At St. Scholastica, you are sure to find an Education Abroad or service learning program that meets your personal and academic needs while fulfilling the College’s vision “…to send forth thoughtful leaders…who are prepared and committed to serve and transform the world.” Wherever you end up exploring the world, you will find meaningful and diverse cultural experiences that will expand your knowledge and understanding, while you explore all the world has to offer.

Getting Started

Ready to go? Get started now by searching for and applying for programs.

St. Scholastica study abroad students pose together on a cold beach.

St. Scholastica Faculty-Led Programs

If you are looking for a study abroad program where you have an experienced faculty member there to lead you through the experience a faculty-led program may be the best option for you! It’s also a great option if you want to go abroad surrounded by a group of people you already know!  Take a look at the programs that we are offering this year!

Ireland in the Spring

St. Scholastica’s oldest and only semester-long program, the Ireland in the Spring program takes students to Louisburgh, Ireland, a charming village on Ireland’s west coast, accompanied by two St. Scholastica faculty members.

A photo of the Louisburgh cottages in Ireland.Students live in furnished holiday cottages on the edge of the village, a brief walk away from the center of Louisburgh and miles of beautiful beach. Students earn 16 credits through four immersive courses. The faculty and course topics rotate each semester. Irish guest lecturers and curated excursions, ranging from day trips to multi-day tours to ensure students experience the history, culture, and people of nearly every corner of the Emerald Isle.

Healthcare Abroad: Clinical Experience in the Philippines

Healthcare Abroad: Clinical Experience in the Philippines is an intercultural healthcare immersion aligned with the College’s mission, vision, and student learning outcomes. This international clinical opportunity fosters cultural awareness, sensitivity, and global perspectives through experiential learning, intercultural exchange, and collaboration with healthcare professionals and communities in the Philippines.

Students participate in a 2½-week in-country clinical immersion that offers unique global healthcare perspectives and hands-on experiential learning. During the program, students are precepted and supervised by healthcare professionals, including nurses, physicians, and physical therapists in the Philippines.

Opportunities are available for Traditional Undergraduate Nursing, Post Baccalaureate Nursing, Doctorate Nursing Practice, and Doctorate of Physical Therapy.

The Science of Happiness in Scandinavia

This Education Abroad program is a collaboration between the Psychology and Nursing Departments focused on the Psychology of Happiness and Global Public Health in Scandinavia.

The purpose of the Science of Happiness psychology program is to study the science of happiness, an area of positive psychology and overall health. Students will learn about the current scientific knowledge regarding happiness and have an experiential learning opportunity to immerse themselves in Scandinavian cultures, known to be the world’s happiest countries according to the United Nations’ rankings at World Happiness Report.

The Recipients of Care III: Global Public Health Experience program for nursing students will study the science of happiness, as an area of positive psychology and overall health as well as public health.

This is a collaborative program: The two groups will have both shared and separate activities.

London Arts and Culture

Once the center of the British Empire and still one of the most significant cultural centers of Western Europe, London offers an exciting and artistically rich study and travel experience for students of all majors.

Study abroad student poses in front of Big Ben.This study abroad course includes twenty-two days in London and provides students with the opportunity to learn about rich traditions of art and popular culture. Participants can choose from two course options: ART 3950/HON 3950 (4 credits) OR CME 3950 (2 credits). CME 3950 will draw from many cultural forms, including theater, film, music, and social media, to explore the meaning of popular culture and its place in society.

Focusing on artwork created over the 19th and 20th centuries in London, HON/ART 3950 will investigate the history, identity, political and geographic resonance of the people and their cultures. In particular, we will examine foundational artworks created throughout the UK through lectures, reading and site-specific engagement. This program is offered every two years.

Alaska: Caring for the Far North

Explore the unique landscapes and communities of Alaska while gaining hands-on insight into rural healthcare challenges, traditional healing practices, and innovative approaches to aging and elder care.

This immersive, interprofessional study away experience is designed to give Nursing, Social Work, and Gerontology students an opportunity to explore culturally responsive care and discover how diverse approaches to wellness, family support, and community-based services can transform the future of healthcare.

MBA Capstone in Finland

This study abroad immersive experience in Finland allows students to explore and compare business, government, leadership, quality of life, economy, education, and overall happiness in Finland versus the United States.

Photo of a group of study abroad students.

Provider Programs

Whether you are looking for options to study at different schools across the United States or looking to go abroad, we have an option for you! St. Scholastica partners with several programs that offer a huge variety of options for you to step out of your comfort zone and experience a new place or a new culture. Check out the incredible programs that you can participate in as a St. Scholastica student!

National Student Exchange (NSE)

The National Student Exchange (NSE) provides accessible and affordable collegiate study away among member colleges and universities throughout the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NSE students exchange across state and provincial borders of North America to take advantage of diverse academic offerings, cultural opportunities and regional differences of our member colleges and universities. Options for special programs, honors and study abroad are also available. Students may exchange for a semester or academic year.

Washington Semester Program

St. Scholastica partners with the Washington Semester Program at American University in Washington D.C. This program provides substantive real-world experiences through internships in Washington D.C. Students expand their networks and gain valuable skills for a competitive edge in the job market. Courses offered through the program allow students to explore headline topics from a distinctly Washington D.C. perspective. Taught by experienced AU faculty, these courses make Washington D.C. your classroom, bringing students face-to-face with local, national and global experts in the government, non-profit, media and corporate sectors.

CIS Abroad

The College of St. Scholastica partners with CIS Abroad to offer additional programs for students who wish to spend time abroad. Through the CIS programs, students are able to study abroad or take part in international internship opportunities.

International Student Exchange Programs (ISEP)

The College of St. Scholastica is a member of ISEP. St. Scholastica students can study abroad on ISEP Direct programs at over 60 institutions in more than 35 countries. ISEP Direct programs give students access to living and learning alongside locals for a uniquely immersive experience.

World Strides

St. Scholastica partners with WorldStrides in offering a variety of study abroad and internship opportunities. Take a look at the wide variety of programs that are available to you with World Strides.

View of San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala from across the lake.

Alternative Break Experiences (ABE)

Sponsored by Campus Ministry, Alternative Break Experiences offer service immersion experiences during school breaks. If you’re open to serve, travel, experience, and change, you should consider joining an ABE trip!

Alternative Break in Guatemala

Spend your break serving the San Lucas Mission in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala.

Why Choose an ABE trip?

Through an Alternative Break Experience trip you will …

  • Serve by caring, building, listening, and loving
  • Travel to places like Louisiana, Guatemala, or Arizona
  • Experience a week of service and learning with other students from St. Scholastica
  • Change your perspective and make a difference

The Five Values of ABE

  • Service is part of the ABE trips as students work alongside the host community to address human, social and environmental needs. Whether working with children at a low-income daycare, doing home repairs, or sifting dirt for a reforestation project, service is an opportunity to directly touch the lives of others. This service is the starting point from which we can begin to understand the needs of our brothers and sisters and the culture of the host community.
  • Stewardship invites us to reconsider our habits, examine the difference between “needs” and “wants,” and consider the implications of our lifestyle choices. Through valuing simplicity in stewardship the ABE experience invites students to recognize the conveniences and luxuries that fill our lives. The ABE teams decide together how to pack only what is truly needed and how to be good stewards during the trip. At your site, your choices may be limited by geography, money, transportation and safety.”Live simply so that others may simply live.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
  • Spirituality is part of the ABE experience as it is expressed by the ABE teams. Spirituality in the context of ABE brings together participants’ faith traditions, the Catholic Benedictine tradition of social justice and the Gospel call to service. The ABE program welcomes any student who is open to exploring and sharing issues of faith. Spirituality is how we express our own faith, beliefs and convictions, and the Benedictine tradition of St. Scholastica. Nightly reflections will give you the opportunity to share your own spirituality and learn from others in the light of the day’s experiences in the trust-filled setting of your ABE team.”Prayer disarms the human heart.” ~ Edward F. Gabriele
  • Solidarity recognizes that we are all part of one human family despite national, racial, religious, economic, or ideological differences. Solidarity respects the value of the individual while affirming the common good. There are many communities involved in ABE trips: the ABE team, the host community, the St. Scholastica community, and beyond. Participants are not simply individuals who experience ABE trips on their own, but rather they are a community that is there to support and challenge each other throughout the experience. ABE teams reflect together in challenging support of one-another, and grow as a community through shared work. Through ABE, the ABE team and host community mutually benefit from the presence of each other.”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
  • Social Justice challenges students to recognize that it is not enough to simply do service. For example, when someone is hungry, we need to feed him/her. We also need to ask why the person is hungry and seek to change the social systems that create such issues in the first place. The dignity of the human person calls us to create social conditions that enable all people to achieve their full potential. Beyond direct service (e.g. serving a meal or roofing a house) ABE teams discover the political, economic, social, historical and religious issues which impact all of us. Through presentations, guest speakers, storytellers and educational opportunities, ABE trips seek to guide students to understand the interconnection between personal and societal responsibility.”If you want peace, work for justice.” ~ Pope Paul VI