Education Abroad & Honors

Earn Honors credit while studying abroad

The Honors Program encourages the educational study abroad experience. Such opportunities may challenge assumptions about the world at large and have the potential to open up understanding of cultures beyond our borders and so lead to a refreshed perspective on one's own culture. To facilitate this, Honors students may apply up to 3 credit hours earned from the study abroad experience towards the Honors track.

Honors students may receive Honors Track Elective credit equivalent to one honors course elective during their study abroad, and there are three ways to do so.

• J-Term travel seminars
• DU in Spain or DU in Harlaxton programs

• Semester study abroad

Requesting Credit
To receive Honors study abroad credit, students must submit the proposal for a broadly interdisciplinary topic of study prior to the proposed study abroad experience, typically during the registration period preceding the semester or January abroad. The proposal form can be found here: Honors Study Abroad proposal form.

J-Term Travel Seminars

Honors students who register for a J-Term Travel Seminar course that is cross listed with Honors may count that course as an Honors elective as long as it does not exceed the maximum for electives from one discipline. 

DU in Spain and DU in England Semester Abroad

DU Spain or DU England Semester Abroad
Drake University offers two Drake faculty led semester abroad opportunities, one in Spain and one in England. In both cases a Drake faculty member teaches a course that must be taken by the students on that program. Sometimes that faculty member’s course gets approved for Honors elective credit. Any Honors student on that program may receive Honors elective credit for the successful completion of such a course. To learn more about these two programs, visit the Global Engagement site.

Semester Study Abroad

Students on a semester abroad program may earn Honors Track Elective credit via one or more of the courses they take. To do so, students must follow these guidelines:

1. Honors students must participate in a program where study abroad credits are transferred back to Drake University towards the degree.
2. Honors students must take 9-12 credit hours during study abroad to be eligible for study abroad Honors credit.
3. Up to three (3) Honors credit hours may be counted for Honors Track Elective credit during one study abroad semester or experience
4. Honors students must submit to the Honors Director the Honors Study Abroad proposal form the semester before the proposed study abroad experience. Students should do this in conjunction with completing the Global Engagement study abroad course form.
5. The Honors Study Abroad form must be approved before commencing the study abroad experience, without exception.

Approval for courses taken while participating in a semester aborad is infrequent. However, Honors students who study abroad for a full semester may receive Honors credit* by completing a specifically designed project that incorporates their experience with interdisciplinary thought and reflection. This special project must be grounded in the site or location; it ought to be something that could not be completed effectively if the student was still in Des Moines.

This type of Honors credit is earned via HONR 177 Honors Study Abroad, a 3-credit Independent Study. There are a variety of approaches students may choose, both topically as well as the medium by and through which they choose to complete and convey their experience and learning. Typically, students are asked to keep a journal/blog recording their daily experiences in order to compile a “data-set” on their topic, in addition to the research (which takes many forms) they conduct, typically culminating in a 10-20 page paper. There are other options for the final product — such as a series of videos on or about specific parts of the experience, or a photo-journal commenting and reflecting on key places or events — which may be possible after submitting the Honors Study Abroad proposal and a discussion with the Honors Director.

Lastly, during the semester that immediately follows the semester abroad, the student will give a presentation on their project to the Honors and Drake community. this presentation will typically occur during the Honors Senior Thesis Presentations period near the end of that semester. Students may elect to give their presentation earlier in the semester.

For more information on study abroad please contact the Global Engagement, Education Abroad Office.

*If additional study abroad transfer credits are received in the Quantitative Literacy, Science Literacy (with lab or field experience), or Artistic Literacy areas, the honors program counts that credit toward the AOI category (as transferred/accepted by the Office of the Registrar. Students should work with their primary advisor to ensure that these credits will count for the respective AOIs.)  It is not possible to count the same course for both and AOI and an Honors Track Elective.