Global Pathways

Every student at St. John’s is eligible to receive $5,000 in funding to study and conduct research abroad. Each year, the college places Johnnies in the study abroad programs below while also helping students find new programs in countries around the world.

Study in Rome

The Rome Institute of Liberal Arts offers undergraduate interdisciplinary courses on great books while exploring the art and architecture of Rome in order to articulate fundamental questions across disciplines. Discussion-based classes on philosophy, literature, and history are designed together with excursions led by art historians and classicists throughout Italy’s artistic heritage. RILA was created by a tutor at St. John’s.

Study in France

The Marchutz School of Art, in Aix-en-Provence, France, strengthens students’ ability to see and to be more aware of the relationship between perception and artistic expression. Painting in the environs of Cezanne’s beloved mountain, Sainte Victoire, students enhance their creative work with the weekly seminar, which combines art history, theory, and practice. The Marchutz program welcomes people at all levels of art experience who want to look deeply into nature, the art tradition, and themselves.

Study in South Korea

St. John’s special relationship with South Korea offers multiple opportunities for study and research in South Korea. Incheon National University is foremost among them, with its Great Books Center providing study programs, internships, and exchange opportunities between our colleges. New opportunities also exist at Kangwon National University, Hallym University, and Yonsei University.

Study in China

St. John’s unique partnership with Boya College, of Sun Yat-sen University in China, offers academic and cultural exchange opportunities for students from both colleges, expanding cultural understanding, liberal learning, and friendship.

Study in England, Greece, and Beyond

Every summer, Johnnies take classes at universities around the world, including, in recent years, Oxford University, London School of Economics, and the British American Dramatic Academy in England; the University of Vienna in Austria; the European-American Musical Alliance in France; and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in Greece.

Student Quotes

British American Dramatic Academy

Elizabeth Mueller (A23)

I traveled this past summer to Greece and England to partake in a month-long program for the analysis and performance of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. As a freshman reading the Oresteia, I never would have imagined that I’d have the opportunity to visit Clytemnestra’s tomb in person, see the ancient theatre at Epidaurus, or wander around the same Delphi I’d read about.

Korean Immersion Program, Sogang University

Avery Lin (SF25)

I believe a St. John’s education prepares one very well for both language immersion as well as study abroad in general, and it prepared me well for this program. I believe that the ability to question rigorously and dive deeply into one’s curiosity is crucial to understanding a new culture and system of communication.

Marchutz School of Art

Madeleine Weaver (A22)

I found myself mainly drawn to the field trips dedicated to painters who were known to have been inspired by southern France. We read the letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother during his years living in Paris, Arles, and Saint Rémy, and then took trips to discuss the progression of his work. These trips quickly began to pique my interest in art history. I struggled with history in high school, and though reading the classics helped me get better acquainted with the subject, I’ve never felt so connected to history than when it is specifically about art.

Santa Fe Student Amina Federspiel-Otelea

Italian Labor Law Research, Arcadia University from London

Amina Federspiel-Otelea (SF25)

I realized I could thrive in a hybrid workplace environment that is equally focused on effective collaboration as independent research. I also deepened my appreciation of collaboration in conducting and writing a research paper and strengthened my confidence in leading a research project independently and clarifying a topic of study.

Python Programming, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles, CA (online)

Rose Meien Zhang (A23)

I think my work at St. John’s at first glance seemed very irrelevant to the course because it offered a very systematic way of learning computer programming. But I found that when trying to solve problems or write codes it was a similar process of trying to solve problems in mathematics tutorial, and also learning different commands felt a little like learning Greek or French so it came rather naturally.

Rome Institute of Liberal Arts

Antonia Bonnaire (SF24)

I was curious about how the Roman cityscape witnesses the traces of various cultures and epochs, in a colourful juxtaposition of Roman pagan ruins, medieval Christian churches, synagogues of the Jewish community and finally the modern threads of an international population. How have people lived together in the past, how do they share this space today? These questions were a big component of our readings in the “Empire and the Soul” course.