Study Abroad Library

CIEE Liberal Arts Program in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The goals of the Liberal Arts program are to provide advanced Spanish language students an opportunity to significantly improve their Spanish language skills in a local context through specially designed Spanish language courses, while gaining a critical appreciation of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean from a social sciences perspective. These goals are achieved through coursework and the opportunity to work in a structured internship with a local grassroots development project, along with non-credit volunteer opportunities, cultural activities, and the chance to live with a Dominican family. Academic Program The CIEE Study Center, established in 1998, gives students the opportunity to enroll in classes at El Bonó, UASD, and INTEC. In addition, FLACSO offers specially designed courses for CIEE students in Spanish language and cultural, literary, artistic, political, and social aspects of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean as a whole. Students generally enroll in one Spanish language course and a variety of CIEE-FLACSO content courses, as well as in courses at the other host institutions. This arrangement permits students to combine the specialized, more personalized think tank atmosphere of FLACSO with courses offered through INTEC, UASD, and El Bonó. The program is suitable for advanced undergraduate students with strong language skills and a background in the social sciences or in Latin American studies. Academic Culture Academic culture in Dominican universities is different from that of universities and colleges in the United States. Direct enrollment in Dominican universities is one of the richest opportunities not only for academic learning, but also for immersing oneself in the language, for meeting Dominicans, and for learning about Dominican culture and society. However, it also brings many challenges, which include adapting to and learning from a more formal academic culture and dealing with limited or hard-to-find materials. CIEE students enrolling at INTEC can choose classes from the Faculties of Social Sciences and Humanities, with a smaller number of classes selected from the Faculties of Business and Natural Sciences. Students at INTEC tend to be middle- and upper-middle class women and men from Santo Domingo. Classes range in size from 30 to 40. Most of the 100 students at El Bonó are young men studying philosophy on scholarship as part of their training to become priests. The classes are small (2030) and lecture-based. UASD, a large public university, has an undergraduate population of 160,000 on its main campus in Santo Domingo. Classes tend to be very large and resources and infrastructure may vary from department to department. At FLACSO, students will find that class content and structure is closer to U.S. universities, and that the atmosphere is more intimate and relaxed. Class size is from six to 18 students. A tutor is available at FLACSO to assist participants. At each institution, students can expect three to four contact hours a week for each class and should dedicate an hour of preparation for each hour of class. Students are expected to rely on the advice of the Resident Director for their final course registrations during orientation, and any communication with home institutions is the responsibility of the student. The add/drop period varies from institution to institution. Students need to keep track of each institutions deadlines because after the deadline, course selections are final. There is a three-week break between the spring and fall semesters.