Wharton offers new study abroad options

The Wharton Faculty Committee approved two new study abroad programs in Japan and Hong Kong earlier this month. Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are participating in the program, Wharton Undergraduate Dean Richard Herring said. We've had some experimental exchanges earlier so both sides are very comfortable that it will work," Herring added. The agreement with the foreign institutions does not designate a specific number of students who will be involved each year. But at the end of three years, the number of Wharton students studying at Penn. There are currently study abroad programs in France and Spain specifically designed for Wharton students. But these are "island programs," not actual exchanges, Herring said. Applicants to the new programs must have a high level of proficiency in the country's language, since students studying abroad take regular college-level courses taught completely in that language. According to Herring, the exchange in Hong Kong will give Management and Technology students the opportunity to study abroad while meeting their graduation requirements at Penn. Although the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is a relatively new school, it has established a remarkable reputation int he international science community, Herring added. Two students spent last school year at Hitotsubashi University, Japan's top school of commerce. "We were more or less on our own since there hadn't been a program before," Wharton senior Lynda Chang said. Although she said it was extremely challenging to attend school there, Chang called her time in Japan the best experience of her life. With the newly-created formalized program, Hitotsubashi University will subsidize students' living expenses, Herring said. The Japanese program centers around a research seminar in which the students participate. The seminar intergrates the American students with their Japanese peers, according to Herring. Wharton senior James Sweetbaum said the teaching methods in his Marketing seminar were different from those to which he was accustomed. After every class, the professor took the students to either a bar or restaruant. "A lot of the socializing is when you get to know everyone," Sweetbaum said. And Office of International Studies Overseas Program manager Annabel Belgaumi said she is pleased with the new programs.