What Is Global Education?

Semester at Sea is an experiential global education program focused on the comparative study of civilizations and societies. The semester provides a comprehensive educational experience through which disciplines and thematic issues are explored both cross-culturally and from a global perspective, supported and brought vividly to life during each port of call. Classes typically follow one of three perspectives:

• Thematically focused on exploring significant issues or subjects in multiple cultural settings. For example, a course in urban sociology will examine and compare data from key cities. Classes are taught with an international orientation directly tied to the itinerary. Similarly, science-related courses may explore the natural and physical world in terms of its varied geographic configurations, historical processes, and implications for the quality of human life. For the student, participation in courses in which paradigms of the topic area have been adapted to fit an international framework allow them an educational experience and challenge they might never encounter on a land-based campus.
• The systematical examination of two or more cultures in comparative ways. For example, the politics of communist societies, the histories of regions, the art of the Islamic or Christian world, and many similar courses invite an unprecedented exploration into the nuances of societal particularities and the dynamics of historical specificity, enabling students and faculty to reflect on and engage in exciting discussions about principles of relatedness that may be cross-cultural.
• An exclusive focus on a specific society (e.g. India, China, Brazil), inviting in-depth exploration into unique aspects of that society through a global-perspective lens. Making the study of a specific society "relevant" can be a challenge after one has visited that society and is moving on to another. But here a comparative perspective becomes crucial. It challenges one to explore that nation's relationship to other societies, and, perhaps most important, to make one aware of recurring questions and themes. That society then also becomes a "case" in which fundamental human and academic questions are addressed.