Our IES Abroad Customized Programs continue to offer faculty and their students the best of study abroad through on-the-ground staff in our 30+ locations, tailored programing, a network of university, internship, service learning, and research partners, and standard-setting practices in health and safety. This year we are proud to say we’ve run the most Customized Programs in IES Abroad history.
Check out a few IES Abroad Customized Program highlights from the year!
University of Michigan Football Players Study Abroad in Italy on IES Abroad Customized Program
Since 2004, we’ve partnered with the University of Michigan to send Wolverines abroad. This past spring, the University of Michigan football program offered their players the chance to study abroad in Italy, and IES Abroad Customized Programs was part of the athletes’ study abroad experience.
At the end of April, University of Michigan football staff and team members spent a week in Rome where they trained at A.S. Roma’s facilities, played a scrimmage game open to the public, and participated in a range of team and cultural activities. Following the week of football training, the Michigan football athletes participated in a two-week industry shadow experience facilitated by IES Abroad Customized Programs and the IES Abroad Rome Center to immerse them in Italian culture, and learn about the professional business culture of Italy.
Meet the University of Michigan players who participated in the program, and check out what they had to say about their study abroad experience in Rome.
IES Abroad Customized Programs Offer Flexible Partnerships to Meet School's Goals
IES Abroad Customized Programs specializes in providing unique, educational experiences tailor-made to the needs of its school partners and students. One such example is the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) short-term study abroad program in Beijing, China, and Cape Town, South Africa, which has been alternating between the two locations for five consecutive years.
The programs focus on social entrepreneurship and urban economic development, respectively, and are an initiative of UT's Division of Diversity and Community Engagement office, which works to increase the number of underrepresented students going abroad. Staff members from the office accompany students abroad and regularly meet to debrief on activities and how they fit into the overall program.
In both Beijing and Cape Town, students engage in service learning that relates to the program theme, as well as enroll in related coursework. Students also experience the culture and history of their host cities through trips such as the Great Wall and Chuan Di Xia (a Ming Dynasty-era village) in China, and Robben Island and Stellenbosch in South Africa.
IES Abroad Customized Programs’ Ongoing Partnership with Middlebury Interactive Languages
This summer, IES Abroad ran its third consecutive summer program in Granada with Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL). Through the partnership with MIL, whose programs focus on language and cultural immersion, rising ninth- through twelfth-grade students spend four weeks in Granada, or had the option to go to Salamanca or Nantes.
During the program, students were committed to Middlebury’s Language Pledge, a verbal and signed pledge that they will speak in the host language throughout entire program. To ensure students are fully immersed in the host country language, at the start of the program students give up their phones and other electronics, as well as any English-language materials.
In addition to the intensive language component, students fully experience the culture of their selected program location. Each of the activities and excursions are intentionally designed for students to learn and practice new vocabulary and grammar.
The MIL program is just one example of the innovative, unique programming options that IES Abroad Customized Programs can offer.
Customized Programs Group Takes Students to New York City
IES Abroad Customized Programs ran its first-ever program in New York in Fall 2017. Nine students from Augustana College spent approximately two months living, exploring, and interning in the Big Apple.
Interns were placed with different organizations specializing in publishing, arts management, graphic design, consumer analytics, mass media and journalism, and consulting. In their free time, students visited Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza, Top of the Rock, and MoMA, as well as attended a Broadway show and a Yankees game.
Learn more about how to create your own study abroad program with IES Abroad Customized Programs.
