Over 50% of St. Mary’s College of Mayland students take advantage of the more than 25 SMCM study abroad program and/or study tour offerings at some point during their academic career.
Study abroad is an exhilarating and life-changing experience that not only develops your linguistic and intercultural skills but also your self-confidence, self-reliance, and ability to approach issues from more than one perspective. The flexibility of the SMCM curriculum allows our students to study abroad on a short-term, a semester, or even a year-long program with the opportunity to fulfill major, minor, and elective course requirements, especially when they participate in our pre-approved partner programs. This means that even our double majors have time to study abroad for a semester.
When you study abroad for a semester with one of our partner programs, the program costs are the same as a residential semester at SMCM, and you can apply all your financial aid.
It is important that students begin to think about experiences abroad as early as possible during their career at SMCM and that they discuss their interests with a faculty advisor within the department.
About 10% of SMCM study abroad students in the last five years were psychology majors. The most popular programs chosen by them include:
- Semester abroad: James Cook University (Australia)
- Semester abroad: The Umbra Institute (Perugia, Italy; it has a multicultural psychology track)
- Semester abroad: University College Dublin (UCD) – Ireland
- SMCM-led Summer Study Tours (various locations)
The program at Queen Mary University in London, England also offers psychology courses.
Visit the SMCM Office of International Education website for more information.
Akita International University
Akita International University is a small liberal arts university located in Northern Japan which offers a wide variety of courses mostly taught in English. Students have the opportunity to take courses in Asian Studies, Political Science, Economics,and more all while being immersed in the Japanese culture and life as they live and study among other Japanese and international students.
Andean Study Tour
Participants in the Andean Study Tour are able to immerse themselves in the rich culture and history of the Andean people and region,including the ancient cities of the Incas. This exciting program provides a unique experience for international education by providing experiential learning opportunities and cultural immersion via home-stays, weaving workshops, site visits, work with NGO cooperatives, and introductory Quechua classes.
Belize Study Tour
The Belize Study Tour is the field component to BIOL 316,Tropical Biology, a regularly taught semester-long course. The tropics include most of the world’s biodiversity, yet this is the only course at SMCM that focuses specifically on Tropical Biology. Traveling to Belize provides students with first-hand experiences not available in the classroom. Students travel to several different sites within Belize and learn to take samples in a variety of different environments.
Athletes, Actors, and Sages: Greece Summer Study Tour
St. Mary’s Greece Summer Study Tour offers participants the opportunity to gain knowledge of the many layers of history in this part of the world of which influence far greater than the islands that encompass it. Students are able to make the sites, sounds,and structures of their readings come alive and learn that Greece has literally lived and died many times over and is now, most certainly, very much alive.
Passage to India: India Summer Study Tour
The Passage to India Study Tour introduces student first-hand to the major religious traditions of the Indian subcontinent, and more broadly to the Indian history, culture, and society. Students will engage in yoga, ancient Sanskrit chant, vedic fire sacrifice, Buddhist meditation, mass devotional celebrations at the base of the Ganges River and clamorous late night processions along the guru’s walkway in the Sikh Golden Temple all to gain a great understanding of India.
JCU (James Cook University) Australia
James Cook University (JCU) is one of SMCM’s most popular study abroad programs because it offers course options to almost all of St.Mary’s majors. JCU’s broad curriculum will allow SMCM students to take courses within their majors while providing opportunities to take courses that are uniquely Australian. The locations of the Townsville and Cairns campuses near both the Great Barrier Reef and tropical rainforest make JCU an ideal location for those students interested in biology, environmental studies,and natural science.
Lingnan University – Exchange Program
Students who wish to take part in our Lingnan University Exchange Program are able to experience a liberal arts education in the heart of Hong Kong. Lingnan has particular strong curriculum in Asian studies, economics, and sociology and is able to offer a unique perspective of combining the liberal arts traditions of the west with the traditions of the east.
London Study Tour
On the London Study Tour students will be able to experience London Theatre at its finest. They will take in five different London plays as well as experience the sights and sounds of London itself. This is the perfect program for those interested in Theatre, Film, and Media Studies.
SMCM – Arcadia – Accademia Italiana – Florence
Students can study in the picturesque city of Florence in the Tuscany region of Italy. Accademia Italiana offers courses in art, art history, design, history, studio art, and Italian. Students can combine their love of Italy with their creative and artistic endeavors.
SMCM – CIS abroad – The Umbra Institute – Perugia
Students can study in the hilltop city of Perugia, Italy. The Umbra Institute offers a food studies program as well as courses in Italian, anthropology, art history, history, political science, studio art, marketing, and a multicultural psychology track. Students also have the opportunity to participate in courses with a service-learning option or an internship all while being centrally located within Italy.
SMCM – ISA – Granada,Spain
Study abroad in Granada, Spain located in the heart of the Andalucía region in Southern Spain. This culturally diverse city combines its Muslim influence with that of the Spanish world. Students are able to take courses in Spanish, history, political science, and literature. Advanced Spanish students also have the opportunity to participate in an internship.
SMCM – ISA – Mahidol University – Bangkok, Thailand
Students are able to study in the cultural rich and populous city of Bangkok, Thailand in Southeast Asia. Students will enroll at Mahidol University where they will take courses in English with international and local students. Mahidol University offers students a unique course offering in subjects such as Biological Sciences,Business, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Film and Television Production,Food Science & Technology, and more.
SMCM – Middlebury College – Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) –Oxford, England
Students are able to take part in traditional Oxford style education by studying at CMRS , which is affiliated with Keble College, one of the University of Oxford’s many colleges. While there students will complete a research course, a readings seminar and at least two one-on-one tutorials in traditional Oxford style on the humanities that best fits their academic goals. They are also able to take part in additional Keble College activities.
Billy’s Kitchen Summer Shakespeare Study Tour – Stratford-upon-Avon
Billy’s Kitchen is a study tour designed to provide students an up-close-and-personal relationship with the Bard and his work within the literal and metaphoric context of consumption. Students study and attend five or six major dramatic productions of Shakespeare’s time, comparing their observations with those of world-renowned scholars and actors at the Shakespeare Centre and the Royal Shakespeare Company theaters in Stratford-upon-Avon, with an additional field trip to the Globe Theatre in London. In addition, students consider how Shakespeare’s plays as well as his name and image are “consumed,” both in terms of food and food imagery and in terms of British culinary culture.
SMCM – UNC in Montpellier
Students have the opportunity to student in the beautiful city of Montpellier, a city located about 6 miles from the Mediterranean Sea and a 4 hour train ride from both Barcelona and Paris. The Montpellier program offers study at the University of Montpellier III (Faculte de Lettres – Paul Valery). French and non-French majors have the chance to improve their spoken and written French,to take courses in a French university, to be immersed in French culture and further their knowledge of French and European politics, history, culture and literature. In the process, students may take courses towards their major and their minor in several disciplines in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences.
SMCM – USAC – Chiang, Mai, Thailand
Study abroad in Northern Thailand in vibrant city field with ancient culture. Chiang Mai is ideal for students who are interested in the economics, philosophy, politics, religions,culture, and language of Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, in a city that is manageable, walkable, exotic, and unforgettable. They also have the opportunity participate in volunteer and/or internship programs.
University College Dublin (UCD) – Ireland
UCD is one of SMCM’s most popular study abroad because it offers course options in a majority of our majors and minors. Students are able to take classes with both Irish and other international students at one of world’s top institutions. Course offerings include biology, chemistry, music, physics, computer science, English, public policy, neuroscience, and more. Additionally, students can take part in some of UCD’s many sports activities and clubs, as well as the many travel opportunities available in the region.