Europe - Academics

The Europe Study Abroad program is integrated closely with the four-year Liberal Arts curriculum at St. Stephen's University (SSU), which explores essential themes in the development of Western Civilization. For this reason, the Europe term is not an elective as it has been developed to reinforce and refine students understanding of the history, philosophy, literature, religion, social sciences, languages and the arts of the West.

Following the criteria and guidelines set out in the Program Syllabus, students undertake preparatory work prior to their departure for Europe. They continue their studies while abroad under the supervision of SSU faculty members traveling with them, and then complete their academic requirements in the weeks following their return from Europe. This study abroad program constitutes a full term of interdisciplinary, cross-cultural study, comprising 15 credit hours of course-work. Intense and rigorous, this immersion in Euro-Western culture sees students and faculty traveling together as a community of scholars--24 hours a day, seven days a week, for eight weeks.

Each week abroad contains a minimum of 30 contact hours of formal instruction as well as additional hours of informal learning. Pedagogically, this study abroad term is structured around formal lectures, on-site presentations by local experts, group discussions, field-trips, study sessions while on the motor coach or in the campground setting, student-led seminars, faculty/student mentoring, and work carried out by students individually and in small teams. Students are required to attend all sessions and are graded on assigned projects, class participation, independent research and final papers. Notwithstanding the specialized content of each course, components of the Europe study abroad curriculum complement one another and students are required to make these interconnections while they compare and contrast the societies of Western Europe with those of North America. All lectures, formal tours, seminars and discussion topics are directly linked to the Europe Itinerary.

During each trip, students visit the great cities and cultural landscapes of Western Europe, scores of celebrated historical sites, world-class museums and art galleries, and encounter first-hand the topics introduced previously in their courses taken at the St. Stephen campus. In addition to faculty instruction and mentoring, each day consists of group activities where students participate in the practical realities of living and learning on the move through Europe. These activities include regular community worship, cleaning common spaces, preparing meals, washing dishes, shopping for food and supplies, setting up and taking down tents, packing and unpacking the bus, and a host of other practical responsibilities.