International Programs

the historic Grand Theatre in Havana, Cuba
The historic Grand Theatre in Havana, Cuba

Whatever your area of interest, the College of Arts and Sciences offers a way to deepen your exploration of it through international programs. We emphasize global citizenship — awareness and experience of the world beyond U.S. borders — in every aspect of our teaching, research, scholarship, and service.

Our collaborations with educators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe are part of a broader movement of global scholars to prepare students for entry into a diverse, complex world. Semester-long study is the best way to gain that preparation while maintaining academic continuity.

We offer programs in Cuba, Greece, and Ghana, and are developing partnerships with universities in several other countries.

Partnerships

Cuba

We are one of the only U.S. universities with a partnership in Cuba, which began with the College of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and expanded into the university-wide Center for Cuba Collaboration and Scholarship in 2015. Dozens of UA faculty travel to Cuba every year to work on academic collaborations with peers at the University of Havana and other institutions. Since 2002, more than 150 UA faculty and students have traveled to Cuba for research and study abroad.

Greece

The College is also home to the long-standing Alabama-Greece Initiative, a partnership with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a major research university in Greece’s second-largest city. Scholars from both universities routinely engage in academic collaborations with their peers, and both universities host faculty collaborators on campus.

Ghana

Through the Department of Geography, our students regularly participate in service-learning projects in Ghana, where they earn course credit while working with schools, hospitals, social services, and government offices.

Plans are currently underway to establish a formal partnership with the University of Ghana, the University of Cape Coast, and Central University. To launch this initiative, in the summer of 2019, a group of 15 UA faculty participated in the first joint research symposium to explore issues related to social determinants of health at the University of Cape Coast.

Southeast Asia

The College of Arts and Sciences has begun a new international initiative in Southeast Asia. The purpose of this initiative is to develop and foster research and educational collaborations within Southeast Asia between faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and faculty and students at universities within Southeast Asia. The initiative is supported by the Associate Dean for International Programs and the Southeast Asia faculty steering committee who will work to identify collaborators and potential partner activities.

A&S has already developed MOUs with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in Hanoi, Vietnam, Rattana Bundit University in Bangkok, Thailand, and we are also developing an MOU with Thammasat University in Thailand. In the Summer 2023, the steering committee will visit Thailand and Vietnam to initiate potential activities and we then soon after anticipate calls for applications for future faculty visits to begin in the Fall 2023.

Study Abroad

Our students have the opportunity to participate in dozens of study abroad programs around the world, including many faculty-led and semester-long programs. Learn more about them through Capstone International Center or your department.

Contact

For more information about international programs in the College, contact Dr. Lisa Pawloski, associate dean, at lisa.pawloski@ua.edu.