Independent Experiences Abroad

"Independent Experiences" is an umbrella term that our office uses to describe international experiences that don't quite fit into the other existing categories. These include international internships, research/ dissertation/ fieldwork, independent study, service learning, student teaching, and volunteering opportunities.

• International Internships are programs abroad that provide students with temporary on-the-job training in a certain industry. Students typically complete these programs for academic credit and, in some cases, may be paid for their work. 
• Fieldwork, Independent Study or Research involves quantitative and/or qualitative research and instructional hours that, while supervised and initiated by an instructor, feature independent work and self-direction outside of a laboratory, library, or classroom setting.

For experiences like these, when the student(s) is earning academic credit, both the student and the supervising faculty member must fill out documentation in the StudyAway Portal. 

• Supervising Faculty should complete the Independent Experience Planning Application. (*If you already have an application open, click here to login to your study away portal, click on the home icon in the top left corner of the screen, and click "Applicant" to view your in-progress applications.)
• Students should complete the UGA General Independent Experience Abroad application.

**Students need to complete the UGA General Independent Experience Abroad application regardless of if they are earning credit or not!


What We Need on the Independent Experience Planning Application: 

• There are 6 (really only 5) requirements total (3 questionnaires and 3 (usually just 2) uploads):

  1. Alternative Instruction Contingency Plan - what will you do in the event the trip gets cancelled for the student's credit?

  2. Ind Exp Academic Course - which course are you approving for your student's experience? (MARK 4800, ANTH 4960, etc)

  3. Ind Exp General Information - who is overseeing the course? who is scheduling? what are the dates?

  4. Ind Exp Academic Information Upload - similar to above information, just in a spreadsheet to be reviewed by Curriculum Systems (see template for guidance)

  5. Ind Exp Budget Upload - not applicable (most likely)

  6. Ind Exp Syllabi Upload - a copy of the UGA syllabus for the course

What Happens Next:

• ✅ Our team works to either activate a pre-existing SABD Course number or create a new SABD Course number. (*note: this is a placeholder course that does not hold any credit value, but it is linked to the department course, and to the country the student is traveling to)

• ✅ Then our team assigns a CRN to those SABD Course(s).

• ✅ Curriculum Systems reviews the information you (the supervising faculty) upload and approves it.

• ✉️ Our team sends the CRN(s) to the departments (aka to you).

• ✉️ You send the CRN(s) to your student(s) to register for in Athena.

For full details on the policies and procedures regarding establishment of Independent Experiences for students, please see the Reporting Student Travel Policies.

All questions about Independent Experiences should be directed to Ms. Abigail Smith, Global Education Advisor at Abigail.Smith5@uga.edu.

 

Student Application and Department Planning Application Deadlines:

Independent Experiences Planning Documentation Templates: