LIU Global - Academic

Academic

LIU Global offers a program leading to B.A. in Global Studies as well as semester-long or year-long study abroad options for visiting students.

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts degree program spend the first three years living and learning at LIU Global's overseas centers and program sites in Costa Rica, China, India, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Peru and Ecuador engaging with a variety of cultures and people through coursework, fieldwork, service learning projects, internships, independent studies and immersion.

Studies begin with a foundation year at the Costa Rica Center in Heredia City, Costa Rica. In the second year, students can choose to study at the India Center or can participate in the Comparative Religion and Culture Program (CRC), a year-long program that brings students to Taiwan, India, Thailand and Turkey. As juniors, students can spend a year at the China Center or traveling with CRC. In addition, they have the option to spend the fall semester as a part of Global Issues in South America (GISA), a semester-long program that brings students to Ecuador and Peru or the spring semester in Byron Bay, Australia. The final year of the program begins with an independently designed research project in a location of the student’s choice and culminates in a semester in New York City, where students complete a series of capstone experiences and a senior thesis. Over the course of the program, students build language skills, gain hands-on experience and acquire a cross-cultural education that is valuable to employers in today’s globalized economy.

LIU Global promotes an experiential education approach to their program, with academic coursework based in the classroom and supported by field-based independent research projects, local involvement and internships with various organizations. The emphasis is on cultural studies, arts, language, development and sustainability issues, and international relations, but LIU Global students study a wide variety of subjects under the instruction and guidance of their advisers.

The LIU Global electronic learning portfolio (ELP) is a cumulative, creative document that contains a chronological mapping of the growing intellectual journey of the student through the four years of the program. The ELP includes not only written text but images, sound files, video, presentations and hyperlinks that enable fast and flexible cross referencing between sections of the portfolio. These digital portfolios stay with students not only through their tenure with LIU Global but also as they move into their careers or on to graduate school.