Academic Focus
The Modern Italian Perspectives Program at the CEA GlobalCampus in Florence is designed for students of all language levels who wish to take courses in English and Italian from a wide variety of liberal arts and social sciences subjects, focusing on the civilization and people of modern Italy. The diversity of this curriculum allows you the flexibility to choose courses that best meet your individual academic and personal needs.
The Modern Italian Perspectives Program gives you a unique opportunity to explore the culture and society of modern Italy in an active way: up close, hands-on, and fully immersed in a richly-equipped learning environment designed to deliver an unforgettable study abroad experience. CEA offers courses that allow you to engage face-to-face with the present-day Italy, with its customs and its people, in ways that would be otherwise not be possible. The program is driven by a sequence of onsite activities, projects and team tasks that help you learn by doing - whether that means exploring modern Florentine building sites with Italian architects, discussing the challenges of globalization with young Florentine entrepreneurs, or preparing a team-built multimedia presentation about the Tuscan wine industry.
Interaction with the best aspects of the local community is also a key component, so you’ll meet with locals such as politicians, film critics, NGO workers, local students, architects and artists. Academic visits will take you behind the scenes into political council chambers, private businesses and the offices of global welfare agencies. In short, you’ll find yourself in an exciting new environment of social interaction and collaborative learning where your dynamic sense of personal discovery will thrive. The Modern Italian Perspectives Program will not only help you gain true insight and feeling for your host culture, but also help you develop the international cultural fluency required to communicate and function effectively in an increasingly globalized world.
Whatever elective courses you choose, you’ll find that your studies are richly integrated. By offering varied ways of learning and understanding Italian society, all of the elective courses have been designed to complement each other. And if you’re enrolled in Photography or Florence Sketchbook, you can even gain credit for creating visual portfolios of Italian life in other courses on this program.
The CEA GlobalCampus in Florence is also a technologically-equipped place of creativity and excellence. The program’s website will carry the growing portfolios of photos and drawings of the Photography and Sketchbook students, while the personal accounts and reflections of the Contemporary Italian Culture and Society students and professor will appear regularly on a special blog. At the end of the program your achievements will be celebrated by a staff/student-organized exhibition of drawn and photographic images, rounded off with the presentation of the 'GlobalCampus Awards for Artistic Insights into Florence!'
You will choose either four or five courses and take between 12 and 15 credits in the US semester system. Both Italian language courses and elective courses generally meet for a total of 45 contact hours and are worth 3 credits in the US semester system. However, it is up to the discretion of your academic advisor how many credits will be awarded.
Schedule Summary
All elective classes meet either one or two times per week, for a total of 3 hours per week. Language courses meet two times per week for a total of 3 hours weekly. Classes may be held on any day of the week and are offered at various times throughout the day.
Course Registration
Course selection will take place prior to your departure for Italy. You will be required to submit your course selections to the CEA headquarter office prior to departure for Italy. To aid in the registration process, it is in your best interest to have courses, including alternates, approved by your academic advisor prior to departure.
To learn more about course requirements for your particular session as well as information regarding your host institution, you may click on the appropriate links above.
