Harding University International Programs brought changes to both Harding University in England and Harding University in Australia by adding side-trips to Iceland and Hong Kong for the first time respectively. According to dean of International Programs Jeffrey Hopper, the 10-day trip to Iceland will complete the circle back to the origins of the United Kingdom in the areas of world exploration, literature, folklore and history.
“Most important is the class work that the students will do before they go,” Hopper said. “They will study all these areas in addition to an added subject that is normally not part of the HUE program: geology.”
Hopper said students attending HUE this fall will study Iceland’s geothermal power, hydroelectric power, geysers, glaciers, tectonic plates and volcanoes.
“What they have studied in the classroom in London will take on a solid significance when they see the land from which all of this originated,” Hopper said.
While London in itself is filled with historical and literary sites such as the National Gallery, the West End Theatre District and the British Museum, the trip to Iceland will broaden the students’ appreciation for earth sciences.
“I just returned from a preparatory visit to Iceland, and the landscape is beautiful and remarkable,” Hopper said. “One gets the feeling that the earth is almost being born there.”
Likewise, HUA has recently added a five-day trip at the end of the program. According to Hopper, students will study the history of Hong Kong, which is in the middle of its transition back to full Chinese control, and take nature walks with an Oxford-educated doctor of ornithology and conservation.
Sophomore Hunter Beck, who will be going to HUA in the fall, said he is excited about the new addition to the program.
“The neatest thing about the study abroad progams is [getting] the chance to experience different cultures,” Beck said. “Hong Kong is obviously very different from anything you will experience in the U.S.”
In addition to these two major changes for the International Programs, the office has implemented a price freeze on overseas programs.
According to Hopper, anyone who signs up by Dec. 15 can participate in an international program next school year including the summer for current prices, without the normal 4-6% price increase. Hopper said the department s is working hard to keep Harding’s study abroad programs affordable for students.
