New Japanese School Abroad plans take shape

Author: Lois Parshley

A College delegation went to Japan in early October to investigate the possibility of establishing a Middlebury School Abroad program in Japan - thereby expanding the Middlebury program's offerings to an additional country.

Middlebury currently has study abroad programs in twelve countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Egypt and Uruguay.

The College's investigating delegation was comprised of Vice President of Schools Abroad and Professor of German Michael Geisler, Dean of International Programs Jeffrey Cason, Professor of Japanese Stephen Snyder and Professor of Japanese Kazumi Hatasa, the Director of the Japanese School in the summer. They visited seven different universities while in Japan in search of a university partner that would help Middlebury set up its own program. The delegation was ultimately successful, finding several potential university partners.

The next step will be beginning negotiations with these potential partners, with the goal of working out an agreement with one of them to establish a new Middlebury School Abroad in Japan within a year. The subsequent groundwork required would mean that the earliest students who could take advantage of the new school would be the class of 2012.

Cason says about the venture, "We view the potential establishment of a Middlebury School in Japan as part and parcel of Middlebury's goal to solidify its place as a global liberal arts college." Middlebury's long-term strategy to strengthen its position as a global college involves an expansion of its programs around the world. The goal is to have close, focused learning where it is most effective.

He says that Middlebury attracts students to its Schools Abroad programs from a variety of other institutions, and only 60 percent of students at Middlebury's Schools Abroad actually attend Middlebury.

Middlebury's Schools Abroad are able to attract students from other institutions because of Middlebury's reputation as having "serious" study abroad programs, according to Cason. He lists continuing this upstanding reputation as one of the requirements against which the new program in Japan will be measured. A few of the other basic requirements of establishing a new School Abroad are a strong local university partner, a strong academic program and the possibility of students having substantial non-classroom opportunities for integration with local communities, with an emphasis on speaking the host country language.

Even though the possibility of a new program in Japan is still in the early stages of planning, Cason said, "[The College] is serious about trying to establish a new School Abroad in Japan."