Forget the U-Hall, These UNH Freshman Are Taking Off:
First Year Semester Abroad a First in Connecticut Higher Education
West Haven, Conn., August 29, 2007—Aleta Galasso already knows that when she sends her son Chris off to college the 3,000 miles between them is going to take some getting used to. Chris and 12 other University of New Haven (UNH) freshmen (including seven from Connecticut) will head to JFK airport on Sept. 12 and land in Heathrow the next day. ”It is one thing having him a half hour away,” Aleta says. “But London? That’s going to be a little nerve wracking.”
Chris and his peers will live and study with other first-year students at Roehamton University in London, England for the entire first semester of their freshman year.
UNH’s Freshman Study Abroad (FSA) program gives invited freshmen a chance to jump-start the international component of their undergraduate education while gaining a full semesters’ credit and preparing for life in a rapidly changing global society.
According to a 2002 American Council on Education poll, most people in the U.S. agree that students should study abroad during college, only one percent of students do. If you ask University of New Haven Vice President for Enrollment Management Dennis Nostrand why, he’ll tell you that the main obstacle to college study abroad is, oddly enough, college. “The main reasons students give for not studying abroad are academic requirements, campus activities, athletics, and working,” Nostrand says. The solution, he adds, is to send students abroad before they are over committed, in the fist semester of their freshman year. He notes that there are several freshman study abroad programs in the U.S, but the FSA program at UNH is the first of its kind in Connecticut.
Roehampton was selected for the inaugural year of the FSA program due to its reputation of high academic standards and its proximity to the heart of London, as was recently commended by the Higher Education Quality Council for its outstanding academic standards and quality assurance systems. While abroad, UNH students will live among Roehampton students in large flats consisting of 12-15 single bedrooms and baths with a common kitchen and living area.
Nostrand notes that freshman year abroad is a win-win for both students and the University. “When students return to campus mid-year from abroad, they are more mature and bring their leadership skills to campus.” He adds that they are also, naturally, strong advocates for future study abroad.
A leader in experiential learning, the University of New Haven provides its students with a unique combination of solid liberal arts and real-world, hands-on professional training. A private University founded in 1920, UNH has a full-time undergraduate enrollment of more than 2,400 students—with 70 percent residing on its 80-acre main campus—and a graduate school enrollment that exceeds 1,700. The University offers more than 80 undergraduate degrees and more than 25 graduate degrees through its four colleges, in fields such as sports management, nutrition and dietetics, forensic science, music and sound recording, engineering, computer science, fire science and criminal justice. University of New Haven students study abroad through a variety of distinctive programs.
|
