Learning Abroad
The Honors College offers learning abroad trips to add an experiential dimension to the Honors curriculum and provide a peak experience in a student's success that will last a lifetime. Previous trips have included Italy, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Ireland, Jordan, and Israel. All learning abroad programs and courses are open to all students, regardless of major, discipline, or membership in the Honors College.
Programs are offered in the Fall, Winter, and Summer sessions and range from five days to 6 weeks.
Upcoming Programs
Looking ahead to winter 2024 or beyond? So are we! At the University of Houston, we believe that cross-cultural experiences are crucial to transformative learning and personal growth. As such, we continue to plan. Check out these great program options. Additional details will be added as available.
Chile & Argentina: Politics, White Gold, & the Lithium Triangle
For more information, please contact Ognjen Miljanic.
Political Ecology: Dominican Republic
This interdisciplinary course considers how the study of politics and of the environment intersect. The lenses of political science and local biology will be focused on questions of sustainability and community and economic development using the community of Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic, where we will travel, as our case study. Las Terrenas’ natural springs, Atlantic coastline, beautiful beaches, mangrove-lined wetlands, and teeming coral reefs provide the ecological laboratory for students’ community-engaged research and study. How does this biological regime interact with local, national, and global political forces? What are the difficult choices that communities face when prospects of long-term environmental degradation are put into tension with immediate community, economic, and political needs? In partnership with local communities, we will consider how to manage natural and community resources through tenets of sustainable development. Instructor permission is required to enroll, and enrollment in the course is required for the trip.
For more information, please contact Jonathan Williamson.
GalápaGo!
The course and trip are open to all majors. In fact, we want a mix of backgrounds and interests among our students.
This course is offered in Spring 2024 and provides required preparation for a research-based learning abroad trip to the Galápagos Islands in Summer 2024. The trip lasts a little over 3 weeks. Students will assist faculty with ongoing research projects at the Galápagos Science Center on San Cristóbal Island. In addition to preparing you for this immersive research experience, we will use the Galápagos Islands as a model to explore several topics in biology, geology, conservation, history, and art. The course will include integrative projects, readings, student-led discussions, field trips, and lectures. You must take the course to go on the trip, and you cannot register for the course unless you plan to travel with us.
The research, and getting around the islands, is physically strenuous. The islands are along the equator and so the sun is direct and hot. Several of the research projects require snorkeling in the ocean. Most of the research sites are only accessible on foot. Students can expect to spend 4–6 hours in the water and to walk approximately 8 miles a day. You must be comfortable swimming in the ocean in depths of up to 20 feet and you must be able to walk 6–10 miles each day to participate. While fluency in Spanish is not necessary to take the trip, some proficiency with the language is very useful in your host home, in town, on excursions and while doing fieldwork.
Trip deposits are non-refundable. Students are financially responsible for trip balances; program fees may not be refunded within 90 days of travel. Please check with your trip leader on payment schedules. Acceptance into a program is an acknowledgment of all travel-related and program fees.
For information on other Learning Abroad Programs at the University of Houston, please visit the Office of Learning Abroad's website.