Study Abroad Opportunities

Meagan Wright '25

Meagan Wright '25 received a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for a semester of study in Japan in Winter 2025 on the JCMU program. She is immersed in Japanese language and culture study and hopes to return to Japan for further study after graduation.

The U.S. Department of State Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, thereby gaining skills critical to U.S. national security and economic competitiveness.

One of the categories of ‘fellowship’ is actually ‘competitive national scholarships supporting GVSU-administered undergraduate study abroad’! Of course, your very first step toward nationally-competitive applications is to work closely with PIC to receive approval for study abroad on the program of your choice (you’ll need to have identified the program and the semester in which you plan to participate before starting the application for external funding). Don't forget that GVSU also has great *internal* scholarships for study abroad for which you apply through the Padnos International Center Study Abroad website - this is the first thing you should do as you develop your budget for study abroad.

You will see the nationally competitive fellowship opportunities listed below, with links to the actual funding organization.

As you consider study abroad options, note that a number of study-abroad organizations focus on substantive, hands-on research opportunities (in STEM and muvh more); most offer financial assistance to students admitted into their programs. See International Undergraduate Research in the Office of Undergraduate Reseach and Scholarship at GVSU.

These programs and other fine study-abroad opportunities offer excellent, well-designed, academically rigorous study experiences - they are also pipelines to the Fulbright US Student program, to Peace Corps, to graduate study and to engagement in foreign service and international careers. You might explore, for example, the IES-Oxford, IES-University College London, and other IES programs, DIS - Study in ScandinaviaCIEE, CETHome | AIT-Budapest (for computer science majors), and the London School of Economics' General Course, a year-long non-degree program. You will want to work closely with your advisors in Padnos International Center to complete the application process for GVSU students to engage in study abroad. Don't forget that your financial aid award will travel in some percentage with you! And also, again - all of these study-abroad organizations offer additional financial assistance to students admitted into their programs.

*** PLEASE NOTE*** As you explore GVSU-administered study abroad opportunities, you might also explore these Fellowship opportunities (nationally competitive opportunities, at undergraduate and graduate levels, not administered by GVSU):  

For Undergraduates:

  • US-UK Fulbright Summer Institute (summer academic program at a participating British university for U.S. first years and sophomores who are underrepresented in study abroad / without study-abroad experience / with a GPA of 3.7 or higher; eligible students must have two years of undergraduate study remaining after the summer Fulbright experience)
  • Cultural Vistas Scholarships and Programs (including CBYX, but with MANY MORE State-Department sponsored programs for undergraduates and alumni - Cultural Vistas internship and work-abroad programs allow U.S. students and professionals to develop the expanding set of competencies demanded in today’s global economy through sustained immersion in a foreign country – language learninginterdisciplinary problem solvingempathy, and respect for cultural attitudes and ideas, to name a few)
  • Douglass-O'Connell Global Internship (a transformative eight-week summer internship program in Dublin, Ireland, for 15 exceptional U.S. undergraduate students annually who are underrepresented in study abroad, during which they will expand their understanding of Irish history and culture while gaining practical work experience)
  • Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program (summer on-site or virtual immersive and intensive language study of a critical need language - i.e., Arabic, Russian, Bangla, Tewa, Mandarin, Hindi, Farsi or other; U.S. undergraduates, seniors in the summer immediately after graduation and graduate students are eligible)
  • Funding for an Internship in the Netherlands - Naf.. The Netherland-American Foundation (thenaf.org) (USA2Holland offers support for internships to high-achieving and low-income American college students, providing financial support, travel stipend and visa support to attain experiential, uniquely international work experience in the Netherlands. This program is for highly self-motivated students who have the independence and drive to find their own Dutch internship but lack the financial means to travel and live in the Netherlands.) 
  • USINDO Summer Studies Program: Study Abroad in Indonesia

For Graduate Students/Alumni (in some instances (FULBRIGHT, for example!), students should start their applications in the winter semester of their junior year if they want to pursue the fellowship immediately after graduation):



Page last modified April 25, 2025