Exchange Programs and K.I.I.S.

Each year we send several students to Yamaguchi, Japan, through our exchange program with Yamaguchi Prefectural University (more info below). Centre students hone their Japanese language skills and immerse themselves in the culture while living with a Japanese family. Most classes at the university are taught in English. The cities of Tokyo and Kyoto are easily accessible by train.

We also have an exchange program in Northern Ireland. Choose from one of three universities in the capital city of Belfast: Queen's University, University of Ulster, and the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education. In addition to city life, enjoy hill walking in the most picturesque mountain district in Ireland, located nearby. Dublin is just two hours away by train.

To extend your choices even further, Centre has recently joined the Kentucky Institute for International Studies, a consortium of Kentucky universities and colleges that sponsor affordable summer programs to Athens/Rome, Austria, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Thailand/Burma (Myanmar), and other places. KIIS also offers a fall and spring program in Segovia, Spain, and a fall program in Regensburg, Germany. To participate in a KIIS semester program, students take a temporary leave of absence from Centre (see "Enrolling in a Non-Centre Program"). KIIS brochures are available in the International Programs office or the study-abroad cabinet in Carnegie.

Centre-in-Japan Program, October 2007 – January 2008

The Centre-in-Japan program is housed at Yamaguchi Prefectural University, a small university in the Western ancient capital of the Ouchi culture.  In this city of temples and pagodas is the famous 1442 Rurikoji temple.  Nearby are the restorative baths of the ancient Yuda Hot Springs.  Centre students who have participated in the last eight years have been extraordinarily pleased with and enthusiastic about this program.    

This exchange may be of particular interest to students interested in international relations, history, government, anthropology/sociology, economics, or philosophy, but is designed for any Centre student.

The program begins at the very end of September and runs through most of January.  Students fly back in time for a brief rest before the start of spring term.

Students who will have studied at least a year of Japanese will be given strong preference for this program.

Hand out your two faculty recommendations at the beginning of CentreTerm.  Your completed application is then due in the International Office by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6. The selection committee will probably interview all applicants.  You will learn of your status by e-mail on February 26. 

The $350 deposit/surcharge for this program is due in the Cashier’s Office in Boles Hall by 4 p.m. on Monday, March 3.  Students who have made their plane reservations and selected their Yamaguchi courses by May 1 will receive $800 toward their plane tickets, which has cost about $1200 in the recent past.  Students on need-based aid who are selected may also apply for a Freeman-Asia scholarship worth up to $5,000; Centre students in the past have won this award.    

Incoming freshmen who may be interested should take Japanese 110 and 120 during the fall and spring terms of their freshman year.  They then apply for the program in the winter of their freshman year and study in Japan from October through January of their sophomore year.  Yamaguchi Prefectural University has recently published an extensive handbook designed to give Centre students much information about everything from housing and home-stay etiquette to how classes are conducted.

One plus in this program is that each year students from Yamaguchi University study on the Centre campus.  When Centre students arrive in Japan, they already have a few contacts and friends.

Centre students live with carefully selected Japanese families who enjoy having American students live with them.  Except for the Japanese language class and some non-credit “cultural experiences” such as Calligraphy, Judo, Pottery, and Japanese Tea Ceremony, all classes are taught in English.  Classes recently offered include “International Relations,” “Zen Philosophy and Zen Culture in Japan,” “Politics of Japan,” “History of US-Japan Relations,” “International Economics and Japanese Society,” “Japan Through its Literature, History, and Art,” “A Cultural Comparison between the US and Japan,” “Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages,” and “Moral Education in Japan and China.”    

Interested students will want to keep up with the “Travel Journal” now appearing on the Centre website by current participant Laura French ’09 and the earlier one written by Scott Duzan ’05.