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For Faculty

We are a campus committed to an internationalized curriculum, and providing access to international academic experiences is a central tenet of that commitment. A student’s academic advisor is an invaluable resource for students who are interested in studying abroad, and the earlier students are aware of the possibilities, the better. Therefore, we provide the following information and suggestions for academic advisors.

Bradley students can choose from a range of programs abroad:

  • Students can attend an affiliated program for Study Abroad for a semester or year. Bradley students attending an affiliated program abroad year pay Bradley tuition, and receive the full benefit of their Bradley financial aid package. This means that any Bradley student can afford to study abroad. (*See additional information below.) 
  • Bradley students can also attend a non-affiliated program abroad, assuming it is accredited for U.S. transfer credit. Generally, Bradley financial aid is not applied toward study in such a case.
  • Students can enroll in one of Bradley's interim programs abroad. These faculty-led international academic programs have enrolled more than 3,400 Bradley students since 2006, in courses from all five Colleges, in venues including Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Cuzco, Dublin, Edinburgh, Friedrichshafen, Helsinki, London, Ljubljana, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome, San Juan, Seville, Sydney, Verona, and Vienna.  
  • Students can enroll in regular semester-long on-campus courses with an international travel component. For example, Foster College, the Department of Biology, and the Honors Program, among others, offer Spring Semester courses with travel over Spring Break, in venues including India, China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Vienna, and more.
  • Students can investigate summer programs and a broad range of international internship opportunities.

*Note: Certain programs not already listed as affiliated programs can be treated as such in specific and well-defined circumstances in which 1) the program is administered by one of our long-term study abroad affiliate providers that have been previously approved; and/or 2) the program addition originates with both a student and his or her academic advisor and is supported by the department and/or college as well as the Office of Education Abroad. You are invited to discuss any program raising these issues with the Study Abroad Office.

First thing certain programs not already listed as affiliated programs can, in specific cases, be treated as an affiliated program. These cases include well-defined circumstances in which 1) the program is administered by one of our long-term study abroad affiliate providers that have been previously approved; and/or 2) the program addition originates with both a student and his or her academic advisor and is supported by the Department and/or College as well as the Office of Education Abroad. You are invited to discuss any program raising these issues with the Study Abroad Office.s first: inform new advisees, particularly freshmen, that study abroad is a possibility, and invite them to visit the Study Abroad Office in 246 Bradley Hall and to visit our website, studyabroad.bradley.edu. First-year students, including freshmen and transfer students, should also plan for study abroad opportunities after they have finished a semester on campus and established a Bradley GPA (see “Transfer Students” below).

Second, be aware of basic Bradley Study Abroad policies below.

Semester-Long Study Abroad Advising Facts

Note: students must have a minimum 2.50 Bradley GPA to apply for study abroad programs, and many affiliate programs have GPA requirements that are higher (2.75 or 3.0, for example).

  • Students in any major can spend a semester abroad – and we do mean any major. Of course, advisors in certain majors, particularly education, health sciences, and engineering, face challenges beyond those for advisors in study-abroad-congenial majors such as languages, international studies, international business, and others. However, even in disciplines where curricular planning is complicated by requirements including accreditation, course sequencing, and cumulative credit hours issues, a semester abroad is possible. (Do we have an ABET-accredited Engineering courses available in programs abroad? Yes.) Especially if a student and his or her academic advisor begin strategizing in the student’s first year, any student can study abroad. Please feel free to consult the Study Abroad Office for strategies.
  • To dispel two fading but persistent myths: study abroad students are not limited to taking BCC or elective courses only, and students do not graduate late because of studying abroad. (It’s true that students who have studied abroad have graduated late, but not because of study abroad.) Are you skeptical about these claims? Ask us.
  • Students applying for a semester abroad submit their courses for pre-approval by their academic advisor and other relevant units (World Languages and Cultures approves language credit, for example; and the BCC director approves BCC transfer credit). Earned credit hours then transfer with parenthetical grades, and students must earn a minimum “C” grade equivalent in order for a course to transfer. While credit hours for courses taken abroad transfer absolutely, grade values do not, so grades earned abroad do not count as part of a student's Bradley GPA. This long-term practice is a national norm.      
  • Courses taken at an affiliated program abroad during a student’s senior year count toward the requirement of having 24 of the last 30 semester hours fulfilled "in residence" on campus in Peoria.

Advising Transfer Students: like first-semester freshmen, transfer students must establish a Bradley GPA before they apply for a semester-long study abroad program. This generally eliminates incoming transfer juniors from applying during their first semester on campus for a semester-long Spring Semester program in their third year. However, though Spring Semester of the junior year is a good (and traditional) semester for study abroad, transfer students still have many options. They are eligible for Spring Semester on-campus courses with a spring break travel component; they can register in January, once their BU GPA is established, for May Interim programs abroad; and of course they can apply for semester-long program in FA or SP of their senior year. (As long as the program they attend is an affiliated program, those hours will count as BU “resident” hours for graduation.) We are increasing our efforts to inform incoming transfer students of their options for study abroad, and welcome them to consult our office as well.

Above all, please feel free to contact me or Kathy Stinson, our Administrative Coordinator for Study Abroad, if you have questions.

For faculty members interested in teaching in a interim program abroad, contact Christine Blouch, Director of Education Abroad.