Students planning to study abroad in coming years will find changes in the offerings of the Office of International Programs, including a new Brown program this fall in Barcelona, Spain, and a program in Cuba that is still in the initial planning stages. Meanwhile, other programs that have been available in the past are being reduced or ended by the OIP, such as the Brown in Egypt program and the approved alternative program in Ethiopia.
Last fall, payment structure for studying abroad changed - students in the class of 2010 and later will pay full Brown tuition for all programs instead of simply the fees for the approved program. But this spring, changes at the OIP have mostly concerned the status and addition of new programs.
The OIP offers two types of study abroad programs: programs run by and directly associated with the University and other programs - often run by other institutions - known as approved alternative programs.
The University is now reviewing 24 applications from students interested in studying in the "first fully integrated program" in Barcelona this fall, said Kendall Brostuen, associate dean of the College and director of international programs. Brown currently offers four approved alternative programs in Spain but does not have its own program.
The new program in Spain is being run as a consortium program with five other U.S. universities - Cornell, Harvard, Princeton and Northwestern universities and the University of Chicago. The program also relies on three partner universities in Spain. Students will have the option to attend the program for either the fall or spring semesters or a full year.
Because Brown is working with other U.S. universities, the development of the program was more complicated than if the University had worked on it on its own, Brostuen said. "Every move that's made is reviewed by six (universities)," he said.
Last summer, Cornell asked the University to assume leadership of the program, which it had previously administered. "I think it's a natural fit," Brostuen said, noting that Brown is the only university of the six that offers instruction in Catalan, one of the languages spoken in Barcelona.
"I'm just absolutely delighted that we're doing something in Spain," he said. He said he expects Brown to send 60 to 80 students per year on the program.
The Brown program in Spain isn't the only change in the University's study abroad offerings. The OIP is discussing starting a program in Cuba, though Brostuen said it would be at least a year until it would be available.
For a new program, there are a "lot of i's that need to be dotted and t's that need to be crossed," Brostuen said. The office must conduct background and investigative work, receive approval from the College Curriculum Council for its programs and address "legal questions," Brostuen said.
Other programs have been ended or reduced in recent months.
Due to political unrest in Ethiopia, the University is no longer "actively recruiting" for the approved alternative program that was previously available there to students, Brostuen said, noting that the politics made it "difficult to maintain momentum" in the program.
The OIP ended the Brown in Egypt program as of this semester, though students can still attend the American University in Cairo as an approved alternative program. Brostuen said the University was playing an unnecessary role as a mediator between students and AUC. "It didn't make a lot of sense" to have Brown serving as a go-between, he said.
Robin Zelman '09, who plans to study in Botswana next year, said she has had a "very pleasant experience" with the office. She said the OIP doesn't necessarily know students individually since it deals with so many students, but that shouldn't cause problems as long as students come to the office with a "good idea" of what they want to do.
Jonah Rosenberg '09 was recently accepted to a Brown in Britain program at Oxford University. He said he was generally satisfied with the office but said the OIP's "reluctance to work through e-mail" and their "sort of strange" hours were sometimes frustrating.
The OIP has recently made internal changes - last year, the office was reorganized in order to make it more "user-friendly," Brostuen said. The office assigned its advisers to specific parts of the world and can now "match a student with an adviser from the beginning" instead of the previous practice of more random matching, he said.
For students interested in studying abroad, it's an "exciting time to be at Brown," Brostuen said.
