The Scholar Ship

In September 2007 the world's first study-at-sea programme designed specifically for students across the world will be launched by a consortium of international universities from Australia, China, Morocco, Mexico and Ghana and the USA.

The Scholar Ship is a semester-long academic programme taking place aboard a specially equipped passenger ship which brings together up to 600 undergraduate and postgraduate international students to form a floating transnational learning community focused on intercultural leadership and communication. The Scholar Ship will set sail from Greece on its inaugural voyage en route to eight countries on four continents over a period of 16 weeks.

Knowledge of how to react in an increasingly global dimension in work and study is a must today. Those who demonstrate the ability to work and to adapt across cultural, political and linguistic boundaries will be leaders of tomorrow. The Scholar Ship is a new model of intercultural learning in which students can take part in a series of academic, cultural and social activities both on board and ashore designed to strengthen their personal and professional development.

The Scholar Ship's consortium of Academic Stewards consists of UC Berkeley (USA), Macquarie University (Australia), Tec de Monterrey (Mexico), Fudan University (China), Al Akhawayn University (Morocco), and the University of Ghana. The consortium is committed to the highest quality academic programmes all taught in English. It will offer undergraduate and postgraduate level study and research over the course of an academic semester. Residential experiences and classroom instruction onboard the ship will be enhanced by shore programmes designed to bring the academic subjects to life. These include field programmes, excursions and independent travel.

On board the ship you will visit eight countries over a period of 16 weeks whilst studying on your chosen program. The first voyage will start in Athens, Greece and end in Kobe, Japan, The January 08 voyage will commence in Kobe and end in Athens. In each port you will have at least a week to follow a carefully designed shore programme, or go on an independent trip yourself.

Upon successful completion of The Scholar Ship programme, postgraduate students have a number of options. They can (subject to approval) apply their course credits either to Macquarie University's Master of Arts in International Communication or to the Master of Arts in International Relations (which requires an additional semester of study at the Sydney campus), or they can opt for the stand-alone Postgraduate Certificate in International Communication. Another pathway is into the Master of Arts in International Business at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.

As the nature of work and study rapidly takes on a global dimension, employers are increasingly seeking workers who have demonstrated the ability to successfully operate across cultural, political and linguistic boundaries. To meet this demand The Scholar Ship has been designed as a distinctive transnational learning community that develops the intercultural leadership skills of its students. Students who complete a semester aboard The Scholar Ship will be better prepared to successfully compete for jobs in the 21st Century workforce.

As we develop The Scholar Ship into the most distinctiveinternational education program today, we are committed to ensuring ourstudent body and staff are as diverse as possible. To make certain weachieve the socio-economic and geographic objectives of our studentdiversity goals, we have established a generous scholarship fund tohelp make the opportunity of a lifetime a reality for everyone.

Students interested in applying for a scholarship must indicate soon our student application. The value of each scholarship granted willbe determined by a number of factors, including economic need andacademic achievement. The range of awards is between US$2,500 andUS$7,500.

We will also accommodate students who depend on funding fromexternal sources to ensure their financial aid or scholarship funds canbe properly directed for payment of our program. Please do not hesitateto contact us for assistance.