BY: ASHLEY BOURQUE
Salve Regina University hosted its annual Study Abroad Fair this past Wednesday from 3-5pm at Ochre Court, to give their students the opportunity to learn about the benefits of studying abroad and the different programs Salve Regina offers.
Students could go to booths to learn about the different programs or schools abroad that work with Salve Regina. The booths focus on yearlong, semester-long, and short-term summer or winter programs.
Salve Regina either offers an exchange program with a specific college or offers program sponsors like Academic Programs International (API), which offers countries like Poland, Hungary, and Italy or International Studies Abroad (ISA) which offers more unexpected countries like South Africa, India, and Morocco.
One of the booths featured St. Clare’s University, a liberal arts college in Oxford, England. St. Clare’s offers Salve Regina students the opportunity to study at their campus over the summer for a short-term program of one month. During this month students would take two, three-credit courses taught by both Salve Regina faculty and St. Clare faculty.
Ines Molinaro, a representative from St. Clare’s said that she felt that studying abroad in the United Kingdom “gives students opportunities to see how different American culture is from British culture” and “allows them to see how others perceive Americans.”
Prospective students could talk to other students who have studied abroad in South Africa, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, and England. Salve Regina did its best to place one studying abroad alumni who had gone abroad at each of the booths to give prospective students the opportunity to not only talk to each programs representative but also a student who has worked with and experienced all that specific program has to offer.
Alessandra Pulit, a senior who studied abroad in Australia, wanted to share her experience of studying abroad that’s why she stepped in to be a representative at the University of the Sunshine Coast. “They couldn’t get the representative for the school, so I offered to step in so I could share the amazing experience I had there.”
The fair had a very high attendance rate with people coming and going throughout the two-hour period. All the booths had numerous interested students coming to talk with them but the short-term study abroad program to study at St. Clare’s, as well as the CIS Abroad booth, which allows students to study in South Africa, had the most traffic.
Students who were not able to attend the fair have the opportunity to go to Salve Regina’s Office of International Programs where they have all the programs listed in their office and hold information sessions at 4pm Monday through Friday.
Ashley Bourque 