Off-campus Study Opportunities

Political science majors have found off-campus study during their junior year to be an excellent way to enrich their Kenyon education. Study abroad provides students of politics a great opportunity to live in, observe, and learn about other political systems. Students who have studied comparative politics and international relations before going abroad will find they apply the insights of those subjects while they live and study in the foreign country they have chosen.

Many political science majors have a strong interest in world politics, and almost all off-campus studies programs provide those students with direct opportunities to observe the politics of other societies first-hand and to come to appreciate the challenges of international relations. Some off-campus programs have a special focus on international politics, such as the IES European Union Program, CIEE's program in Brussels, the DIS Copenhagen Social Sciences program, or SIT's International Studies, Organizations, and Social Justice program in Geneva, to name just a few. The many area studies programs available to Kenyon students—in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America—provide special opportunities to those interested in comparative politics.

Several Kenyon political science majors with an interest in American politics and policy have studied for a semester off campus at the Washington Semester Program at American University. Another program encouraged by the Department is the Semester in Washington at George Washington University. Both programs combine academic study of politics and public policy with internship placements in federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, or on Capitol Hill. Students with an interest in urban politics or social policy have found that the Philadelphia Center program offers valuable opportunities to learn about those topics in an urban setting.

The Department especially appreciates the insights into politics and international affairs that students who have studied off-campus bring to the classroom. Studying off-campus can be easily worked into the major, but we encourage students to work closely with their advisors to choose off-campus programs that will integrate well with their course work at Kenyon.