Study Abroad and Immersion Opportunities

REES students in all major and minor tracks are strongly encouraged to maximize their linguistic and cultural experience with the target language by enrolling in study abroad programs. Such programs not only help improve your competency in a foreign language, buth they also provide you with a unique opportunity for real-life immersion in the target culture, allowing you to experience the culture of the people who speak the language firsthand, from every day communications in the host family or on the street to formal university classes and lectures.

The REES department offers some funds to help with study abroad costs. Details can be found here.

To improve their langauge proficiency students can also enroll in immersion programs in the United States.

Both study abroad programs and US-based programs allow students to earn academic credit, which counts toward their Penn degree. If you are seeking credit for summer courses, your program of choice must be officially approved by REES Department via External Credit Evaluation Tool (XCat) before the beginning of the program. 

Semester and academic year programs

Semester and academic year programs are managed by Penn Abroad. Programming in Russia is currently suspended. Penn's official study abroad partner program is:

• American Councils Advanced Language and Area Studies program (Russian in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan)

Students may also petition to attend other non-Penn-affiliated programs, but approval is not guaranteed. Students interested in semester and academic year programs are encouraged to contact Dr. Djamilia Nazyrova and visit Penn Abroad's Getting Started website and schedule an advising appointment with the appropriate global programs manager. These programs also offer Russian language study abroad: 

• Middlebury College Study Abroad Programs in Almaty and Astana
• School of Russian and Asian Studies (Russian in Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan; Ukrainian in Poland, Polish in Poland)

Summer programs

REES students may choose from a wide variety of study abroad programs and immersion programs in the United States.

• American Councils Advanced Language and Area Studies program (Russian in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan)
• School of Russian and Asian Studies (Russian in Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan; Ukrainian in Poland, Polish in Poland)
• Liden & Denz: Learn Russian in Riga (Latvia)

US-based summer programs