While not required, Global Studies students are strongly encouraged to participate in the University of California’s Education Abroad Program (EAP). We are one of the majors that sends the most students to study abroad (both at UCSB and in the UC system as a whole)!

What can study abroad through UCEAP bring to your college experience?

  • EAP allows UC students to live and study in one of 40+ countries located on six different continents while continuing to make normal progress towards their degree.
  • EAP offers a variety of short-term and long-term study experiences in English or in a foreign language, including semester, full year, single quarter, and summer session options. There are also internship and/or community service learning options on many programs, giving students unique and invaluable career-building experiences!
  • It is a natural fit for Global Studies majors and one we hope all of our students will take advantage of - you can take what you're learning in the classroom and apply it in real-world contexts. 
  • ALL UCEAP credits transfer into your UCSB academic degree coursework, then you can petition courses towards specific major and/or GE area requirements, or you can use them as general elective units (upper or lower division.) For example, in Global Studies, students often work on a combination of foreign language requirement courses, while upper division areas IIB and III while abroad.

Hear from a former Global Studies major who studied abroad in Barcelona in the linked video below, and explore more UCEAP experiences here on UCSB’S EAP YouTube channel, and here for all-UC system UCEAP experiences.

Video description: YouTube video featuring former Global Studies student Izaya, who studied in Barcelona, Spain. Watch here if the embedded video doesn't load!  

But studying abroad is really expensive... right?

  • Not necessarily! The regular tuition and fees you pay for a quarter at UCSB are applied towards your UCEAP program.
  • Depending on the program you choose, it may be located in a country and city where the cost of living is much lower than in Isla Vista/Santa Barbara, which could bring your everyday living expenses down quite a bit.
  • Many of the same financial aid package elements you receive at UCSB can be applicable towards your UCEAP tuition and fees.
  • Additionally, there are scholarships available to help cover program costs specific to UCEAP programs.

I don't have time to study abroad...do I?

  • You might have more time than you think, even if you're a junior transfer or a double major.
  • The classic time many Global Studies students plan to be abroad is a semester, quarter, or entire year of their junior year, or fall semester of their senior year (particularly for junior transfers).
  • There are also lots of shorter-term programs (summer sessions, single quarter programs).
  • Can you graduate from abroad? Yes, potentially - with very careful planning. Talk to an advisor or peer advisor in our department if you're considering this plan! Here's a UCSB EAP page with some helpful logistics to consider if you are already abroad and planning to graduate "from abroad".

Ready to get started?

What's the process? Generally, you’ll follow these steps:

Picking a program:

  • Attend an EAP info session, or watch a recap of a previous one (Fall 2021 UCSB EAP information session for Global Studies majors held in Fall 2021. This is an older presentation but it has a lot of the basics that are a helpful starting point.)
  • Research and narrow down a program option (or a few - it’s good to have backup ideas in case your first choice fills or is otherwise not a match) using the UCEAP Find a Program tool. 
  • As you look at programs, read through all the information on the left side tabs to get information about specific program locations, time frames, academic requirements and course offerings, eligibility criteria, and cost. 
  • Note: you are not limited to programs labeled as “Global Studies”! Just about any EAP program will give you access to courses that can count for Global Studies major requirements (aside from ones labeled specifically for STEM majors.) We have a spreadsheet that lists potential EAP programs that are a good potential fit for major requirements you might be looking to work on while abroad, but do not feel limited to what is on this sheet.
  • Review program deadlines and application opening dates. Keep in mind that many popular programs fill with eligible applicants on the same day the application opens, so research and prepare well in advance so that you can apply on your preferred timeline.

Application steps:

  • You’ll create an account on the UCEAP website and begin your application (you can start early, then submit once the application opens as listed on the deadlines page.) Plan to dedicate several hours for all the pieces the application requires.
  • As part of your application, you’ll complete an Academic Planning Form (keep reading further down this page for some resources to guide you through this). As part of this process, you’ll report your current degree progress (using your Major and GE Progress Check on GOLD) and you’ll indicate potential specific course choices offered by your abroad program on the back side.
  • Upload your Academic Planning Form into your UCEAP application. Note: the Academic Planning Form has specific deadlines listed on it for when you need a signed copy uploaded into your application (if you are applying earlier, you can often submit a filled-out, but unsigned copy at that time, and then re-upload a signed copy once you have that piece in place.)

Academic Planning Form specifics:

  • The form has directions on it - read them carefully for guidance as you fill it out.
  • The UCSB EAP advisors have also created a helpful YouTube video with Academic Planning Form basics.
  • You do not need to plan to “match” specific courses listed on our major sheet (under upper division areas IIB + area III) with courses available abroad - you just need to find things that fit the same criteria for those areas. If you’re working on foreign language requirements, look for courses with the same skill level you’d be working through during the same time period at UCSB.
  • If you want to work on GE courses while abroad, review the GE petition criteria on the College of Letters and Science petitions page.
  • Note: the courses you list on this form may not (and very often will not) be available to you while you’re actually abroad. The process does force you to get comfortable researching course choices for your program and forces you to have a conversation with your major advisor(s) about what can and can’t count, so that you are more prepared to select actual classes while abroad.
  • Once your Academic Planning Form draft is complete, you'll then send the form and course descriptions (links, screenshots, pdfs - whatever works best for how course information is communicated by your program) to us at global-advising@ucsb.edu. We’ll review your course selections, add comments to your form for how they will (or won’t) match with major requirements, and we’ll provide the advisor signature. Please give our advising team members 2-3 business days to get a signed form back to you, especially if it is a busy season (registration pass times open and/or start of a new quarter.)
  • Please note: you do not need an appointment for this process, though you are welcome to book an appointment with us to go over a draft of your form if you get stuck (we’ll still ask you to email us the finalized form with course descriptions for our signature.)

 

Non-UCEAP study abroad opportunities

What if I want to study abroad but not through UCEAP?

It's possible. Here are a few things to consider:

  • Office of the Registrar procedures document :Non-UC Study Abroad + Office of Admission's Transfer Credit Policies for Non-UCEAP Abroad Programs document
  • General pros to consider:
    • Different program options (different cities, different countries, etc., that UCEAP doesn't currently have a partner relationship with)
    • Sometimes the costs might be cheaper, especially if you pay full-price, nonresident tuition at UCSB (but look very carefully at what is included!)
    • Could be a backup option if COVID-19/other unrest-related cancellations are affecting your chosen program
  • General cons to consider:
    • The BIG one: there's no guarantee that your credits and classes can transfer, and the UC system as a whole does not pre-approve credits for transfer (more on this here). This means that even if your non-UCEAP program asks for an advisor as part of the application to verify that we will accept the credits, we have to say that UCSB cannot pre-approve credits for transfer.
      • However, in Global Studies, we can provisionally advise you in how the course content would likely fit into our major requirements using this criteria sheet that we'd use for regular UCEAP (and other UCSB) courses you'd want to use by petition. However, we cannot guarantee that UCSB will give you actual credit for the classes (or if they do, that they'll count for upper division course units, etc.)
      • You can only send your transcript once you return and see what credits, if any, the Office of Admissions grants you (and whether they'd be counted as upper division courses or lower division courses, which would affect whether you can use them towards upper division major requirements). If the program has a US university accreditation (and the transcript is issued through a US college/university), that's a good sign!
    • The other big con: you'd be going through a private program, so your UCSB financial aid package typically won't cover anything, and you would need to search for your own scholarships.

Basically, if you choose this option for study abroad, be prepared to have to do a lot more independent research on everything that is involved (a nice perk of UCEAP is the high degree of guidance provided through the process) and loop us in early in the process so we can look at course options with you and help you interpret what your chances are that the credits will be accepted at UCSB!