NOTE: The program is on hiatus for spring 2022. Please visit the Spring 1 track of this program.
International Honors Programs (IHP) are unique within SIT’s portfolio. In one semester, you’ll deeply examine a single issue, such as climate change, healthcare, or human rights, in four cultural contexts on four continents.
Key Questions Explored on this Program
- How can a deeper understanding of culture transform our view of health?
- Is health a fundamental human right? If so, who is responsible for guaranteeing it?
- What can be done about the health inequities — between rich and poor, urban and rural — that exist around the world?
- What is the role of public health in the global context? How do the forces of globalization impact health and healthcare?
- How do grassroots activism and top-down approaches conflict with or complement one another?
- What is the role of community in health and well-being? And, how do different people understand what it is to be a healthy person in varied cultural contexts?
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program courses (including syllabi), program sites, and housing.
Recent Program Sites
- San Francisco, USA
- Hanoi, Vietnam
- Bushbuckridge, South Africa
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
There is no "typical day"on an SIT International Honors Program. Activities may take place on any day of the week and at any time of day to be in accordance with local norms and to take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities. Thus, the schedule and structure of the program are likely very different from what students are used to on their home campuses. The semester progresses in phases:
- The program begins in a US city, where students receive an introduction to the program’s theme, examine that theme in a US context, and prepare for travel to the other program sites.
- The program then spends four or five weeks in each of the other program sites where students:
- are introduced to field experiences by exploring neighborhoods,
- live with a host family, and
- examine the interconnections of the economy, the environment, politics, and society in vastly different contexts.
- Each program is composed of four courses, totaling 16 credits.
- Students produce a cumulative study project involving comparative research from across the semester.
- SIT Study Abroad offers a field-based, experiential approach to learning.
- Each program has a small group of students (typically 10–35).
- On an SIT program, students gain high levels of access to many different stakeholders and experts relevant to the issues the program is examining.
- Extensive learning is done outside the classroom — in host communities, field stations, NGO headquarters, ecological sites, health clinics, and art studios.
- Many students go on to use their research project as a basis for senior theses on their home campuses. Others use their undergraduate research and overall study abroad experience to successfully apply for fellowships such as Fulbrights and Watsons.
Money Matters
Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.
SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:
- All educational costs, including educational excursions
- All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
- Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
- Health and accident insurance
- SIT awards nearly $1.3 million in scholarships and grants annually.
- All scholarships and grants are need-based.
- Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
- The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.
- Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
Contact SIT Study Abroad
Globalization, Culture and Care
What are the forces that create good public health in some communities, and ill health in others? Why have health disparities within and across countries widened, even as modern health care has discovered the causes of many illnesses and prevented many deaths?
IHP’s Health and Community program strengthens students' ability to understand, interpret and compare the biological, ecological, economic, political and socio-cultural factors that affect human health. Students broaden their global perspective and deepen their skills in critical and comparative thinking, while gaining practical knowledge about:
- The health impacts of globalization
- Comparative health systems
- Governance and policy-making
- Public health issues and innovative strategies to address them
- Field-based research methods and analysis.
From Southeast Asia to South Africa, in city neighborhoods and rural villages, students learn to listen to and understand multiple voices: people in local communities, governing bodies and non-governmental agencies.
Future health care leaders come away with the confidence to ask important questions, analyze alternatives and set priorities for achieving sustainable and just solutions.
Key Questions:
- Is health a fundamental human right? If so, who is responsible for guaranteeing it?
- How can a deeper understanding of culture transform our view of health?
- What can be done about the health divide - between rich and poor, urban and rural - that exists in many countries?
- How do grassroots activism and top-down approaches conflict with or complement one another?
<p><strong>Please Note: </strong>There is currently a University Restriction on Student Travel in place for the Western Cape Province (including Cape Town) of South Africa. Consult <a href="https://iso.virginia.edu/travel-alerts-notices-warnings" target="_blank">https://iso.virginia.edu/travel-alerts-notices-warnings</a> for details. Students wishing to pursue education abroad programs in Cape Town or the Province must submit a petition as part of the Education Abroad application process per the <a href="http://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/PROV-010" target="_blank">UVA Policy on Student International Travel</a>.</p>
