March 20, 2008

VCU’s Summer Education Abroad Program 2008 offers international learning opportunities

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By Mike Porter

Christmas in Borneo: Back row from left: Department of Biology Associate Professor Gregory Plunkett, Ph.D., Christopher Bell and Scott William, front row: Stephanie Davenport, Elizabeth Hiett and Sarah Carr pause on the steps of a Catholic church being built by the Iban people near their longhouse in Sarawak. Photo provided by Stephanie Davenport.
Christmas in Borneo: Back row from left: Department of Biology Associate Professor Gregory Plunkett, Ph.D., Christopher Bell and Scott William, front row: Stephanie Davenport, Elizabeth Hiett and Sarah Carr pause on the steps of a Catholic church being built by the Iban people near their longhouse in Sarawak. Photo provided by Stephanie Davenport.

VCU's Summer Education Abroad Program 2008 is offering more than two dozen international learning opportunities during the upcoming summer months.  Among them, students may pursue Aboriginal studies in Australia, experience the history and culture of the Caribbean in Barbados, analyze housing policies in England or explore social work efforts in Germany.

History Professor John Herman is leading a group of VCU students on an eight week intensive language course in Beijing and Shanghai, China.  Students will divide their time between Fudan University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.  Both universities are international partners of VCU.  While there, students will receive four hours of daily Chinese language instruction five times a week.

"No country has changed as dramatically in the last 30-to-40 years as China has.  And what happens in China affects us in America every day, from the products we buy to how much we have to pay to put gas in our car to how secure we are as a nation," Herman said.

VCU's Education Abroad Programs provide students with an international and multicultural perspective by experiencing life and learning in different cultures, increasing their knowledge and proficiency in a foreign language and understanding differences in educational styles and systems.  The experience also increases a student's marketability upon graduation.

"A trip to China is a real eye-opening experience and opens up a whole new world for our students," Herman said. "What the students always tell me is the China they live in for eight weeks is not what they thought it would be before leaving Virginia."

The VCU group toured Borneo and learned about its culture by interacting with the people. Here, they participate in a traditional Malay (Malaysian Muslim) wedding event. Photo provided by Stephanie Davenport.
The VCU group toured Borneo and learned about its culture by interacting with the people. Here, they participate in a traditional Malay (Malaysian Muslim) wedding event. Photo provided by Stephanie Davenport.

The summer program is one of many opportunities to study abroad, offered through VCU's Office of International Education.

VCU's international partnership with Curtin University in Perth, Australia, led to an intersession learning experience on the island of Borneo last December and January.  Participants spent nearly three weeks learning about the culture, people, food, environment, biology and animals of the island. 

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Stephanie Davenport, assistant director and instructor, international support services.

Davenport and five other VCU participants spent Christmas with local families, hiked in a national park on New Year's Eve, visited caves holding some of the oldest human remains in the world and attended a local wedding ceremony and celebration.

"When will I ever have a chance again to spend my Christmas like that and how else would I ever get a chance to go to a country like that? I wouldn't have gone there on my own without a program like the one offered at VCU," Davenport said.