Study abroad adds an international dimension to an undergraduate education. Students learn firsthand what it feels like to be a stranger in a foreign land. It is an experience they never forget.
Pitt has a diverse and extensive array of pre-approved study abroad programs and providers going to Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and India. All offer credits towards your degree and international certificate requirements. Visit the Study Abroad website at www.abroad.pitt.edu (main page) to explore programs and search by location, program duration or time of year, and foreign language.
Here is a sampling of study abroad programs in Asia.
China
Pitt in Shanghai: This short term is a great opportunity for students interested in China, Chinese language, development, history, and cultural studies. Vanessa Sterling will be the faculty director for the summer. You will select two courses for a total of six credits. You will also have the option to participate in an 8 - week internship for an additional 3 credits. The program is based in Shanghai and will include a weekend trip to Beijing and the Great Wall. Cultural programming that complements the academic program includes excursions to local historical sites designed to coincide with the themes of the academic program. Much of the instruction will be experiential, using Shanghai as its classroom. Highlights include the Bund, French Concession, Pudong Skyline, the gardens in Suzhou, and Jing'an Temple.
INNOVATE: The spirit of international collaboration thrives with students from multiple countries and US universities joining Pitt’s undergraduate and graduate business and engineering students on this intensive 10-day, spring break program. INNOVATE students examine technology, globalization and marketplace leadership in Beijing and Shanghai while meeting business, academic and government leaders, interspersed with site visits to multinational and domestic Chinese companies.
Japan
Ritsumeikan University: In the ancient city of Kyoto students discover rich, cultural heritage coexisting in perfect harmony with the city’s progressive and modern lifestyle. Walking distance from the university are the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ryoanji Temple and Golden Pavilion. During this spring-semester program, the academic focus is on intensive Japanese language acquisition and Japanese culture complemented with fieldwork excursions.
Kobe University: Founded over a century ago, the Kobe University program is for students with advanced Japanese language skills; all classes are taught in Japanese. Students spend a semester or a full year in Kobe and have access to the university’s full academic curriculum from accounting and art history to biology, French or engineering. Kobe is known as a cosmopolitan university hosting over 1,000 foreign students from over 70 countries and regions.
South Korea
Seoul National University: Students have the opportunity to study at South Korea’s most prestigious university – Seoul National University – for summer, a semester or a full academic year. The large course catalog satisfies Pitt’s general education requirements as well as many academic majors and minors. While most classes are conducted in English, there is ample opportunity to gain Korean language skills.
Korea University: Pitt students heading to Korea University join more than 35,000 students from across South Korea and around the world. KU is a progressive and globally conscious institution with academic strengths in humanities, Asian studies and its recently established Graduate School of International Studies. More than 35 percent of classes are taught in English, and there is no Korean language prerequisite.
South/Southeast Asia
Pitt in the Himalayas: Also based in Mussoorie at the Woodstock School at the foothills of the Himalayas, students spend the fall semester under the tutelage of experienced Pitt faculty. Students may take as many as 15 credits from courses that include non-biomedical systems of health, the integration of food into culture and ecology, as well as Himalayan natural history, geography, and forms of religious practice. The program includes extensive academic excursions to the geographically diverse and culturally rich surrounds to help contextualize course content.
Pitt in the Pacific: The Pacific is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse parts of the world. Pitt in the Pacific provides a rich cultural and educational experience, shared between the charming and historic campus of the University of Otago at Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island and the Pacific Islands of Samoa and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. The program is open to Pitt and International Students, who can take up to 15 credits, divided between campus-based courses in Dunedin and in the Pacific Islands. Dunedin is a beautiful city founded by Scottish settlers in 1848, and is the home of New Zealand’s oldest University, currently recognized also as the pre-eminent university for research in the country.