Welcome to the Office of International Education: How to Choose

Do you speak another language or do you want to learn one?

There’s no better way to learn a language than through studying abroad. From Spanish, French, and Italian to Mandarin, Japanese, and Arabic, many programs are designed to improve your language skills-- no matter what your fluency level is.

Some programs are fully immersive (where you will only speak the host language), while others have no language requirement and include language courses as part of the overall curriculum.  

If language-learning is among your main priorities for study abroad, you should probably select a program which is at least a month long and which incorporates opportunities for interaction with local people.

Do you have a location in mind?

If you can narrow it down to a country (or even a continent), you've already begun to focus your search.

Need to narrow down further? Consider what's most important to you.

• Outdoor adventures?
• Arts and culture?
• Sunny days?
• Incredible food?
• City or rural location?
• Dormitory, homestay, or apartment living?

Do you want to have a short two-week experience, or to study abroad for a summer, a full semester, or an academic year?

Not sure? Consider these factors:

• How much time can stay abroad without missing classes you need for graduation?
• Do you have a job that you need to hold onto in order to support your studies?
• Would your family be comfortable having you stay overseas for a longer period of time?
• Do you have enough funding from various sources to support a longer-term study abroad?
• Are you comfortable with the idea of being away from home and family for a longer period of time? What are your goals?
• Could they be achieved by means of a two-week trip with a faculty member and group of Lyon students or do you need a longer period of time to get to know a new country, its people, and its language?
• Are you or do you want to become self-sufficient and do you want to learn to learn how to cope with challenges on your own or do you need a lot of support?
• If you let this one chance to study abroad go by, are you likely to ever have one again?

Do you have requirements that you need to fulfill for graduation?

There are programs that focus on specific disciplines and those that are more general in scope. You can make your search a little easier by saving some of your general education requirements for study abroad. It is always easier to find overseas classes in subjects such as language, art, and history. However, some of the new Lyon study abroad sites, such as the Vesuvian Institute in Italy, offer a chance to study specific aspects of majors such as computer science, but in a local context. They also offer opportunities to earn up to six Lyon credits in courses taught by Lyon faculty.