Today: Mar 29, 2024

Liverpool and Southern collaborate for new study abroad program

Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter

Southern Connecticut State University and Liverpool John Moores University have recently announced a new multi-disciplinary partnership that will offer students from both schools many different exciting opportunities.

This partnership will give students a chance to study abroad in Liverpool, England. Two Southern students are already going across the pond in the spring semester to study in Liverpool, and one student from Liverpool is coming to Southern in the spring.

By 2017, Liverpool and Southern estimate that hundreds of students from both schools will get the chance to study abroad at their schools.

Erin Heidkamp, the director of international education at Southern, is very excited about the opportunities that are being created for students due to the partnership she helped make between Liverpool and Southern.

Heidkamp knows studying abroad can make a big impact on a student because she did it herself when she was 16, 19, and 22. Those experiences still resonate with Heidkamp today.

“Study abroad is one of those things that unfolds over time,” said Heidkemp. “You have certain experiences which might seem trivial when you’re young but 20 years later they’re still unfolding for you and you’re still processing and taking away from it.”

Although Heidkamp played a big role in this partnership, she was not alone. Faculty including Michael Rogers, Kathleen Skoczen and Jean Breny to name a few played a huge role in this development between Liverpool and Southern.

There are too many faculty members and important people at Southern to name them all, but there is 50-60 people on both sides of the Atlantic invested a lot of time into this partnership.

With all of the hard work these people are putting in, it is giving students a chance to do even more than study abroad.

Some other activities such as student exchange, faculty short-term exchange- co-taught-courses via distance learning (such as Skype), and joint internships are some activities that will take place between Southern and Liverpool.

Another important issue that Southern and Liverpool had to address was making all of this affordable for students.

Luckily for Southern students studying abroad in Liverpool was made as affordable as possible by Southern. Students will pay tuition and fees at Southern, and room and board at Liverpool.

Heidkamp could not put an exact number on how much that would cost but she said it would be comparable to what students are paying now on campus.

Obviously students might be spending more money while in the UK, due to all of the opportunities they will have living in Liverpool and being so close to London.

Heidkamp was thoroughly impressed with Liverpool when she visited and thinks students can learn a lot from just the city alone.

“Liverpool is an incredible city,” said Heidkamp. “It has incredible restaurants and theatre. You have the history and the museums of Liverpool and you’re two hours from London.”

Theatre is very big in Liverpool. Heidkamp explained that you can find plays that are of the quality you would find in Broadway and there might only be 15 to 20 people in the room. So students are going to have the chance to have experiences they’ve never had before.

This partnership between Southern and Liverpool is expected to evolve and give students even more opportunity to experience both schools as time goes on.

Photo Credit: Miroslav Petrasko

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