After two visits as a tourist, Michael Bourne, a student from South Carolina, decided to come back to Colombia for a longer period of time and that is how he decided to study a semester in the Universidad EAFIT.
The first time he stepped on Colombian soil was in December 2013, when he arrived to Cartagena to spend some vacation time. There, he visited the marvelous walled city and met friends from Medellin. Three months later, in March 2014, he decided to come back, but this time to visit his friend in the city capital of Antioquia, and as he mentioned, he was enchanted.
Since July ninth of the present year, Michael is in Colombia for the third time, but this time the motivation has changed and the objective of this visit is to learn Spanish, get to know the culture and experience the life of a university student in the coffee country.
He achieved all this thanks to EAFIT’s grant winning proposal in the RFP#2 of the
100k Strong in the Americas Initiative, a program promoted by the United States Department of State.
“The process with EAFIT’s 100k Scholarship program is really easy, all I had to do was to fill out a form, write a motivation letter and wait approximately one week” says Michael regarding his experience with the study exchange process with University EAFIT.
The student, who is now taking classes in the International Business undergraduate program, adds that what he has liked the most about this experience is to learn about the Colombian culture, to meet people and to enjoy the weather.
The program
The
100k Strong in the Americas is an initiative that originated directly from the government of President Barack Obama in order to promote the transit of students between the United States and Latin-American countries.
“We have scholarships available for students from any university in the United States, in both graduate and undergraduate programs, to come study for a semester, do a short summer school program or an internship in the research group in computer education”, explains Juan Gonzalo Perez, assistant consultant of the program.
In total, there are 19 scholarships for a full semester, 10 for summer school programs, and five internships. These include tuition fee, a 38 hour Spanish course, and assistance with the paperwork process.
Interested students must send their transcripts, write a motivation letter, fill out the application form, and if they want to take courses in Spanish, they need to send a certificate from an institution attesting that they have a basic knowledge of the language.
“With this program all stakeholders win, not only we help US students have an experience in the city, but also we contribute to changing the image that a lot of North Americans have towards the country” commented Marcela Wolff, head of the International Relations Office at Universidad EAFIT.
This program is led by the Department of State of the United States, Partners of the Americas and Education USA. Different calls have been sponsored by Banco Santander and Exxon.
Journalists’ contact information
Marcela Olarte Melguizo
Journalist Information and Press Area
Telephone: 574 2619500 Ext. 9931 Mobile: 3113547204
Email:
molartem@eafit.edu.co