Study Abroad Leads to New Graduate Joint Degree

by Jamie Glass

What do most students think when they are gearing up for a study abroad program? A new adventure? Certainly. Visiting new places, meeting new people? Most definitely. Setting up a brand new joint graduate degree program between two schools? Not likely. Yet, that is exactly the unexpected direction my study abroad session took.

The University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) and the University of Wollongong (UOW) have a long history together, with UOW being the destination for several students participating in Semester Abroad and International Baccalaureate opportunities and vice-versa. During my undergraduate senior year, the two schools’ strong geosciences programs and desire to increase collaboration led to a jointly administered field class. Field classes are de rigeur capstones for any Geology program, a chance to apply three years’ worth of classroom theory to the more realistic outside world. Eight students from each university would come together over our summer (their winter) break for two weeks of intensive study with the location alternating between Australia and Colorado every other year. This gave students from each country an opportunity to take a detailed look into a region they may not otherwise be familiar with. The first ever class was held in Australia during July of 2016, and as a senior needing field class credits and doing a research project that involved the east coast of Australia, my advisor felt this would be a perfect opportunity.

The class was expectedly intense and had its share of bumps in the road for me (try camping in the outback when your bags have been lost by the airline!), but with a teacher to student ratio of nearly 1:3 the chance to form lasting relationships with world class faculty was never better. Using my research as jumping off point, I took as many opportunities as I could to ask questions and be engaged. At this point there was no thought to attending graduate school in Australia, only a genuine desire to talk about mutual areas of interest and get some additional insight into my own research. However, by the end of the trip, conversations had morphed to what my plans were for a graduate degree, and a tentative proposal began to take shape. It took many more months before just talk changed into a concrete plan and several points in time where it looked like everything was going to fall apart. However, the genuine desire from all parties to make it work eventually led to the Memorandum of Understanding – the blueprint for the official degree – being signed in May of 2018 nearly two years after plans first began.












To those who attend Study Abroad sessions and may be looking for something more after the undergraduate degree is finished, I offer the best advice I can: be engaged. Make opportunities for yourself by asking questions, and seek relationships that align with your interests. You never know where a good conversation can lead, and it may just end up with an opportunity you never expected!