Antarctica: The Fragile Continent
Program Description
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the coldest, windiest, driest, highest, quietest, most remote, and least understood continent on Earth. This
experiential program explores contemporary issues in Antarctica and the adjacent sub-Antarctic region, including Tierra del Fuego and the Southern Ocean. Students attend weekly lectures during the fall semester (available anywhere around the world via webcast), prepare a research essay in their area of primary interest, and then participate in a 2-week field study in Antarctica and Tierra del Fuego during winter break.
During your visit to South America and Antarctica, you will stay in comfortable condo-style accommodations (on land) and cabins (at sea) with the rest of the students in the group. You will get the chance to make life-long friends with others in the group, and our accommodations adds to this experience. All meals are provided during the program.
Program Pictures
Check out our Flickr page to view pictures of the Antarctica program!
Program Objectives
By the end of the program students will:
- Develop, through lectures and assigned readings, an holistic, inter-disciplinary understanding of the physical and social history and current issues in the Antarctic region, including their inter-relationships;
- Develop specialized understanding, through independent research, of the issues in one specific area of Antarctic enquiry related to their major (e.g., history of science/exploration, environmental ethics, geology and global climate change, marine bird or southern forest conservation, etc.);
- Through field-based studies, students will develop a nuanced understanding of issues in exploration, exploitation, conservation, and sustainable use of the Antarctic region.
Read the
program syllabus and
sample itinerary for the Antarctica program.
Eligibility
We encourage students from all majors to apply, as we take an interdisciplinary perspective to examine global issues in the conservation of unique wildlife, natural systems, and cultural places. Students should have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and be in good standing with their home university or college.
Program Fee
The listed program fee (see
application page) is due by April 1, 2011. This fee can only be guaranteed for the first 15 students. Additional applicants will be charged a surcharge for a twin berth, so students need to apply early to reserve their space in a lower cost berth. The program fee includes:
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Transcript
- Accommodation at hostels and motels
- Orientation
- All meals
- Group activities
- In-country transportation
Additional costs that students are responsible for include:
Top Reasons to Choose this Program
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Few people ever have the chance to visit the remote and beautiful White Continent. For those of you seeking an adventure - this is your ultimate chance.
- Where else would you have the chance to see huge glaciers rolling into the sea, vast penguin colonies, whales, seals, orcas, icebergs, and more?
- Antarctica has the world's greatest concentration of wildlife in the world. It is perhaps the last true wilderness left on our planet.
- Our expedition ship has a fleet of Zodiac landing crafts, which allow us to take daily excursions ashore onto the continent for spectacular scenery and close encounters with wildlife.
- Experience 24 hours of daylight - take stunning photos at midnight and spot wildlife at all hours of day and night!
- We offer one of the World's only study abroad programs in Antarctica.
