Global Diversity Sponsor: Semester at Sea

Semester at Sea began with a revolutionary idea: it sought, in the words of its founder C.Y. Tung, to realize the vision that “ships could carry ideas as well as cargo.” Today, more than 45 years after its founding, Semester at Sea is the world’s preeminent provider of global education.

Semester at Sea uses a ship as its campus, circumnavigating the globe each fall and spring semester, and exploring a particular region each summer. Students from more than 280 universities throughout the United States and the entire world take a full semester of classes aboard the MV Explorer, interspersing classroom learning with hands-on cultural exchange, fieldwork, and service learning in 8-12 international ports. The University of Virginia (U.Va.) serves as our academic sponsor, appointing the faculty, overseeing curricula, and providing transferable credit to participants.

The hallmarks of Semester at Sea’s integrated learning environment are challenging courses complemented by global, comparative field study. Students can choose from over 70 lower and upper division courses in a variety of disciplines during the fall and spring terms. Classes meet daily while the ship is at sea. The faculty is made up of visiting professors from institutions across the United States and abroad. All hold PhDs and are international experts who typically have had resident experience abroad, which enables them to integrate course content with countries on the itinerary. Each class has a field component requirement that the student must complete during the voyage.

Semester at Sea is the only study abroad program that includes an intergenerational learning component. As many as 40 non-student adults participate in our Lifelong Learning Program. Among these seasoned travelers are retirees, teachers on sabbatical, and others seeking personal or professional development. The academic program on board is made available to these participants, and most participate either formally or informally. They also become very involved in the shipboard community, relating well with the students, faculty and staff on board.

Throughout our groundbreaking history, Semester at Sea participants have met with world figures including Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Corazon Aquino, King Mohammed VI, Mother Teresa, Fidel Castro, and Arthur C. Clarke. Nobel Laureate Archbishop Tutu sailed around the world with the program in spring 2007 as Distinguished Lecturer in Residence, lecturing in classes and living in close contact with the shipboard community.