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International Affairs Education Abroad Guide

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CU Boulder Education Abroad offers over 400 programs in over 70 countries! You can go abroad for a semester, year, 2-12 weeks in the summer, or even winter break. Going abroad is strongly encouraged by the International Affairs department. Use the following information as a general guideline to plan your time abroad, and connect with your academic advisor as well. Work with Education Abroad advisors to get more details on how to get started, discuss your program options, and next steps. 

Quick Facts

  • Most IAFS majors go abroad during their junior year. It is also possible to go abraod during sophomore year, although less common.
  • The IAFS major off-campus experience requirement can be fulfilled by any 3 credit upper division education abroad course. 
  • Use the Course Approvals List to find programs that offer courses approved for the credit you need

Planning and When to Go

  • First-year: Start planning for education abroad! Plan ahead for the required 3 years of foreign language needed for the IAFS major.
  • Sophomore: Start researching specific education abroad programs and be sure to check any language pre-reqs (when applicable). Save you geographic concentration classes for education abroad if you are going to a country in your geographic area. Finish your lower-division IAFS classes so that you will have the pre-reqs you need for the upper-division classes you will take during education abroad.
  • Junior: Go abroad! This is a good year for education abroad as you will likely be fairly proficient in a language (although you can go abroad at any language level or take classes in English). Going abroad during your junior year allows you plenty of variety in your choice of classes as you are just beginning your upper-division courses for the major.
  • Senior: Work closely with your advisor to ensure that you can get all of your requirements completed.
    Be sure that you know when the credits may be transcripted, as this can delay your official graduation date.

What Kind of Credit Can You Earn Abroad?

Usually Doable Tricky Probably Not
General Electives  A&S Gen Ed IAFS A&S Gen Ed IAFS A&S Gen Ed IAFS
Overall credit hours  Arts and Humanities, Natural Science (Non-Lab), Social Sciences Geographic concentration course(s), IAFS Functional Areas, Off Campus Experience
 		 Global Diversity 3000-level language requirement
 		 Natural Science (Lab), Written Communication IAFS Senior Seminar

**Please Note - IAFS-specific requirements CANNOT be fulfilled by courses that are less than 3 credits. On programs that offer courses less than 3 credits (examples include University College Dublin, Sciences Po, etc.), students will need to talk to their IAFS advisor about the best way to combine credits. 

Suggested Programs

Use these links to find programs that may be a good match for you and your course needs.
   

Additional Resources

Last Updated March 2023