Study Abroad & Domestic Exchange

Everyone should have the chance to study abroad, participate in domestic exchange, or pursue an internship program. As such, Financial Aid is available for all approved programs with costs often being similar to a semester spent at UMass. Moreover, a range of scholarships, grants, and work-study options can make your time abroad more affordable. 

That said, each program has a unique cost, and if you are cost sensitive, you should talk to an advisor in the Office of Global Affiars to help you identify which programs would be the best fit for you. The study abroad advising center is available to answer your questions about education abroad finances.  Also, be sure to look for scholarships in AcademicWorks. 

There are over 300 programs from which to choose, and we did a cursory look at programs we thought would be particularly interesting to our majors. While you'll find a list of programs that we know have some public policy classes, there assuredly other programs that have policy courses, too. If you find a program of interest that isn't on the list below, work with your academic advisor to get the courses there evaluated by our faculty. The process can take several weeks, so give yourself plenty of time.

• AFSI Abroad Study & Internship Prague
• API Human and Social Sciences Program in English in Barcelona
• API Multidisciplinary Studies for Spanish Speakers in Madrid
• API Multidisciplinary Studies for Spanish Speakers in Seville
• API Semester Spanish Language, Humanities, and Business Studies
• API Semester Business, Arts, Humanities, Italian Language and Culture in Florence
• CAPA Florence for UMass Students
• CAPA London for UMass Students
• CAPA Madrid
• CAPA Sydney for UMass Students
• CIS Abroad Thailand
• CYA - Study Abroad in Greece
• DIS Semester in Copenhagen
• IFSA Study in India
• IFSA Study in London
• IFSA Study in Shanghai
• Semester in Cyprus
• Study in Portugal Network
• University of Auckland Exchange
• University of Hohenheim Exchange
• University of Stirling Exchange
• Université Paris Dauphine Exchange

Keep in mind, that even as a public policy major, you may not need to take public policy courses abroad. Depending upon your particular course plan, you may have time to take electives, general education courses, or classes toward a second major or minor. Also, look at the Major Requirements page to learn how many credits may be taken off campus.

Keep in mind, that even as a legal studies major, you may not need to take legal studies courses abroad. Depending upon your particular course plan, you may have time to take electives, general education courses, or classes toward a second major or minor.

For students eager to take legal studies classes abroad, the easiest requirements to fulfill overseas are the Global Skills and Knowledge and the Law Related Liberal Arts (LRLA), so if you plan to go abroad, save those types of courses for your time away. Programs abroad that offer classes in sociology, political science, and more often have LRLA classes that allow you to examine the law from interdisciplinary perspectives. Additionally, up to two of the Global Skills and Knowledge classes required for majors are completed by taking any two classes abroad that are three credits or more.

In the past, UMass Legal Studies majors have studied in many programs overseas, such countries as:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Chile
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Ecuador
• England
• France
• Germany
• Ghana
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Jordan
• Netherlands
• Portugal
• Russia
• Scotland
• South Korea
• Spain
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Kingdom

The UMass International Programs Office details here the steps for preparing to go abroad. In particular, the steps for making sure the classes you take abroad keep you on track for graduation are outlined here. You will work with your public policy academic advisor in this process as well to identify which of your remaining graduation requirements can be taken abroad.

If you are taking general education classes abroad, those will be evaluated and approved by the International Programs Office using this process. 

If you are taking courses toward your major or minor, these will be evaluated and approved by the corresponding department following the process outlined here. As a brief example, if you want to take a class for your major abroad, bring the syllabus and the ICAF form to your major advisor. If you want to take a course for your minor abroad, bring the syllabus and the ICAF form to an advisor for that minor. Getting a course evaluated by a department can take a couple weeks, so start this process early.

The International Programs Office offers opportunities to take classes while interning in a number of countries abroad, including Japan, Australia, South Korea, Spain, Czech Republic, Ireland, France, England, Italy, China, Jordan, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Cyprus, Singapore, Vietnam, Senegal, and India. You can use the filters in the UMass Abroad Portal to identify the program that works best for you. 

The National Student Exchange is a network of over 170 universities and colleges in 48 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Through National Student Exchange, UMass students can study at another college or university, allowing them to live in another geographic area, access courses and facilities not offered at their home campus, and broaden their undergraduate experience. To research all participating institutions please refer to the NSE website.

Learn more about applying here. The first step will be to attend an information session. 

To stay connected to UMass applications, install the Microsoft authenticator and you should not encounter issues. If you will be using a different phone number, you can add a new phone number to your account as well. We want you to be able to stay connected!