Butler University launches a new overseas program. Photo courtesy of Butler University.

CHARLOTTE HARGROVE | STAFF REPORTER | chargrove@butler.edu

Butler Overseas is set to send its first class of students to complete their degree on six different continents over the course of three years, starting in the summer 2027 semester. Students will have the opportunity to engage with an international and interdisciplinary curriculum and receive a degree in environmental studies or international business with a minor in the other.

Participants will spend their six spring and fall semesters in England, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Argentina and Sri Lanka, respectively. The first and third summers will be spent at Butler in Indianapolis, with the second summer being split between Butler and South Africa.

Calie Dickey, the associate director for study abroad, has helped with designing and promoting the program, along with advocating for its importance in bringing students more marketable skills, like flexibility and independence.

“We know that there are benefits of studying abroad in addition to it just being a really amazing personal experience,” Dickey said. “We have students not just going for a summer or a semester, but we have students going for six different semesters in six completely different locations with [summers] in the U.S., and also a [summer experience in South Africa]. Can you imagine the benefits that students would get from one semester, and we’re multiplying that by six?” 

Butler Overseas is the first global degree model in the nation that offers both online classes with the home institution and in-person classes abroad. Butler’s 30-year partnership with the Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) allows the overseas program to utilize IFSA faculty and partner institutions for on-site classes, excursions and housing while abroad.

“We offer amazing coursework here at Butler,” Dickey said. “To have our students learn not just from Butler faculty, but also [from] faculty from Mérida, Mexico and Kandy, Sri Lanka, and from professors in Rome who are also experts in the field, and who are teaching our students different ways to view supply chain or environmental studies. We’re hoping that these students are going to come out of this program with this incredible, unique perspective.”

The Overseas program’s housing accommodation options differ from city to city, with some being homestays, where students stay with local families, while others are apartments. Butler Overseas tuition and housing for the three-year program are comparable to Butler’s four-year total expenses. There are also academic scholarships available, similar to Butler’s.

Abigail Crawford, a junior biology and Spanish double major,  discussed her experience with studying abroad and getting the opportunity to live with a local family in Seville, Spain.

“I gained more independence, I was able to grow into myself a little more because I was away from everything I did,” Crawford said. “I was able to learn a whole new culture.”

When it comes to the idea of studying abroad, first-year arts administration major Reyna Avia spoke on a potential drawback of a global degree and the commitment a program like this would require from the perspective of a new college student.

“It would probably be a big decision because it is a pretty big commitment going so far away right when you’re 18,” Avia said. “Then traveling to all these different places on your own, but I think it would be a really cool learning experience.”

Crawford noted the importance of immersing oneself in real-life learning experiences.

“I think that seeing it for yourself is very different from just seeing a textbook online,” Crawford said.