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Global learning opportunities for every student
Koobi Fora in Kenya, famous for its anthropological value, allows study abroad participants to experience in-field techniques and site management while studying current research with Kenyan and U.S. professionals and graduate students.
With more than 300 international programs in 67 countries, the University of Minnesota is one of the top schools in the country for students who want to study, work or volunteer abroad. The Learning Abroad Center ranks seventh in the nation in the number of students it sends abroad, with participation on the rise throughout the University system. Since 1997, for example, the number of students from the Twin Cities campus going abroad has more than doubled. At Duluth that number has quadrupled. And nearly half the students at the University of Minnesota, Morris study abroad before receiving their diploma. The University has a long tradition of sending its best minds overseas, sometimes in extraordinary circumstances. Following the Korean War, for example, students and faculty led by former Minnesota Gov. Harold Stassen -- one of the signers of the charter that established the United Nations -- helped rebuild Seoul National University into a top research university. Today, the University of Minnesota has more than 250 exchange agreements in place with institutions in Korea and around the globe. Those programs -- plus $250,000 in scholarship funds earmarked for international study -- give University students the chance to learn about music and dance in Ghana, rural development in Ecuador and international business in Australia, among many other opportunities. 
Outdoor education and recreation majors may find that Iceland is the perfect place for hands-on study.
While many are sophomores and juniors venturing abroad for a semester, international study at the University is for everyone. About 30 percent of the graduate business students at the Carlson School of Management study abroad, for example, many of them at the University's top-ranked program in China. Students with disabilities also can participate -- in 1997 the University established Access Abroad, the first program in the United States to encourage international study for the disabled. And the University is one of the few schools to offer a Learning Abroad minor for students who want to focus on international study during their time at the University. So while the U.S. Senate recently named 2006 the "Year of Study Abroad," global education is a decades-old tradition at the University of Minnesota, and it's a key part of its drive to be one of the top three public research universities in the world. Further reading UMNnews: Carlson School program rated No. 1 in China Learning Abroad Center Access Abroad Student profile: Music and dance in Ghana Student profile: Rural development in Ecuador Student profile: International business in Australia
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