Why didn’t I know about this?
By Chinedum Joan Charity Emelumba
The New Jersey City University International Students and Study Abroad department will be sending students to Rome during Spring Break, but, students have been asking why they’ve been unaware of these study abroad opportunities.
Some students voiced their frustrations about how the faculty of NJCU consistently fails to notify students about various opportunities and events that the university provides. The recent incident involving the one week, educational trip to Rome, Italy was initially designed to be in conjunction with two courses: Media 325- Italian Cinema: Spotlight on Rome and Sociology 254- Urban Sociology: Rome, The Global City.
Professor Vera Dika of the Media Department expressed how she thought of the trip as a means of getting students to walk away from the course with a rich, firsthand experience of Rome. “Well, initially it (the trip to Italy) was designed to be an extension of my class, as well as Professor Herman,” she said. “We wanted to design a course that would be a semester in Rome, but it was just too expensive.”
The students that were enrolled in the two courses related to the study of Rome were the first candidates, who were given priority for the trip. However, there were some students, not enrolled in the class, who were just as eager to take the trip outside of the country.
Kaleema Lewis, 23, Biology major from Jersey City said, “I wanted to have a memorable experience overseas before graduation, which is why I went to speak to Craig Katz, who is the Director of International Study Abroad Program. That’s how I found out beforehand about the Rome trip. I really wanted to physically witness everything that I’ve ever read about in textbooks about Rome.”
Professor Max Herman of the Sociology Department confirmed that he and Professor Dika shared the same vision when conjuring the idea of this trip. “Professor Dika and I soon decided that we weren’t going to keep the trip solely for students, but to open it up to all students on campus, but the students in the class would get priority,” he noted. “I have to say on behalf of Professor Dika and myself, we’ve never done this before. We just wanted this to be something fun to do for experience.”
Despite NJCU’s efforts to reach students when various study abroad programs emerge, there are still thousands of students who never get the message. “You know what I may not know everything about this school, but I definitely didn’t hear about this Spring Break trip to Rome,” said Onyeka Emelumba, 20, Psychology major from Jersey City, New Jersey. “There’s honestly so many flyers plastered on top of each other in the many buildings on this campus that students don’t even bother to look at them. When it’s time for the university to make students aware of their tuition balance, we get everything from emails, to phone calls, and we even get classes dropped to convey the message. Why can’t this means of communication be used in when getting students attention about studying abroad?”
When asked why students don’t have knowledge of the various study abroad programs on campus, Katz responded, “I’ve asked people to give me suggestions on better ways to reach students through social media. It’s very difficult to reach students when they never check their emails.”
A Facebook group page, which was designed to exchange information between the students who were going on the trip and the faculty that was involved, caused other students on campus to wonder if only a select group of students were being offered these opportunities.
“Some of the confusion may have arisen because Mr. Katz set up the site to get information to students who decided that they were going,” said Professor Herman. “The irony is that a majority of the students in the two specific classes about Rome weren’t going.”
According to Katz, the students lack of knowledge regarding the programs that the universities offers stems from the fact that students neglect to check their school emails on a daily basis. He expressed that “students are really encouraged to study abroad, but they have to be receptive to the information.”
Katz says that the NJCU is very adamant about making study abroad programs as available and inexpensive for students. “It’s difficult to pin down a price a year in advance because we’re always trying to chase funding opportunity so that it is as affordable as possible. That’s really the key. We usually give students a semester’s notice about the trips,” he said.
Some of the locations in the past that NJCU students have visited for educational purposes include Peru, Spain, India, Scandinavia, Mexico, and Cuba. Katz also mentioned some trips to Istanbul and Mexico City, which are currently in the works.
Students are encouraged to check their emails daily for updates on all sorts of events and travel opportunities that the university offers. For direct information on specific study abroad opportunities, students may also check out the website which is www.njcu.edu/internationalprograms or email Craig Katz at [email protected].