Terps on the Road Again

Studying climate change in Norway’s fjords, taking in the architecture of Japan’s temples, learning about regional geopolitics in Taiwan: these and other perspective-broadening hallmarks of the collegiate study abroad experience will be back for Maryland students this fall, thanks to rising vaccination rates and nearly zero COVID-19 cases on campus.

Some 30 University of Maryland students will travel in the coming semester to Austria, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway and Taiwan as in-person study abroad resumes for the first time since Spring 2020. (Study abroad programs in the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Ireland were canceled recently due to COVID-19 concerns.) Today, applications open for winter and spring study abroad programs, which will operate in other countries as well, including Ghana, Iceland and Jordan.

“We are finally in a position to open a limited portfolio of programs for our students, to re-engage them with our global partners and provide them with the opportunity to study abroad and explore grand challenges from a global perspective,” said Leeanne Dunsmore, director of education abroad.

It’s a welcome development to the many Terps whose wanderlust didn’t abate with the pandemic. “What we’re seeing is a lot of pent-up demand,” said Dunsmore. “We’ve heard that students have delayed graduation in some cases to be able to participate in these experiences. Students are … really excited about the possibilities while abroad.”   

Health and safety measures are central to the program’s in-person resumption; all partner institutions overseas must “have a demonstrated commitment to meeting all health and safety requirements we’ve put in place,” said Dunsmore. “We’re taking every measure to ensure  our students are going into communities and environments that meet these requirements.”  

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, students have retained opportunities to connect globally and across cultures, including through the Global Classrooms program, which virtually links UMD students and faculty with colleagues from peer institutions overseas to work on a joint project. Over the last academic year, roughly 1,100 students took part in a Global Classrooms program.

Maddie Lee ’22 is eager for her semester in Seoul this fall. Returning to the country she lived in until age 10, Lee wants to “get back and pick up where I left off—learn more about the Korean culture and see how different it is to live there as a kid versus what it’s like to live there as a college person.”