HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

The College has sponsored overseas study every year except 1993, when a course in Egypt had to be canceled because of incidents of violence against tourists.  The College's international study program has operated continuously since 1986 - involving more than 500 social workers, students, and their friends and family.

The courses have always included graduate and undergraduate students, most of them from the University of South Carolina but, also students from other U.S. colleges and universities, faculty members from various universities, and social work practitioners. University credit is given by USC as well as continuing education units and contact hours recognized by the social work licensing board. Some universities and colleges also give credit for participation in the courses. Several hundred social workers and students have participated in these international courses over the years.

University of South Carolina credit for undergraduates (SOWK 306) and graduate students (SOWK 757). In-state tuition for all registrants, both in-state and out-of-state.  For professionals, Five Continuing Education Units (CEU's) or 50 contact hours.  Accompanying family members and friends welcome.

For more details on the Study Abroad program contact the course director, Leon Ginsberg, Ph.D. (803)777-4210 or e-mail at leon.ginsberg@sc.edu. 

International Programs

The College's international program began in 1986, with some activities in Mexico when the University also had started a major program in Mexico. The University provided full-time staff in Mexico to coordinate our joint activities.

We offered a course for the first time in October 1986, which involved faculty and students from all over the United States. In addition, we offered one or two seminar courses every summer from 1987 through 1991. During this time, the College proposed, and the University approved, a specific course for international social work called Social Work in Another Nation, SOWK 757, for graduate students. We also offered an undergraduate course, SOWK 306, Social Work in Other Nations, on social work welfare systems in selected nations of the world and the study of the variations in their services.

In 1991, the University signed a formal agreement with the Autonomous University of Mexico for faculty exchanges and the Mexican University sent three social work faculty members to Columbia to visit the campus and to execute the formal agreement between the two institutions. Our most recent endeavor came in 1994, with the offering of a section of SOWK 757 in the Yucatan Peninsula area of Mexico, a totally different part of the nation.

In 1992, the College sponsored a section of SOWK 757 in Israel.

For 1994, the College taught Social Work 757 in Mexico but this time in the Yucatan Peninsula, a very different part of the nation. Thirty participants visited health and human services programs, including the Yucatan State mental hospital I Merida, and a variety of other programs. The Mexican hosts provided the students, who came from several states and schools of social work, transportation and educational activities. In addition to social welfare visits, the participants also visited historical and archaeological sites in the area.

In 1995, the College's international offering was Greece. Faculty members from several other institutions assisted University of South Carolina personnnel in providing lectures on contemporary issues. Visits were made to several health and social services programs and students had opportunities to meet their Greek counterparts. Activities were in Athens and on several Greek islands, which were reached during a four-day cruise. Antiquities and archaeological sites and museums were also included in the visit for the 33 participants.

For May 1996, the College sponsored two sections of the course -- May 9 - 18 in England and May 20 - 29 in Greece again, with a trip similiar to that of 1995.

In May 1997, 70 social workers and other participated in the College's course in Scotland, England and France. For the first time, special attention was given to gerontology programs in these nations and a group of gerontology students participated. Fifteen students and Professor Margaret Fontanesi-Seime of Middle Tennessee State University joined in the program.

In May 1998, 55 participants from all over the United States traveled to Russia and Sweden with the College of Social Work program. Several applicants had to be turned away because of space and deadline problems. The quality and educational value of the program were so great that the College is repeating the same program in 1999. The enthusiastic responses of the participants both during the trip and after returning persuaded the College that it ought to offer the experience again.

The cost of the 1998 trip to Russia was approximately $2,000 - $2,200, including registration fees, visa, round trip transportation from most US cities, hotel accommodations, daily breakfast and dinner, historic and professional tours and visits (including visits to selected social agencies, city tours in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Stockholm, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin, Red Square at night, the Moscow circus, palaces, meetings with Russian students and Russian and Swedish professionals, overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and bus transportation). Optional visits to the Bolshoi, and other museums and many other sites.

The summer of 2000 the College sponsored a trip to India.  Please click here to view the archived information on that trip.

Leon Ginsberg, Ph.D.

KOREAN PROGRAM