After two semesters of refusing to permit students to study in Egypt, the Office of Overseas Programs is now accepting applications for students to travel there in the fall of 2012.

The programs were temporarily cut after two Washington University students were evacuated from the country following riots in late January of last year.

Mark Beirn, associate director of Overseas Programs, noted that the decision to accept applications does not necessarily mean the University has agreed to send students to Egypt in the fall. As of Tuesday afternoon, he has had two students approach him about the program. He told each of them that while they could apply, they should identify a backup country as well.

“We have told students that have expressed an interest…that we can’t guarantee that the programs will be in a position that they will be able to run next fall…nor can we guarantee that Wash. U. would endorse or permit their participation in these programs even if they were to run, given the conditions in Egypt,” he said. “It’s just an uncertain and unknown environment right now that can be very volatile.”

Last January, two juniors in the College of Arts & Sciences studying in Cairo and Alexandria were evacuated from the country following protests against President Hosni Mubarak that turned violent. That week, the U.S. Department of State ordered all non-emergency personnel and their families to evacuate the country as soon as possible.

As recently as last November, three American college students who had been studying at American University in Cairo were detained for several days after being accused of taking part in a string of political protests.

“There’s no red light for Egypt right now, but anyone who applies to go to Egypt needs to know that the situation could change,” Beirn said. “Circumstances can change, as we saw, overnight or over the course of a week or a matter of hours. We’re monitoring the situation closely; we’re following State Department advisories—[from the] Overseas Security Advisory Council—and information we get from our partners onsite.”

A new faculty committee convening for the first time next month will ultimately make the decision of whether to allow the program in Egypt to continue. The provost will lead the International Travel Oversight Committee and look specifically at global travel conditions to ensure student safety.

“These things are reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” Beirn said.

Members of the University community were supportive of its efforts to restore the programs.

“I understand the concern of parents and University administrators to keep our students safe…However, I do think that there [are] enough positive developments to reconsider accepting application for next year,” Associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies Hayrettin Yücesoy said. “The political process seems to be moving ahead and we do not hear violent outbreaks [are happening] in places where our students are going to be most of the time.”

Junior Sara Fichman-Klein hoped to go to Egypt last summer to build on her Arabic minor, but said her application was returned to her two days after she sent it in. She noted that programs in Egypt are especially important because people there speak a different dialect of the language.

Regardless of her disappointment, though, she said she was pleased that the office was reconsidering its stance on programs in the country.

“I’m glad they’re at least keeping an open mind…because Egypt is a very important Arab country to visit and I wish I’d had the chance,” she said. “Actually I know people who went to Egypt in the summer and they had no trouble whatsoever.”

Beirn said balancing the benefits of having students study abroad with considerations for their safety is an ongoing struggle.

“It’s complicated. Students are more interested now than ever in going to the Middle East, and I think the events of the past year there have really inspired interest,” he said. “It’s important for us to have these opportunities available but we have to do it responsibly.”

Beirn noted that while the committee will be working hard to prevent a repeat of last year’s student evacuations, the University remains prepared to assist students in returning to the U.S. should unforeseen situations arise.

“Instances where we’re not allowing our students to remain in the country, we will request that they return and work with them to facilitate that return. We haven’t had to do that too many times. We haven’t had any cases where students have refused to return home,” he said. “I think students recognize that our decisions are made with their best interests at heart, and that these decisions aren’t made easily or lightly.”

Courtesy of Danish Institute for Study Abroad

The Danish Institute for Study Abroad building in Copenhagen, Denmark. DIS hosts the new study abroad program at Denmark for psychology students.

The program, led by the Danish Institute of Study Abroad (DIS) in Copenhagen, will offer psychology students academic opportunities they are not able to have on the Washington University campus.

Psychology professor Leonard Green, coordinator of the program, says that students will be required to take a core class in one of two tracks, either positive psychology or European clinical psychology. Students will also be required to enroll in a practicum for the core area they choose.

According to Green, students do not have much of an opportunity to study European psychology at Washington University.

The students will also be required to take two non-psychology programs, at least one of which must focus on Europe or Denmark specifically.

Betty Hallock | Los Angeles Times | MCT

Bikes line the canals in the Christianshavn neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“It is the first year, although it is only temporarily approved, it’s not a fully approved program for psychology students,” said Julie DiBerardino, the study abroad advisor in charge of the new program.

Green said he hopes the program will be offered in future years.

“We will evaluate it at the appropriate time to see if we want to make it a permanent option,” Green said. “I’m hopeful it will be a permanent part of the curriculum.”

According to DiBerardino, there are seven students who are signed up to go on the program in the spring.

Green views study abroad as a beneficial addition to Psychology students’ educations.

“If a student can work it in, I think study abroad offers a wonderful opportunity for a psychology major. This really expands and enriches their major…providing them a larger, broader perspective [and a chance to pursue an] area of expertise…that they would not necessarily find [offered] here,” he said.

This program is not held at a specific university, but rather is sponsored by DIS, a Danish-government recognized study abroad program. All DIS classes are taught in English.

Psychology students can also study abroad at a number of other locations, including the University of Queensland in Australia and the University of Sussex and Exeter University in England.

If you really think about it, how safe is the rest of the world? Can we truly trust that we will be safe in other countries? Unfortunately, the answer is invariably no. No matter how hard we try, no matter where we are, we will never be entirely safe. But this shouldn’t stop us from trying to gain new experiences and trying to understand the rest of the world.

If the crises in Japan and Egypt have taught us anything, it is that the situation in relatively “stable” countries can degrade so quickly that nothing we do will ever be entirely secure.

The time we spend in other places can teach us more about the world than just about anything that Washington University can offer. Even countries like the United Kingdom or Germany, nations people would normally call “safe,” have something incredibly valuable to teach us. How different is German or English culture from our own?

And I think that if something bad is going to happen in a country, you can learn more if you are there. I can only imagine being in Egypt during the revolution, or in Japan to watch a nuclear crisis unfold. I have always believed you can learn more about a culture that is under stress, and situations like those help you to understand them even better.

Besides, the dangers that have arisen in the past few months are extreme examples. It isn’t as though these are things that happen all the time, and assuming that every country you go to will have a revolution or a natural disaster is like assuming that you will be shot every time you go outside.

Moreover, the U.S. isn’t safe from danger either. It isn’t like an earthquake in San Francisco or a hurricane in New Orleans can’t happen. Natural disasters happen everywhere; going to a different part of the world isn’t going to change the constant danger you are in.

I think the important thing to remember is that we live in a world that is getting more dangerous all the time. We can see it exploding around us every day, and that isn’t going to change in the near future. So we should just learn to accept things as they are, and not let danger stop us from learning as much as we can about the rest of the world.

Every country that we can travel to has something to offer, something to teach us. Whether that be about the culture itself, or how it responds to crises isn’t important. We are students, and it is our job to learn, so if we have the opportunity to do it, we should. If things are dangerous, so be it. The benefits still outweigh the risks. When it comes down to it, I’m going to be studying abroad, because I want that experience, no matter how dangerous the country of my choice might be. And you should do the same.

The Chancellor released an email to the student body on Thursday announcing that all students and faculty who were in Japan are safe. He urged any affected students to seek help from the University.

Students in the Heisei Japan Club are planning a week of events after spring break to make sure that fundraisers and relief efforts are coordinated.

“Today, nearly 500 Washington University alumni live in Japan. We also have many faculty and staff who were born in Japan, some whom still have close family living there. Over the past few days we have heard from many of those individuals, and we know that this disaster has been understandably devastating for them,” Chancellor Mark Wrighton wrote.

Nearly 60 Japanese students are enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs at the University. The University is recommending that they check the Google crisis response website to try to find their families.

“A lot of students of course had trouble reaching family members, but most of the students we’ve heard from have been able to reach their family members,” Kathy Steiner-Lang, an Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of the Office of International Students and Scholars said. “Many people know somebody who’s had buildings destroyed or homes destroyed, friends and relatives that had damage or couldn’t be reached.”

The students studying in Japan were for the most part in the southern part of the country. The disasters struck the northern part.

Three undergraduate students were studying at Doshisha University in Kyoto. The distance between Kyoto and Sendai, where most of the damage was, is about 450 miles, or the distance between Boston and D.C.

“We are monitoring the situation,” Mark Beirn, the Associate Director of the Overseas Program said. “One student indicated they didn’t actually feel anything [from the earthquake].

Currently, the students are staying in Japan.

“It’s unlikely the impact [of a nuclear meltdown] would extend to the Kyoto area, is what I’m being told from our resident director in Kyoto,” Beirn said.

Even compared to the best university in New Zealand, a wealthy and highly developed nation, Wash. U. is leaps and bounds ahead in a number of areas. One example that popped out at me was how pampered we are as students. The idea that we have housekeepers that clean our dorm room bathrooms was simply laughable to my flat mates in New Zealand. In fact, I lived in a building where heavy fines were imposed on residents who did not pass rigorous “room inspections” twice a semester. Another difference I noted was the total lack of a university-run food service. Students in Auckland are simply left to fend for themselves for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After feeding for myself for five months, I will be delighted to be back on a meal plan and not have to, get this, actually pay cash to get Subway! Being able to lie in bed and watch last week’s episode of “The Office” over high-speed wireless will also be nice; in New Zealand, the concept of unlimited Internet access does not exist.

Perhaps more important than the creature comforts that I once took for granted is the quality of the lecturers we all enjoy. Compared to my experience abroad, the amount that lecturers at Wash. U. care about and engage with their students is extraordinary. I missed this in particular when I had several e-mails simply ignored by a professor in New Zealand. I look forward to being able to raise my hand in lectures and ask for a clarification, or to have an after-class conversation with a professor again.

Studying abroad opened my eyes to a lot of things. It made me realize that “living independently” at Wash. U. is not quite what living out in the real world will be like. It made me grateful for a lot of things that I had taken for granted ever since I set foot on the South 40. Like any college students, Wash. U. students love to complain. I have been guilty of doing so nearly every other week in this very newspaper, and I might even continue to do so on occasion. After all, Wash. U. is not a perfect world; it’s just a lot closer to perfect than I previously thought.

Michael Robinson Chavez | Los Angeles Times | MCT

Chaos has enveloped Egypt in the wake of massive protests and widespread violence against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The political unrest in the area has forced the evacuation of U.S. nationals, including students studying abroad from Washington University.

Junior Parsa Bastani was studying in Alexandria at the Middlebury School in the Middle East, which is based at Alexandria University. He is on his way back to St. Louis from Prague and is contemplating various options for finishing out the semester.

Junior Allegra Skurka, studying at Cairo University, flew to Athens this week and plans to finish the semester in Jordan.

Protests against Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981, began in Cairo last Tuesday and turned to violent riots as more than 250,000 Egyptians took to the streets.

The protesters’ grievances include various legal and political issues, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of free elections and free speech, food-price inflation and low minimum wages.

Standing on a balcony at a friend’s apartment near the city center, Skurka was close enough to feel the effects of the tear gas initially used to dispel the riots.

“It was [a] moment that brought me to reality, that the U.S. and my rights don’t travel with me wherever I go,” Skurka wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “I wouldn’t feel the sting of tear gas if I were in the U.S. I was in a country whose citizens don’t have the right to stand up for themselves and who are being repressed by the very body that is charged with protecting them. Egyptians call it state terrorism. No one should have to endure that.”

On Monday, the Egyptian military declared that it would not fire on protesters. Mubarak and his family have allegedly since fled to London, and Mubarak has declared that he will not seek re-election and will leave office when his term ends in September.

Organizers of the protest were inspired by similar events in Tunisia, which succeeded in ousting Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years of authoritarian rule.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued an order for all non-emergency personnel and their families to evacuate the country immediately. After EgyptAir canceled approximately 75 percent of its flights, airlines from around the world arranged about 85 flights to ferry those visiting Egypt to safer nations.

Skurka flew to Athens on a flight chartered by the U.S. Department of State.

“The decision was made to evacuate on Sunday, but we were not able to get secure transport to the airport for our chartered flight until Monday,” Skurka wrote. “It was much worse for the people who were trying to catch commercial flights out of the country as opposed to chartered evacuation planes.”

Bastani could not be reached for comment.

“We are very relieved,” Priscilla Stone, director of Overseas Programs at the University, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “Middlebury College and AMIDEAST, who were hosting these two students, did a very good job under trying circumstances in evacuating these students and keeping us and the families informed of their progress,”

2010 alumni Adina Appelbaum and Marcus Walton, studying in Egypt on Fulbright scholarships, were both out of the country when the protests began—Appelbaum in Morocco and Walton in Tunisia. Both have been reported safe.

Senior Toby Shepard, who completed a program at the American University in Cairo last spring, expressed relief at the students’ evacuation and concern for the Egyptian friends she made.

“On the one hand, I’m really excited for Egypt and for all of the Egyptians because this is a really important historical moment for them, and the possibility for real change is sort of exciting and infectious,” Shepard said. “On the other hand, as reports of the number of protesters who were killed has gone up, I’m nervous for my Egyptian friends who I know are still there.”

The University of Queensland has sent multiple e-mails about the flooding to the Study Abroad Office, including one with a link to a page of frequently asked questions.

According to the website, most of the campus will be up and running for the start of term.

The floods in Queensland have been responsible for 20 confirmed deaths, and about 10 people are currently listed as missing. Officials estimate the damage at close to 10 billion dollars (Australian).

Despite the assurances of the University of Queensland, students going abroad are still skeptical of their options upon arrival.

“I’m a little more worried than I was a couple weeks ago because they had to evacuate my dorm and the whole university is underwater,” said Ben Winston, a junior in the program. “[The University of Queensland] is not great about communication in general between Wash. U. and our program. It’s a little bit discombobulated.”

Winston is most concerned about living conditions since he doesn’t yet know what housing he has been accepted into and has heard that many areas off campus have been devastated.

Students who go abroad to the University of Queensland tend to study biology or environmental science, according to Jessica Mervis, study abroad advisor for overseas programs.

“They offer classes that let students observe the area that they are in,” Mervis said. This includes a scuba diving field trip in the Great Barrier Reef.

The e-mails from Queensland to the Study Abroad Office at the University have assured that all four of Queensland’s campuses will return to normal operation by Jan. 20.

“The Brisbane flood peaked on January 13, 2011 at a level less than anticipated. While the flood affected low-lying levels of the St. Lucia campus and access to the Gatton campus, the majority of buildings were not affected. The Ipswich and Herston campuses were not flooded. It is almost back to business as usual and classes start for first semester,” the website reads.

Washington University students will be arriving in Australia on February 15 for orientation, and classes will start in March.

According to Mervis, most students will live in dorms on campus, which is one of the advantages of this program.

“They’re living with Australian students, eating their meals there and they can join activities with their residential college,” Mervis said.

Whatever the damages to the facilities, Winston is trying to keep the silver lining in sight.

“Maybe while we’re there we can help out with the clean up and recovery because I know there’s been a lot of damage,” Winston said.

Edz’sta | Flickr

A statue of Chairman Mao on the Fudan University campus.

Washington University will launch a new study abroad program in Shanghai run entirely by Washington University faculty, starting in fall 2011.

The program will be offered in both the fall and the spring semesters and will be hosted on the campus of Fudan University.

Currently, the University offers a faculty-led summer language program in Shanghai, as well as spring and fall programs in Kunming, China, through the School for International Training.

Washington University senior lecturer in Chinese Judy Mu will relocate to China and serve as the resident director for this program.

The program has been in development for three years, according to Professor Lingchei “Letty” Chen, director of East Asian Studies and academic director of this program. Noting the role of China in today’s global society, Chen said it was important for the University to have a presence in China.

“The chancellor has this vision of setting up various programs all over the world, especially with our partner universities,” Chen said. “Our vision is to provide our students with this opportunity to experience Chinese society firsthand, not just for two or three weeks as a tourist or on a short summer program. We wanted to give our students the opportunity to stay for three months at a time.”

Students can extend their study abroad experience by studying for an entire year or transitioning to or from the summer program.

Fudan University was chosen to host the program because of the close relationship between Fudan and the University. Both institutions are members of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the University’s summer language program is hosted by Fudan University.

Chen said that through the new fall and spring study abroad semesters in China, the University can offer classes not available in St. Louis.

Students will be able to pursue different opportunities while on the program, whether doing internships, conducting research or just taking classes. Companies such as Dell and Johnson & Johnson, as well as nongovernmental organizations, have offered to host the students in the program.

Program participants will undergo intensive language training at the beginning of the program and take a shared class that examines China in a global context. Class topics will change each semester, and will examine issues such as China’s foreign policy and U.S.-China relations.

Junior Lauren Katz is considering doing the program next fall. She participated in the summer language program two summers ago and interned with Cabot Corp. in Shanghai last summer. She said that she loves the city and likes that she is familiar with the area and neighborhood, but would be able to engage in an experience different from her previous ones.

“The courses they are offering are a lot different from what is offered at Wash. U.,” Katz said. “I’m thinking about writing my thesis on consumerism in China, and it would be a really good way to get first-person research and conduct field studies.”

Chen said the goal is to have 50 students in Shanghai at any given time.

“It’s a very ambitious plan,” Chen said.

Chen also recognizes that fall is a less popular semester for students to study abroad. “Ten or fifteen students the first semester will be wonderful.”

Mark Beirn, associate director for overseas programs, described Shanghai as “a tough nut to crack.” He said students can use the program to engage locals in Shanghai and use the city as their classroom.

“Shanghai is the city of a new century,” Beirn said. “We are talking the 21st century being the century of China, and Shanghai epitomizes all that is China and all that China hopes to be. Shanghai is a cultural capital, it’s an economic capital and, for the right student, a really compelling place to be.”

For students interested in the program, the deadline to apply for the fall and yearlong program is Feb. 15. The deadline for the spring program is May 1.

With the creation of a new study abroad program, the business school will send students to attend classes at the Interdisciplinary Center, which is a private university in Israel, and intern at Israeli companies. It will culminate in each student writing an applied research paper with an Olin faculty member.

Masa, a group within the government-sponsored Jewish Agency of Israel, gave the grant to eight schools across the United States. This reflects a national trend of increasing Israeli-American exchange programs, with many being sponsored by Israel’s leaders.

The program is only slated to run once, but there may be more opportunities in the future.

The University itself has increased its presence in Israel over the past several years, including several cultural study-abroad programs, a trip for engineering students and a trip for business school students.

Steve Malter, assistant dean for student development and strategic initiatives, teaches Business in Israel, a course open to all students that was created last year in response to a large level of student interest. Over spring break, students traveled to Israel, where they met with many high-level personnel in the Israeli business and finance world, including the CEO of the Israeli stock exchange and a member of the Israeli prime minister’s National Economic Council.

“Everyone here in St. Louis kept opening doors for connections, since this community is so tied with Israel,” Malter said.

While there are many other opportunities for students in the business school to study abroad, Malter feels that Israel will be an important addition to the list.

“Israel is at the forefront of new research and technology,” Malter said. “To give you an idea, behind the U.S. it has the most listings in NASDAQ.”

Malter also believes that spending a semester in Israel will provide students with exposure to a valuable culture.

“I think the semester abroad will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about Israel in a different light,” Malter said. “The usual programs are cultural or religious, but the spring break trip was secular, though we did visit important sites to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. It was a different way of looking at the country.”

Junior Jake Lewis, a student who not only participated in Malter’s class but also went back over the summer to intern at a small investment firm, agrees.

“Malter did a great job of getting together speakers,” Lewis said. “It showed us a side of Israel we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise.”

Arye Nehorai, Electrical & Systems Engineering Department chair and professor, also organized a secular trip to Israel for several undergraduate students in the engineering school. Over spring break, the students went to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, where they participated in studies and saw cutting edge technologies being developed.

“I wanted to inspire students to take what they saw from one of the top technological institutes in the world and bring it back here,” Nehorai said. “But I also wanted to share the culture with them, and show them how different universities function.”

The Israeli government did not sponsor the Technion program, as Nehorai and several colleagues set it up in a single week.

“Once they heard what I was trying to do, the people there were incredibly helpful. They were excited to have us visit,” he said. “And the feeling was mutual.”

On the surface, the finances seem incredibly simple, and even like a good deal. I just pay Wash. U.’s tuition, and I can participate in any of the programs offered by the study abroad office all over the globe. Of course this does not include living expenses or a plane ticket, but neither does normal tuition. My program is run through an institute, so presumably Wash. U. simply takes my tuition ($18,900) for the semester and pays the institute to cover my study abroad tuition. This seemed easy enough, and my parents were actually happy that such a transaction could be so simple. The shock came when I stumbled upon the actual cost of my study abroad program on the institute’s website. Even through the institute where I am studying, which provides things like health insurance, support staff and advising, the tuition next fall would have been only $12,990. If I had simply applied directly to the institute, I could have taken the exact same classes I will take next fall, study with exactly the same fellow students and been nearly $6,000 richer. It seems Wash. U. is pocketing a sizeable chunk of change thanks to my desire to study in New Zealand.

Stunned, I did some more research. Perhaps the University of Auckland simply had very low fees. Perhaps some programs are a relative bargain at Wash. U.’s tuition rate. Not surprisingly, it isn’t easy to determine the actual costs of many of the programs Wash. U. offers its students. I only know my program’s true cost because the institute where I am studying is a nonprofit that accepts students from many universities and maintains a refreshingly transparent website. The study abroad office’s website is not particularly forthcoming about the finances of its programs. This leads me to believe that students are often over-charged. Some examples of the programs I could find information on include the following: Tuition for a semester at the University of Queensland in Australia costs $9,132 for international students, tuition for the SIT program in Chile costs $14,252, and tuition at King’s College in London costs $10,041 for study abroad students.

To be fair to Wash. U., there are no policies prohibiting students from simply taking a semester off from school and applying to study abroad on their own (and paying the consequently lower tuition). But doing so is not without its hardships. The process of applying can be more difficult without the backing of a university, and transferring credit to Wash. U. can be an arduous task. For me personally, and likely for many other students, this was not an option as one of my scholarships requires that I maintain full-time student status in Missouri. While the University is not maintaining a monopoly on the chance to study abroad, the road to studying abroad on one’s own is not an easy one.

The costs of education at our university are very high, and the costs in the U.S. are high in general. Why should Wash. U. students not be able to take advantage of the comparatively cheaper cost of education in other countries? Study abroad is a valuable experience, but one that can be expensive. Plane tickets and foreign accommodations are not cheap. Perhaps many more students would take the plunge and apply to study abroad if they knew it might actually reduce their tuition bill for that semester.

While I cannot pretend to understand the intricate details of the finances at Wash. U., common sense dictates that something is wrong with the University making a $6,000 profit off my study abroad semester. If study abroad is something that the University sees as educationally valuable, then it should at the very least be more transparent about the finances, and hopefully take steps to close this gap and make studying abroad as financially appealing as possible.

Andrew is a sophomore in Engineering, he can be reached at ayg1@cec.wustl.edu.