Music 222: Arts & Culture in Bali
  • Philosophy 203: Kenya's Maasailand: Indigeneity in the Postcolonial British Commonwealth
  • Political Science 203: Central Europe's Post-Communist Journey (Slovakia)
  • Portuguese 298: Accelerated Portuguese Language in Brazil
  • Religion 200: Excavating Israel
  • Spanish 111/211/305/306: Spanish Language Study in Soria, Spain

In addition to individual blocks that travel the world, Colorado College currently sponsors 7 unique semester (4-block) and half-semester (2-block) programs.  They include the TREE Semester, which focuses on Environmental Education in rural Colorado, to language programs for Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and German.  Many of the 4-block semester programs also offer the option for students to attend only the first 2 blocks or the final 2 blocks, depending on their schedules.  Flexibility, academic rigor, and experiential learning with a deeper immersion capacity over 7-15 weeks, and all without the need to transfer in external credit. 

Current CC-Led Full & Half-Semester Programs

FALL
TREE Semester in Environmental Education
4 Blocks in rural Colorado.
CC German Semester in Berlin
Option for 2 or 4 Blocks of language & cultural immersion in Berlin, Germany.
CC Spanish & Portuguese Semester in Latin America
Option for 2 blocks of language & cultural immersion in Brazil, 2 Blocks in Mexico, or all 4 blocks in both nations. 
SPRING
CC French Semester in France
Option for 2 Blocks of language & cultural immersion in Nice, 2 Blocks of Faculty-led Travel in France, or all 4-blocks.
CC Chinese Half-Semester in Asia
A 2-block language & cultural immersion program in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China (Sites vary each year.)
CC Russian Half-Semester in Bishkek
A 2-block language & cultural immersion program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
CC Italian Half-Semester in Italy
A 2-block language & cultural immersion program in Florence, Rome, and Abruzzo, Italy. 

Beyond the faculty-led semesters, half-semesters, and individual blocks, the Global Education Office curates a pool of between 120-140 different partner-sponsored semester and academic year opportunities.  Some are exchange programs or direct enrollment opportunities with renown universities across the globe, others are multi-disciplinary programs designed specifically for U.S. college students to study abroad, and other still are targeted deep-engagement programs in fields such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Environmental Science or language study.  With all partner semesters, CC students are asked to pay the standard semester tuition at CC and the program charges for housing, meal plans, and insurance of the provider, allowing all standard CC financial aid to travel with the student and making it possible for a student to select a program without concern of a higher semester expense than they would  expect if they were on campus.
 Some examples of Exchange & Direct Enroll Programs include:

  • CC Exchange with Leuphana University (Germany)
  • CC Exchange with LAB University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
  • Japan Study Program at Waseda University (Japan)
  • Kansai Gaidai University Direct Enrollment (Japan)
  • London School of Economics Direct Enrollment (England)
  • Washington Semester at American University (USA)
Examples of Multiple Discipline Partner Programs include:
  • CIEE Liberal Arts Program in Santiago (Dominican Republic)
  • CIEE Arts & Sciences Program in Seoul (South Korea)
  • CIEE Arts & Sciences Program in Cape Town (South Africa)
  • College Year in Athens (Greece)
  • DIS Study Abroad in Copenhagen (Denmark)
  • DIS Study Abroad in Stockholm (Sweden)
  • Euroscholars Research Semester at Leiden University (Netherlands)
  • Grenoble Science Semester with Boston University (France)
  • IES Latin American Societies & Cultures in Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  • IES Study in Granada (Spain)
  • IFSA University of Melbourne Semester (Australia)
  • IFSA Chilean Universities Program (Chile)
  • IFSA National University of Ireland in Galway (Ireland)
  • IFSA Oxford University Program (England)
  • Syracuse University in Strasbourg (France)
  • Temple University in Rome (Italy)
Examples of Discipline-Specific Partner Programs include: 
  • AIT Semester in Budapest (Hungary--Computer Science)
  • Augsburg: Conflict, Peace and Transition in Northern Ireland
  • Carleton Buddhist Studies in Bodh Gaya (India)
  • CET: Social Justice & Inequality in Sao Paolo (Brazil)
  • CET: Chinese Studies & Internship Semester (China)
  • CIEE: Middle East Studies (Jordan)
  • Frontiers Abroad: Geology of New Zealand
  • Geneva Physics Semester at CERN with Boston University (Switzerland)
  • IES: Vienna Music Program (Austria)
  • IES: Freiburg Environmental Studies & Sustainability (Germany)
  • IES: Dublin Writers Program (Ireland)
  • IFSA: Glasgow School of Art (Scotland)
  • IFSA: Psychology & Neuroscience in Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  • ISDSI: Culture, Ecology and Community Semester (Thailand)
  • OTS: African Ecology & Conservation (South Africa)
  • School for Field Studies: Tropical Island Biodiversity (Panama)
  • School for Field Studies: Wildlife Management Studies (Tanzania)
  • SEA Semester: Marine Biodiversity & Conservation (New Zealand to Fiji)
  • SIT: Public Health in Urban Environments (Argentina)
  • SIT: Development & Social Change (Cameroon)
  • SIT: Arts & Social Change (Czech Republic)
  • SIT: Migration & Transnational Identity (Morocco)

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DEADLINES

September 20:  Block 7 or Block 8 Application Deadline

All students who apply to a Block 7 or Block 8 off-campus course by this date are reviewed for aid eligibility and aid awards are granted by early October.  Applications may be accepted outside of the window, but aid may not be available after the window closes in September.   Please check with the faculty leader of your preferred course about capacity in the course before applying. 

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October 1:  Withdrawal Deadline for Block 5 or 6 Off-Campus Courses

Students may withdraw from any Block 5 or 6 off-campus course by this date and incur no program fee charges. Later withdrawals can lead to a portion of the program fee being billed to the student as a nonrefundable charge. 

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October 15:  Applications for all spring semesters are due. 

Complete the CC Internal Application or Application to the CC in France program by this date to receive consideration for approval.  Late applications are not accepted. 

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December 1: Withdrawal Deadline for Block 7 or 8 Off-Campus Courses

Students may withdraw from any Block 7 or 8 off-campus course by this date and incur no program fee charges. Later withdrawals can lead to a portion of the program fee being billed to the student as a nonrefundable charge. 

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December 1: Applications for Block 7-8 half-semester programs due.

Complete the Summit applications for Block 7-8 programs (CC in China, CC in Bishkek, CC France Blocks 7-8, and CC Italian 203-204 in Italy) by this date to receive consideration for approval.

UPCOMING STUDY AWAY EVENTS

FALL 2024 SEMESTER AWAY FAIR

Wednesday, September 4 from 12:00pm-2:00pm
Worner Center Lobby
Thinking about a semester or a full year away?  Explore your options for over 130 different semester away programs, some CC-led, some through partner universities and organizations.  
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2025 SUMMER AWAY FAIR

Thursday, November 21, 2024 from 12:00pm-2:00pm
Worner Center Lobby
Faculty leaders for all the 2024 Summer Off-Campus Blocks will be on hand to provide you with the information you need to pick the best summer study away option for you. 
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2025 SUMMER APPLICATION WINDOW

December 1, 2024 - January 15, 2024
Applications are open on Summit through January 22.  All students who apply during this window are reviewed for aid eligibility and aid awards are granted by early February.  Applications may be accepted outside of the window, but aid may not be available after the window closes in January. 
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SPRING 2025 SEMESTER & BLOCK AWAY FAIR

Thursday, January 30, 2025 from 12:00pm-2:00pm
Worner Center Lobby
The biggest Study Away Fair of the year, with faculty representing all of the 2024-2025 Blocks Away, faculty-led semester and half-semester programs, and representatives of 120+ semester away options.  There is no better event all year to explore options for study away in the next year.  
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2024-2025 BLOCK AWAY APPLICATION WINDOW

February 1, 2025 - March 15, 2024
Applications are open on Summit through March 13.  All students who apply during this window are reviewed for aid eligibility and aid awards are granted by late March.  Applications may be accepted outside of the window, but aid may not be available after the window closes in March. 

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Report an issue - Last updated: 07/08/2024