Release date: Aug. 9, 2005
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

Emory Leads in Study Abroad Opportunities for Science Majors

In an increasingly global marketplace, Emory's science and pre-med students have a leg up on most of their peers across the country thanks in part to an innovative faculty and student exchange in neuroscience and behavioral biology (NBB) with Emory's sister institution, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The exchange, dubbed BrainStEm—a merging of the St. Andrews and Emory names—has a mutually designed curriculum that allows NBB students to study abroad while seamlessly continuing in their major. (Students also can opt for a 4/1 joint degree program with St. Andrews, completing their bachelor's degree in NBB at Emory and a master's in neuroscience at St. Andrews.)

"Study abroad programs in science are very rare among universities because the required curriculum is so structured for these majors," says Philip Wainwright, director of Emory's study abroad programs. "Because of the building block way sciences are taught, it's hard for science students to step out of the sequence of courses for the typical study abroad program centered on language, history and culture."

Additional offerings include a chemistry program in Siena, Italy, and a 30-year-old psychology/child development program in the United Kingdom that Wainwright says is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the United States.

Among the several other science-related programs in various stages of development are a biochemistry program in Bordeaux, France, in partnership with Agnes Scott and Amherst colleges, and an international health care course in Vietnam. The latter course will allow students from Emory and its two-year division, Oxford College, to shadow health practitioners. According to Oxford College sociologist Mike McQuaide, who recently returned from a sabbatical research trip to Vietnam, the program he's proposing offers the opportunity to observe the use of Western medical practices in the southern part of the country and Eastern, Chinese-based practices in the northern part.

All this is happening in the context of rapidly expanding study abroad participation at Emory and across the country, after a brief dip the summer following 9/11. During the past decade, Emory has experienced a 73 percent increase in study abroad enrollment, with about 40 percent of its undergraduates participating.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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