The world is a place of endless opportunities. Oakland University students can explore these opportunities through a study abroad program.
Alex Zimmerman, the director of international education at OU, sat down with The Oakland Post to educate the student community on study abroad opportunities.
“We serve students from all over the university,” Zimmerman said. “We have programs for just about every program, so every student here can study abroad. We’ll work with you to find out what program is right for you.”
The Office of Global Engagement aims to mitigate barriers prospective student-abroad participants face. The financial implications of departing for and living in another country are the most common barrier for students interested in studying abroad.
“There’s all sorts of scholarships that are available,” Zimmerman said. “Students who have a financial aid package here can generally use all of their aid, it’s applied automatically.”
Outside of government aid, the Office of Global Engagement makes efforts to keep study abroad programs affordable for students of varying backgrounds.
“For those 80 [summer program students] who turned in applications before February 1st, I’m planning to distribute $55,000 in scholarships just for study abroad,” Zimmerman said.
For Zimmerman, another barrier – health insurance – is personally relatable. Any student who studies abroad through OU will have international health insurance through the university.
“I’m diabetic too. It can be a complication for sure [referencing chronic illnesses and insurance abroad], but with our insurance, as you’re going through Oakland, you won’t need to worry about the cost,” Zimmerman said. “It’s going to cover all of your supplies.”
With the logistics of the trip covered by the university or its external partner programs, students can decide where to call home for whatever period they choose to be abroad. Several destinations stand out above the rest.
“The most popular destinations are probably England and Italy,” Zimmerman said. “A lot of our students want to go to Western Europe but we have programs all over the world.”
Those programs span from the aforementioned Western Europe to the depths of Ghana and even Thailand, just to highlight a few. Overall, the university provides over 300 international programs.
Personal testimonials from students render the true efficacy of the program. Zimmerman was able to call back to some anecdotes to provide context.
“We’ve had students who went back to France and were teaching in France for a full year after graduating,” Zimmerman said. “We had a student who studied abroad and then went and got his master’s from Harvard, and is now working for the government. One studied public health in Africa and is now working for the CDC in Atlanta, specifically on academics.”
Students looking to apply for the study abroad summer programs can expect to have their applications due between March and April. Likewise can be said for students looking to study abroad for a single fall semester. Winter semester applicants should be set going into the preceding October.
Students can learn more about learning and studying abroad at the Office of Global Engagement’s Study Abroad Expo on Feb. 7 at The Habitat in the Oakland Center. Alternatively, students can contact Zimmerman via email, [email protected].
