Study Abroad Programs provide terrific opportunities for students, with hands-on learning, opportunities to interact and do business in other cultures, and chances to enjoy new experiences. These programs provide new educational and business experiences for students.

This summer, one of USF’s study abroad programs also offered a romantic opportunity for two of the university’s undergraduates. Even though five thousand miles of ocean separated Adam Hazell from his long term girlfriend Bonnie Matthews for the summer, he was not deterred from asking for her hand in marriage. Hazell, 22, an information technology management student flew from Tampa to South Wales where Matthews, a 21-year-old marketing student, was participating in a ‘Summer Seminar’ at University of Glamorgan’s Business School.

Hazell traveled to the UK to pop the question before her study abroad peers. Bonnie, thrilled and surprised about the gesture, readily agreed. Hazell said he was a bit nervous on the trip. “It’s not every day you fly five thousand miles to ask somebody to marry you,” he laughed.

For more than a decade, one of USF’s most successful Study Abroad programs has been the ‘Summer Seminar’ in Wales. The joint venture with the University of Glamorgan is coordinated by Bob Morgan, a principal lecturer and international officer for the business school. According to Morgan, the almost equivalent match between the two universities’ business schools was the basis for the formation of the program. Morgan stated that both have “strengths in the field of economic development.”

Julie Hale, assistant director of the Study Abroad office at USF, believes that the Study Abroad programs give students an edge in the business world. "Prospective employers are aware that those who have the added advantage of an international experience will be able to be successful in the multi-cultural workplace. Such employees demonstrate that they can work in an unfamiliar setting and deal with differences, ambiguity, and change in a constructive way," said Hale.

The program offered exclusively to business students, is designed to introduce scholars to European business culture and economy. “The students who come to Glamorgan take classes on the Welsh economy and on the theories of economic development,” Morgan said. “To make the theory come alive, we visit high-tech companies in the area and students get to meet senior people in the companies,” he added. GE Healthcare, GE Aero Systems, Technium, Cardiff Bay, and Bosch are among the international organizations they visited this year.

For more information on the programs, visit USF’s Study Abroad website at http://web.usf.edu/iac/studyabroad or call Julie Hale at 813-974-4314.