| Links to Canadian and International Study or Work Abroad Programs |
| If you want to study or work abroad, but just for part of your degree, there are various options. Of course your school will have connections with lots of places, and they'll usually let you arrange your own year or term abroad if you want to go somewhere they haven't got connections, but both of those will be a lot of work and responsibility that you really may not want to deal with. Most of the links below are not to government programs, but you'll certainly need to go outside government information if you want to work or study abroad, so I've provided a few starting points below. If you are already at a Canadian university or college, and you want to go abroad as part of your program, go find out about the Exchange and Study Abroad office right now. If there isn't one, you're going to have to do a great deal more work to get credit for time abroad, or it may just be impossible. Assuming there is an office, you'll need to talk to them, anyway, because they know about arranging transer credits and stuff, plus they will have a wealth of the sort of information I've started to provide below, including school-specific programs, which are often a great option, especially if you can do an exchange, because then you each pay tutition to your own school, so nobody gets hit with huge International Student fees. SWAP This is one that you're unlikely to avoid hearing about, if you haven't already. It's a work abroad program of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), and it can find you job opportunities in specific countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and South America. The good thing about SWAP (Student Work Abroad Program, as you probably could have guessed) is that they are big, and established, and that usually means a lot less trouble for you, both in preparing to go abroad, and once you are abroad. The CFS is a pretty good organization, too; most of what you'll hear about is their travel stuff (including Travel Cuts, the travel agency), but they also have student housing and health care programs, they negotiate student deals on things like cell phones, and they lobby the governments, at both Provincial and Federal levels, for lower tutition fees. And DO NOT become a Canadian student without their ISIC and/or StudentSaver cards. Having made that shameless plug (but it is in your best interest to know about them), the CFS website can be accessed HERE. Queen's University: Study and Work Abroad This is a resource, compiled by Queen's University's International Centre, of a lot of programs offered by a lot of Canadian universities. It is, naturally, much shorter a list than the Study Abroad Links site, below, provides, but these are established programs by schools you are probably considering going to, and that is worth a great deal. International Study Centre It's an educational institution, established by Queen's University and participated in by a few of the other Canadian big urban schools, that allows students to go live and study in a castle in England, without a lot of the going-abroad fuss, because it is a Canadian establishment (and although it's still very expensive, it isn't as expensive as going to a UK university would be, plus you can get bursaries, which you generally can't at foreign schools). Of course, the Canadian-ness may make it off-putting if part of what you want is the feeling of being abroad, but I wouldn't worry too much, as you can always leave the castle (Herstmonceux, in East Sussex) and find some non-Canadians. I would have gone like a shot, but back in the days when I was an undergrad, they only had a first year program, and I think it's a pretty bad idea for your first experience of Post-Secondary education to be at a castle in England, unless, of course, your whole degree is going to be done in England (which you can't do through this program). First year is about settling in and getting to know your school, and it's very discumbobulating to be a second-year student who knows virtually nothing about his/her school. Now, however, they have both first and upper-year options, plus you can do part of your law degree there, if you are so inclined. So check it out if you're even vaguely interested, because it might be just what you want! Exchanges Canada This is a Federal Government site, and it provides access to various programs and resources for youth exchanges. It's linked in the Canadian section of the main Study Abroad page too, but I'm putting it here in case you ignored those because you wanted to get right into the real stuff. The programs the government actually sponsors are mainly within Canada (don't discount that, however; remember, this is a huge and diverse country), but there are some resources on exchanging abroad, and the Federal Government, however you feel about it politically, tends to be a fairly reliable source for stuff like this. They won't send you to Belarus and dump you there (which does sometimes happen), which is a good thing to know. Gives one that warm, fuzzy feeling. Study Abroad Links It is exactly what it says, and is not affliated or endorsed by anyone at all (nor is it Canadian), but it's a huge, searchable web guide, and might be worth a look. At least it will give you ideas about what to expect. |