Every year, thousands of UT Austin students pack their bags, gather their passports, and head abroad.
Texas Global’s statistics speak for themselves: “5,000+ Longhorns study, intern, and research abroad every year,” and UT has the “No. 3 highest education abroad participation in the U.S.” Clearly, students are willing to take the leap, but first, they must navigate a wide range of program options.
UT currently offers several pathways to study abroad opportunities, including faculty-led programs, reciprocal exchange programs, affiliate programs, and more.
I’ve had the chance to experience two of these during past summers: a reciprocal exchange in Singapore and a faculty-led program in Vienna, Austria. While each program has its own curriculum and goals, here are my main takeaways from my personal experiences.
What’s the difference?
Faculty-led programs are organized and taught by UT faculty, and most take place during the May or summer terms. As Texas Global describes, “Both immersive and intensive, short-term faculty-led programs give students an in-depth look at subjects…”
Each faculty-led program has a specific theme, such as “The Politics of Protecting the Great Barrier Reef” in Townsville, Australia; “Sustainable Fashion” in Copenhagen, Denmark; and “Vienna, Memory and The City” in Vienna, Austria.
Some faculty-led options, including mine, require an additional preparatory course in the semester before departure. This pre-departure class helped us build context for the months ahead, understand expectations, and get to know our cohort. Once in Vienna, our days were structured around discussions, excursions, and on-site learning. The program resembled a condensed summer semester, immersive and fast-paced. Still, the structure isn’t universal; much like on-campus classes, syllabi and teaching styles vary.
Reciprocal exchanges, by contrast, allow students to enroll in courses at a partner university abroad, “study alongside local students, engage in research projects or participate in an academic or non-academic internship abroad….”
My exchange in Singapore felt closer to a traditional college experience, with scheduled class times, independent assignments, and more flexibility to shape my daily schedule. Although it was also a summer program, it provided more opportunities for unstructured exploration.
connections
Each program introduced me to students from diverse backgrounds and academic fields. Both inevitably began with “What’s your major?” and “Where are you from?” but with differing dynamics.
In my faculty-led program, the smaller cohort and shared schedule created a more intimate learning environment. We lived near each other and spent much time exploring the city as part of the curriculum. While we mostly interacted within our group during the school day, we also learned from guest lecturers, guides, and a joint seminar with local university students.
My exchange program felt more like entering a new university from scratch. As one of the only two UT students at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, I had the chance to meet people from all over the world and form connections that transcended cultural and language barriers. Some of these encounters were wonderfully unexpected, such as befriending a student from California (studying at Northeastern University) whose parents met while they were attending UT Austin.
Both experiences led to meaningful connections with people I might have never met otherwise, though these connections look different once I came back home. Returning to Austin meant I might run into classmates from my faculty-led program, while my friends from Singapore are now spread across the globe.
costs
The faculty-led program fees started around $5,000, a cost that typically does not include tuition or airfare. Exchange costs vary widely depending on the partner university and country, but in my case, my tuition and exchange fees, including housing, ended up costing less than the faculty-led program. That said, prices differ significantly based on location, program length, cost of living, and many other factors, so the financial picture looks different for every student.
final takeaways
Both programs offered valuable experiences in different ways that I’ll carry into my future endeavors. One allowed me to study a focused topic alongside UT faculty and peers, bringing those shared experiences back to campus. The other encouraged me to build confidence in a new environment, navigate daily life independently, and learn from the international community through more self-guided experiences.