Study Abroad
Study Abroad in South Asia:
Options for Penn Students
For most students, spending a semester or a year abroad is one of the highlights of their undergraduate experience. The students’ time abroad allows them to connect the disciplinary content and learning from the classroom –on the country’s language and culture, history and anthropology, and religion and society– with a full in-country immersion experience; all within a familiar classroom setting with full student support services.
There are a range of study abroad options in South Asia for Penn students, ranging in length from two weeks to a full academic year.
This program is specially designed for busy Penn students who want to go to India but don't have time to spend a whole semester or summer abroad. The C.U. in India program is a hybrid, domestic and overseas course series that provide students with the opportunity to have an applied learning and cultural experience in India and other locations in South and Southeast Asia, while earning 2 Credit Units. Students enroll in a yearlong South Asia Studies course which meets once a week, and travel to India for two weeks with the course instructor over the winter break. Course offerings vary each year. For more information, please visit the C.U. in India website.
There are three-semester or yearlong programs that are pre-approved by Penn Abroad for students to receive transfer credit, two in India and one in Nepal:
The SIT India Program (New Delhi, India)
The "SIT India: Public Health, Policy Advocacy, and Community" program studies the relationship between public health and the community in a field-study context. Students analyze specific case studies that illuminate the problems, prospects, and potential methods of promoting health. The policy advocacy efforts for the right to health on the national and international level are examined, along with relevant best health practices international bills of rights. The program facilitates experiential learning and the values of active global citizenship for all students. The program is based in Delhi and runs for a semester --during fall and again spring. For more information visit the Penn Abroad program website.
The Alliance for Global Education -Contemporary India (Pune, INDIA)
The Alliance's Contemporary India program is based at Fergusson College, one of India's oldest and most prestigious liberal arts colleges. All alliance students are able to enjoy the best of campus life while having a welcoming program center dedicated to Alliance courses and activities. The Pune staff with their extensive professional experience in study abroad in India and will work to maximize students' learning both inside and outside the classroom. Students are required to study 5 courses on the Alliance Contemporary India program. These include the Alliance’s two course courses, Contemporary India and the Internship/Directed Research/Documentary Film course as well as the Hindi language course. In addition, students must pick two additional courses from the Alliance's menu of electives. The program runs for a semester in fall and spring. For more details visit the Penn Abroad program website.
Cornell-Nepal Study Program (Kirtipur, NEPAL)
The Cornell-Nepal Study Program (CNSP) is a joint venture between Cornell University and Tribhuvan National University of Nepal initiated in 1993. Courses are taught in English at the program facility, near the main Tribhuvan campus in the medieval town of Kirtipur, near Kathmandu, by Nepalese faculty from the Tribhuvan University Department of Botany and Sociology/Anthropology. The Cornell-Nepal Study Program supports the work of both Nepalese and North American students and faculty through a challenging academic program of class work, research, and field work. The CNSP is the first and only study abroad program in Nepal to draw together students from American universities to live and study with Nepalese peers in residential program houses. This year-long program runs from fall through spring and gives undergraduates an initial exposure to academic study, research, and cultural immersion in a developing country. For more information, visit the Penn Abroad program website.
Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) program (SRI LANKA)
The Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) Program is a consortium-run study abroad program affiliated with the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. This semester-long program combines cultural immersion with academic study and research to give students the tools to understand Sri Lanka from a well-rounded perspective. The program is one semester long, and runs in fall and then again in spring.
South India Term Abroad (Madhurai, INDIA)
This unique semester or yearlong program features family home-stays, field visits and educational travel with faculty, a low student-to-faculty ratio, and free one-on-one or small group training in the arts (dance, painting, yoga, cooking, instrument, voice, martial arts, etc.).
The Center for the Advanced Study of India provides funding and support to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania to conduct independent research and volunteer internships in India. To learn more, go to the CASI Student Programs page.
Study Abroad Opportunities in India
SAST students have the opportunity to study abroad for a period ranging from a summer to a whole year. The time abroad allows them to connect the disciplinary content and learning from the classroom –on the country’s language and culture, history and anthropology, and religion and society– with a full in-country immersion experience, all within a familiar classroom setting with full student support services. There are Penn administered and pre-approved programs that are overseen by Penn Abroad --the division with a purview over these programs—and students can apply for credit transfer. In addition, there are also other programs, which students can petition for transfer credit. Learn more about these programs.