Michael G. Thomas, associate dean of international programs for Drury University, has worked with the university’s Study Abroad programs for 13 year and plans to retire this semester.

He shared some suggestions with The Scoop about considerations students should make if they’re thinking about studying abroad.

Q: Traveling to another country for college students is a big step. In what context do you think Study Abroad can help students?

A: I think Study Abroad is an excellent complement to the Drury experience, and complements the general education curriculum (CORE) Engaging Our World section. All Drury students, as part of the general education curriculum, are required to complete two engaged learning experiences, and there are four ways to do it. One of them is the Study Abroad program. So I see many students that choose to complete this requirement through the Study abroad program, which is a requirement, and also to enhance their overall college experience.

Q: Is the Study Abroad program an option for all students?

A: Any student at Drury can participate with the Study Abroad programs. However, for any Breech School of Business student or Hammons School of Architecture student, they are required to complete a Study Abroad experience to complete their degree.

Q: I understand that for the architecture students, their Study Abroad program is to go to Greece. Can they choose another destination?

A: That’s one of the options and an option that many of our (architecture) students choose to participate to. It is a semester program, in the island of Aegina, Greece, and they do it during the spring of their third year or the fall of their fourth year. Yet the program in Greece — the semester program in Greece — is interdisciplinary, so students of any major can choose to spend a semester in Greece if they wanted to, and they are able to complete some CORE requirements.

Q: How many semester-long Study Abroad programs does the university offer to students?

A: In terms of semester Study Abroad programs, we have two programs in Spain — one in Granada and one in Barcelona — and both require that you are fluent in Spanish.

We have a program with a program with an international business school in France; a program in London, England; one in Lunenburg, Germany; one in Ljubljana, Slovenia. And we have a new program at Belfast, Ireland, that hasn’t even formally been announced yet, but it is coming next year. Those are the programs we’re offering in addition to Aegina, Greece.

Q: As an international student myself, studying abroad is a challenging experience. Have you heard students complain about their experiences during their trip?

A: On the whole, students return and comment that they have had wonderful experiences. Occasionally, though, there has been issues and challenges that we try to look at, and we try to make improvements on it in the future.

Q: Since there are countries where language can be part of the requirements to participate in the Study Abroad programs, how does the university help students to meet this language requirements?

A: There are languages that are offered at Drury like Spanish and French. We used to offer German as major or minor programs, but that’s not the case anymore. However, since last year, Drury University, Missouri State University and I believe Evangel University — maybe others, too) created a foreign language center in downtown Springfield where several languages that I believe include Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, and beginning this fall German is taught. So now students have the opportunity to, say, and study German 101 in the fall and German 102 in the spring, which will put them in an excellent position to travel to Germany with the Study Abroad program.

Q: Is the Study Abroad program always a semester-long program?

A: You know, many of our students choose not to do a semester Study Abroad but rather a short-term Study Abroad program, which could occur during winter term – between the fall and spring semesters – or during summer term. So this next summer term, students have the opportunity to study short-term in India, Morocco, Greece and Honduras.