The most important step in preparing to study abroad is finding a program that suits your academics goals and personal interests. When browsing through your program options, try to ask yourself the 'skills question' that our staff asks at the beginning of each information session. What do you want to do with study abroad? What kinds of skills are you hoping to develop during your time overseas that you can't do here on campus?

Searching for a study abroad program can be overwhelming. There are literally thousands of options for students planning to study overseas. While Villanova does not maintain a list of "approved programs" there are a number of criteria that your study abroad program should meet. These conditions are set in order to ensure that students choose a program which enables them to become as immersed in their host country’s lifestyle as possible.

• Your study abroad program must be a non-profit organization - almost any overseas university will be a non-profit.
• Your study abroad program must be linked to a non-US university – no studying at US campuses in exotic locations.
• Your classes must be taught by non-US professors – you are taught by Americans at Villanova, why travel abroad if you don’t want to learn from a different perspective?
• Your housing must be integrated into the host country – this could mean a home stay, dorm, or apartment or anything that allows you to live the way students live in that country.

In addition to our Find Your Program tool and the Overseas Courses Database, there are other online search engines to help your students find the overseas experience that fits in with their academic goals. Please visit http://www.IIEPassport.org  and http://www.studyabroad.com to learn more about study abroad options.

Following the above criteria, the OIS currently coordinates four Villanova year/semester programs. Each of the Villanova programs combines study at an overseas university with one specially designed Villanova class, arranged just for Villanova students. Through one of these programs, you can study at an Irish, English, Australian, or Italian university for the year or the semester.

If one of the Villanova programs doesn’t quite meet your needs, you are encouraged to research Non-Villanova year or semester programs. Again, the OIS does not have an approved list, but we do have a list of universities and programs where Villanovans have studied abroad at in the past. Notice that the universities and programs are broken down into different types of programs, and not just by location. This feature is designed to help you pick the study abroad experience that will fit your academic and personal needs and not just fit into one geographical idea. (Remember: We are not your travel agents!)

Use the Overseas Course Database to see where Villanova students have taken classes in the past.

In addition to this list, you can also use our Overseas Course Database to search for programs based on the subjects that Villanova students have taken at each school in the past. Suppose you are an Economics major and are interested in taking at least one Economics course overseas. Simply select ECO and the database will reveal each university and program where a student received credit for an Economics course. Since we want to focus on your academics, this is a great tool to use if you are interested in studying a particular topic while you are overseas.