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 Study in Asia

Asian regions of the world have long been areas of exploration, trade, and cultural exchange. Long-term foreign occupation in this area has shaped its countries' societies into one of the largest melting pots in the world. The huge variety of programs in Asia offer students opportunities to gain specialized knowledge in an all aspects of Asian society.
 
Study abroad programs in Asia have come of age. They serve as entry points for students to dynamic, colorful societies that have both strong cultural traditions and expansive growth potential in the global economy. Gaining an inside view of Asian societies during a student’s college years cannot only enhance their careers. It can change their lives.
 
Study in Asia is no longer just for “Asia hands” in area studies. Having an academic experience in Asia can become a student’s competitive edge over less adventuresome college graduates. Business majors, for example, would do well to learn Asian business and economic systems. We have lots to learn from Asian cities and the urban planners and civil engineers who face unprecedented growth and population density. Asia’s alternative medical traditions and conceptions of health are receiving greater attention in the West. Studio artists, fashion designers, and music majors can find fascinating opportunities to stretch beyond our Western aesthetic traditions. Mass media in Asia has gone far beyond importing American television and movies. The best way to get to know these markets—the people and their buying habits—is to live among them, especially at a young age.
 
Global Connectedness
To go to Asia used to mean going “way away” on long, claustropahobic, and costly flights across the Globe and being radically out of reach of home. In the Internet age, however, students can be in Shanghai or Surabaya and still be in frequent contact with family and friends back in the home country. Cell phones abound and Internet cafes have sprung up like mushrooms in the global village. Thanks to de-regulation in the telecom industry, the cost of a phone call is very reasonable in most Asian countries. Ubiquitous ATMs make currency exchange a breeze. The cost of flights to Asia are much shorter and cheaper than before.
 
Many students who study in Asia are born from Asian parents. They are rightly curious about the countries from which their parents or grandparents emigrated. For “heritage students” it can be a rich, but also at times confusing experience of living between two cultures, not fitting entirely in either. Many discover while in Asia how really different they are and how their own cultural formation mingles and sometimes merges with their Asian ethnic heritage.
 
What are you waiting for?
Asian norms of hospitality are often stunningly gracious. The quality and range of food, both Asian and franchised Western, has improved considerably. Travel opportunities within Asia have increased dramatically. Healthcare is also much improved. In short, Asia is not the hardship it once may have been.
 
It takes a special kind of person to buck the trend and “Go to Asia” for part of his or her college experience. However, the path less traveled often leads to the deepest discoveries—about the world and about oneself. Study abroad in Asia will not only be a fascinating sojourn in the Orient, it will also change your life.