McPherson College students have exciting opportunities to live and study outside the United States. Options available include one-semester programs (both fall and spring), full-year programs, and summer programs. Programs include traditional classroom experiences, internships, and service-learning experiences.
McPherson is affiliated with two major international organizations that manage international study: BCA Study Abroad Powered by Amizade (bca.terradotta.com) and ISA International Studies Abroad (studiesabroad.com). Through these organizations, students have access to programming at more than 50 universities in over 30 different countries. The college’s director of international study can help students access programs beyond these two partner organizations at additional universities in other countries.
The study abroad experience begins by meeting with the director of international studies. Then students work with their academic and financial aid advisors to select the program that best matches their interests and career goals. Student athletes will also want to meet with their coaches and plan their study abroad to match their eligibility and team schedules.
Following the study abroad experience, student academic credits will be transferred to the college’s transcript and become part of the student’s permanent record, providing documentation of the student’s achievement. Please note: Study abroad official transcripts typically take longer to receive than domestic transcripts. If the student is also an athlete, he/she will want to work with the study abroad institution and their coach as to not impact athletic eligibility.
During their international study experience, students will retain enrollment at McPherson, using course code **297, where ** represents the major department’s course code prefix (BI for biology as an example). Once the official transcript arrives from the study abroad school, the registrar’s office will work with the student’s academic advisor for the coursework equivalencies.
Recent international study destinations for McPherson students have included: Spain, Thailand, Japan, Ireland, England, and Ecuador.