The International Experience | Lloyd International Honors College

The International Experience

Why Honors? Honors Housing Leadership Opportunities Pubantz Artist In Residence Program The International Experience Current Student Profiles

A cornerstone of the International Honors Program is the international experience. If you wish to complete the Program, you are required to complete at least one approved international experience. The expectation of Lloyd International Honors College is that Honors students will spend a semester or more studying abroad. Study Abroad for any UNCG student, including Honors students, is administered by the Global Engagement Office (GEO) so you need to schedule an appointment with the International Program Center staff to discuss your study abroad options, and also keep the Lloyd International Honors College informed along the way. All students must complete an International Experience Approval Form along with an additional sheet that provides a Statement of Intent, program affiliation (college/university), course curriculum, and activities during the experience. Please note the deadlines posted below for each season of travel.

Please click here for the International Experience Form and Honors Travel Grant Application.

 

Types of International Experiences

A student in the International Honors program must complete the International Experience requirement by participating in one of the pre-approved International Experiences offered through UNCG’s Global Engagement Office (GEO) or through an international experience approved by the Honors Council. Only the following international experiences have been pre-approved and, therefore, fulfill the International Experience requirement of the International Honors program:

  • Any semester- or year-long study abroad experience with exchange partners arranged through UNCG’s Global Engagement Office (GEO).
  • Several short-term or summer programs (see list below).

Pre-Approved Short-Term International Programs

The following programs have been pre-approved by the Honors College to fulfill the “International Experience” requirement for the International Honors Program. Unless otherwise noted, students from any major may apply to any of these programs. For more information about a specific program, please contact an Global Engagement Office (GEO) Study Abroad advisor or, for faculty-led trips, its faculty director. IPC contact information, study abroad information, and program information can be found on the study abroad website: studyabroad.uncg.edu.

Honors-Approved UNCG Faculty-Led Study Abroad Summer Programs

Honors-Approved University Study or Other Short-Term Programs*

  • China: Beijing Normal University (Summer Program), Beijing, China
  • China: Chinese University of Hong Kong (Summer Program), Hong Kong, China
  • Costa Rica: Universidad Nacional – ISEP (Summer Program), Heredia, Costa Rica
  • Cyprus: University of Nicosia (Summer Program), Nicosia, Cyprus
  • Denmark: Copenhagen Business School (Summer Program), Copenhagen, Denmark
  • France: Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University (Summer Program), Lyon, France
  • France: Université de Savoie (Summer Program) – Chambéry, France
  • Germany: DAAD RISE Program, Germany
  • Germany: Sprachinstitut Tuebingen SIT (Summer Program), Tuebingen, Germany
    (Honors students must stay for 10 weeks and must live with a host family)
  • Germany: University of Stuttgart (Summer Program), Stuttgart, Germany
  • Ireland: University College Dublin (Summer Program), Dublin, Ireland (Honors students must stay at least 6 weeks)
  • Italy: Lorenzo de Medici Institute (Florence Summer Program), Florence, Italy
  • Italy: Siena School for Liberal Arts (Italian Sign Language Summer Program) – Siena, Italy
  • Japan: Seinan Gakuin University (Summer Program), Fukuoka, Japan
  • Japan: Ritsumeikan University (Summer Program), Kyoto, Japan
  • Peru: Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL) (Summer Program), Cusco, Peru
  • Russia: St. Petersburg Language Academy
  • Russia: 8-week Summer Program, Kazan, Russia
  • South Africa: Stellenbosch University, South Africa (Sustainability and Community Abroad Program)
  • South Korea:
    • Sogang University (Summer Program), Seoul, South Korea
    • Sungkyunkwan University (Summer Program), Seoul, South Korea
    • Yonsei University (Summer Program), Seoul, South Korea
  • Spain: Universidad de Salamanca (Summer Program), Salamanca, Spain (Honors students must stay at least 6 weeks)
  • Sweden: Linnaeus University (Summer Program), Vaxjo, Sweden
  • United Kingdom: Plymouth University (Summer Program), Plymouth, UK (Honors students must complete 4-week program and stay at least one additional week in the UK – a brief proposal submitted to Honors is required)

*All Honors students must complete the UNCG equivalent of at least 6 credit hours

See Global Engagement Office(GEO) website for details about the programs above: https://studyabroad.uncg.edu/

Other International Experience

Once a year at a regularly scheduled meeting in the fall semester, the Honors Council reviews the list of approved international experiences and considers whether it wishes to revise the list for the upcoming year. At that time it will consider any proposals from students or UNCG faculty for the addition of short-term programs. An Honors student interested in submitting a request to include a new short term study abroad program in the pre-approved list, must submit the proposal by September 15, in order that it may be considered by the Council during its annual review of programs. The proposal should be accompanied by a complete description of your program: specific location, program affiliation (college/university), length of stay, activities during experience, and credit hours. The student must also provide in writing a rationale for choosing this alternative and provide evidence that he or she has discussed these plans with the Global Engagement Office. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please email [email protected] for further information.

Characteristics of Approved International Experiences

Approved alternative international experiences must have three characteristics, as determined by the Honors Council:

  • Sufficient intellectual content so that students engage in critical and reflective thinking before, during, and after the time that they are engaged in cultures different from the cultures that they grew up in. The level of intellectual content should be equivalent to at least 6 semester hours of academic credit and should include ethnographic study of the cultures in which they are immersed.
  • A level of immersion in a culture other their own that gives students culturally transforming experiences. (Those experiences should result in students going beyond culture shock and coming to terms with cultures different from the ones that they grew up in.)
  • A transnational character that adds to the cross-cultural nature of the experience almost always requiring the student to travel and spend significant time beyond U.S. borders.

Honors Travel Grant

While studying abroad can be as affordable as studying at UNCG, Honors students can qualify for a travel grant to help offset the expenses of getting to and from their study abroad site. A student studying abroad for the semester may be granted up to $1,100, and a student studying over the summer may be granted up to $400.

In order to receive the travel grant a student must:

  1. Be a current member of the International Honors, Global Honors, or Full University Honors in good standing;
  2. Have a UNCG cumulative GPA of at least 3.30;
  3. Have completed HSS 198: Honors Colloquium with a grade of P (passing);
  4. Have taken an Honors seminar course or contract two (2) semesters up to and including the semester of application.
  5. Be going on an approved international experience (see above for approval information) that is affiliated with Global Engagement Office (GEO) at UNCG. Non-IPC programs may be Honors-approved but will not be eligible for the Honors travel grant.

Your eligibility for this grant will be determined after you submit your form.

Upon Your Return

After completing your Honors-approved study abroad experience, you must complete the International Experience course requirement through one of the following courses.

Students going abroad for a semester or year should complete the sequence of courses designed by Global Engagement Office (GEO): IGS 295, 296, and 297. IGS 295 and 296 are credits provided for your experience before your departure and your reflections on your experiences while abroad. IGS 297 should be completed in the first, full semester in which you return to UNCG. Each of these courses carries one (1) credit hour and will earn a total of three (3) credit hours for the completed sequence in recognition of your work, experience, and reflection on your time abroad.

Students going abroad for an approved summer, short-term experience should complete HSS 299 in the fall in which they return. This is a zero-credit, Canvas-based course structured around reflecting on your experience abroad.

Honors Abroad

If you are participating in a UNCG Study Abroad program as your International Experience, you may also sign up for Honors Abroad programs that are offered from time to time in different regions of the world. These programs are offered only periodically. Please check with the Honors College for the next available program.

For Honors Abroad, as a member of a small group of Honors students, you enhance your International Experience with additional academic credit, travel, and support. The form Honors Abroad takes varies depending on the program and the faculty members leading the group of students, but all programs follow the Global Engagement Office’s Guidelines for Faculty-Led Trips. In general, Honors Abroad students and a UNCG faculty member meet in seminar before the semester abroad begins. Then, the UNCG faculty member meets students for a nearly all-expenses paid week of study and travel – either before the academic semester begins, or at the semester’s conclusion, depending on the program. In addition to courses taken at their host university, students enroll in HSS 310 for three (3) additional hours of academic credit. Requirements for HSS 310 may include journal assignments, a term paper, and a colloquium upon return to UNCG among other possibilities.