Study abroad program moves forward from COVID-19 pandemic
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Cal State Fullerton’s study abroad program, one of the first programs on campus impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resumed international travel and continues to expand its offering of in-person trips, said Jack Hobson, senior director of Extension and International Programs at CSUF.
Student travel still has its limits, despite programs being revived in fall 2021, said Hobson. He said that depending on a host country’s requirements and its situation with COVID-19, students and faculty might experience challenges traveling. Study Abroad and Global Engagement follows the university’s requirements regarding masks and vaccines, and must follow the host country’s requirements, if those differ from CSUF.
“So, we look at risk and crisis from things related to COVID in that country with one lens of the glasses if you will, as well as general risk and crisis dynamics that we would normally look at in a country,” Hobson said.
He said that the program has recently seen an increase in popularity and the amount of students seeking advising has risen as well.
“We obviously had a window of time where we did not have student mobility, where we retracted significantly on our programming, because we could barely go to the supermarket, let alone go overseas,” Hobson said. “As we have re-entered into study abroad programming, we actually have had quite a bit of built-up demand. Our advising numbers are through the roof. We are advising students left and right, which is great.”
Hobson said that there are three study abroad options students can choose from: reciprocal exchange, faculty-led programming and any third party where a student can directly enroll in a study abroad program.
Reciprocal exchange is swapping students from CSUF and students from another country. Whereas faculty-led trips are with a professor leading students and a third party guided trip where students are on their own.
Faculty-led programming is led by a CSUF faculty member and a group of students will join them to take classes within a certain major.
When it comes to Hobson’s team and their relationship with getting students on a plane to travel the world, he said that it is their “lifeblood.”
“My students are so hungry for it, and we are hungry to make it happen,” Hobson said. “For a study abroad professional, getting students to the airport and on a plane and going to their destination of choice is our lifeblood. It is what makes us recognize the full scope and depth of the work that we do.”
Students who would like more information about the program can browse the program’s website.