The Slavic Department strongly encourages all students to spend a semester, summer, or year abroad if at all possible. A summer or a semester studying in an academic institution in your target country can be extraordinarily rewarding, not only for your language proficiency but for learning firsthand about the country's culture and intellectual life. If Russian is your focus, you can now choose from a vast array of programs in cities ranging from the highly Westernized Moscow and St. Peterburg to more "off the beaten track" locations such as Vladimir or Irkutsk. If you are interested in another Slavic language, opportunities abound for studying in Eastern and Central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, or the Baltics.
Various possibilities for study abroad exist, and any of our faculty are happy to provide you with information about these programs and to advise you about which one best fits your academic interests. If you think that you might wish to study abroad, you should plan your academic program carefully to make sure that you will be able to fit in all your major requirements. To talk over your plans, and to determine which courses in the study abroad program may be approved for major credit on your Columbia College transcript, you should meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Columbia students) or your academic adviser (Barnard students).
Academic Year Programs (Fall and/or Spring)
The box in the upper right corner of this page contains links to websites that may be useful to you as you plan your study abroad experience and shop for an appropriate program. The Department tends to favor programs sponsored by The Council on International Education and Exchange and by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. Both these organizations have been in the business of organizing study abroad for American students for a long time, both are recipients of government funding, and we have found them to be completely reliable. Also, please the Center for Online Education's link to their study abroad guide. In addition, the following specific programs have been approved by the Department and the University:
Programs in St. Petersburg, Russia
St. Petersburg State University
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: CIEE
Russian State Pedagogical University (Gertsen)
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: ACTR / Bryn Mawr
Smolny College / St. Petersburg State University
St. Petersburg, Russia
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: Bard College
Programs in Moscow, Russia
Moscow State University
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: SUNY Albany
Moscow International University
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: ACTR / Bryn Mawr
C.V. Starr Middlebury College School in Russia (locations also in Irkustsk and Yaroslavl)
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: Middlebury College
Programs in Budapest, Hungary
University of Economic Sciences
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: CIEE
Central European University
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: Bard College
Programs in Prague, Czech Republic
CHP
Term: Fall or Spring
Sponsoring Institution: Direct Enrollment -see Class Dean
CERGE-EI / Charles University
Term: Fall/Spring/Full Year
Sponsoring Institution: Direct Enrollment - see Dean McDermott
CIEE & FAMU
Term: fall or spring
Sponsoring Institution: CIEE
Programs in the Balkans
SIT
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Term: Fall or Spring
Sponsoring Institution: SIT
If you are interested in a specific program not mentioned here, talk to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Columbia) or your academic adviser (Barnard) about it. He or she can advise you about your options.
Summer Programs
For summer programs within the United States, including at Columbia, select "Summer Study" from the menu at left.
The following is a list of intensive summer programs located in Russia, East/Central Europe, and Central Europe. The American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages also maintains an up-to-date listing of intensive language programs (both summer and academic-year) in the U.S. and abroad, sorted by language. Click here to see their list.
Summer Programs in Russia:
- ACTR/ACCELS --BRLI (Business Russian Language and Internship Program). Moscow International University and Russian State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg
- ACTR/ACCELS --RLASP (Russian Language and Area Studies Program). Moscow International University, Russian State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, and The CORA Center for Russian Language Study (Vladimir)
- Alphabet School of Languages (St. Petersburg)
- AMBergh Management. Study Russian in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg)
- Bard College. Institute for International Liberal Education/Smolny College (St. Petersburg)
- Boston College. Dostoevskij Graduate Summer Program in St. Petersburg
- CIEE - Council on International Educational Exchange (St. Petersburg)
- Colgate University. Moscow Study Group
- Dickinson College. Russian Language Immersion Program (Moscow and St. Petersburg)
- Educa. Centre for Russian Language and Volunteer & Internship Programmes in St. Petersburg
- Extra Class Language Centre
- Indiana University. Study Tour in St. Petersburg
- Interlingua-West (Voronezh)
- International Institute of Russian Language and Culture. Summer School of Russian Language and Area Studies (Tver)
- Interuniversity Centre Canada (St. Petersburg, Moscow)
- Liden and Denz Language School in St. Petersburg
- Language Link (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd)
- Lingua Service Centre (Nizhny Novgorod)
- Moscow Institute for Advanced Studies/ International University of Moscow
- National Registration Center for Study Abroad (NRCSA). Russian Homestay (Moscow)
- Nevsky Institute of Language & Culture (St. Petersburg)
- Novosibirsk State University. Summer Program for Studying Russian.
- Omsk State Pedagogical University. Russian Language Training Program
- Petrozavodsk State University. Summer School in Karelia
- Russian Language and Culture School. International University (Moscow)
- School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS) (Various locations)
- Serendipity-Russia (Vladimir)
- Stony Brook University, Four-Week Study Abroad Program (St. Petersburg; no previous Russian req'd)
- Stony Brook University, Advanced Critical Languages Institute for Russian Immersion (St. Petersburg; for students with 2+ years of college Russian)
- Tallinn Pedagogical University. Russian Language Summer School
- Texas Tech University. Summer Program (St. Petersburg)
- University of Arizona. Russian Abroad
- University of Kansas. Summer Program Abroad (St. Petersburg)
- University of Kentucky CORA Program (Vladimir)
- VIP Education Centre. School of Russian Language in Dubna
- Wyoming-Saratov Initiative. Wyoming-Saratov Student Exchange Program
- Ziegler & Partner. Russian Language Courses at Moscow State University
Summer Programs in Other Slavic, East European, and Central Asian Countries:
- General (i.e., more than one language/location available):
- The Baltics:
- Bosnia/Serbia/Croatia:
- Azbukum. Centre for Serbian Language and Culture (Novi Sad, Belgrade)
- Centar za strane jezike. Croatian Language Course in Dubrovnik
- University of Kansas. Summer School of Croatian Language and Culture (Zagreb, Dubrovnik)
- Northwestern University. Dubrovnik Summer Study Abroad Program
- Radionica. Summer School of Serbian Language and Culture (Valjevo)
- University of Novi Sad. International Summer School
- University of Zagreb. University School of Croatian Language and Culture
- Bulgaria:
- Czech Republic:
- Charles University. Faculty of Philosophy. Summer Prague University
- Charles University. Institute of Slavonic Studies
- Charles University. Institute of Linguistic and Professional Training (Prague)
- Lexia International (Prague)
- Ohio State/Palacky University (Olomouc)
- Penn-in-Prague
- Prague Economics University. Central European Studies Program
- Hungary:
- Poland:
- Arizona State University Summer Practicum at the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan)
- The Catholic University of Lublin. Summer. Summer School of Polish Language and Culture
- IKO-The Institute of Polish Language for Foreigners
- Jagiellonian University (UJ). Summer School of Polish Language and Culture (Krakow)
- Lexia International (Krakow)
- National Registration Center for Study Abroad (NRCSA). Poland Homestudy (Warsaw)
- Nicolas Copernicus University. Summer School of Polish Language and Culture (Torun)
- University of Kansas. Summer Institute (Krakow)
- University of Silesia. School of Polish Language and Culture (Katowice)
- Slovenia:
- Ukraine: