Study Abroad Reform Takes Early Shape

On the heels of a report criticizing the College’s study abroad programs for placing “onerous obstacles” in students’ way, the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) yesterday took its first look at ways to make the process more accommodating.

Discussion by the CUE marked the Faculty’s first step toward crafting new policies that would make it easier for Harvard students to study abroad.

Just last week, the Faculty committee that oversees study abroad programs offered a comprehensive list of recommendations for streamlining the petition process, easing language requirements, increasing financial aid and expanding and restructuring Harvard’s Study Abroad Office.

Among its most significant recommendations for overhauling the current system, the committee proposed that students no longer be required to prove that their plan of study offer a “special opportunity not available at Harvard.” Under the system that the committee advocates, any study abroad would be treated as a special opportunity.

The committee also suggested abolishing the requirement that half of the courses students take during their semesters abroad be devoted to studying their host countries.

Ultimately, the committee suggested Harvard might even look into establishing its own programs in other countries to help students study out of residence.

The study-abroad committee, led by Anthropology Department Chair William L. Fash, has been working on its recommendations since November.

While yesterday’s meeting was purely a discussion of the Fash committee’s recommendations, the CUE will ultimately have to shape the proposals into a formal plan for improving study abroad at Harvard.

CUE’s plan could find its way to the floor of a full Faculty meeting and be voted on by the end of the academic year.

Much of yesterday’s discussion focused on one particular recommendation, which would ease language requirements.

The Fash committee suggested scrapping the current system, which requires students to have taken one year of language instruction before embarking on their term out of residence.

Instead, the committee advised, students should be allowed to fulfill their language requirement during their time abroad, either with a language course or another course taught solely in the language of their host country.

The old rules had focused on study abroad as a means for learning about language and culture, and proponents of the proposed changes say the new rules would make it easier for students to participate in other kinds of programs.

“I think [language is] an important factor in studying abroad if the purpose of study abroad is an extension of foreign cultures,” said Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies Jay M. Harris. “But there are other reasons for studying abroad, and one can conceive of any number of options that don’t have anything to do with language.”

Students who wish to study Italian architecture, for example, can participate in English-speaking programs in Italy and still make as much of their experience as students involved exclusively in Italian language programs, Harris said.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.