FAQs: About UNT Study Abroad

There are 3 ways to study abroad as a UNT student.

1. Exchange Programs.  You go to one of our partner universities and trade places with a student from another country.  You pay tuition and fees at UNT for full-time credit (12 hours for undergraduate and 9 hours for graduate students).  Depending on the program, you might pay room and board at UNT or at the host university.  You transfer your academic credit back to UNT.

   Exchanges are usually done in the long semester or for an academic year.

2. Affiliated Programs.  These are a good choice for students who want to go someplace we don't offer an exchange option.  You pay program fees directly to a provider who sets up your housing, classes, plans excursions, and provides on-the-ground services; you have access to an on-site director who can address any situations that might come up while you're abroad.  You are not enrolled at UNT on an affiliated program.

   You can participate for a summer, a semester or a year.

3. Faculty-Led Programs.  You go with a UNT professor who teaches his or her class in another country.  You are enrolled in a UNT class and you travel together as a group.  Faculty-led participants pay tuition and fees at UNT for the class and also other program costs (like airfare, travel in-country, lodging, etc.)

   UNT offers from 20-30 faculty-led programs each year, usually in the summer terms (but also in the winter inter-session or sometimes over spring break).

Take a look at our exchange program listing. Also, take a look at www.isep.org for some other options in a variety of countries. You'll be surprised at how many countries you can study in if you only speak English!

Next, make an advising appointment with a study abroad advisor right away!  We don't want you to miss any deadlines.  Valerie and Mary Beth are the advisors for exchanges and affiliated programs. 

Exchange and affiliated credit comes back to UNT as transfer credit.  It takes from 2-3 months after your return for your grades to arrive at UNT.  Your transcript is then translated into American credit hours and grades and posted to your UNT transcript.  Like other transfer work, it does not figure into your ongoing UNT GPA, but it will factor into your cumulative GPA when you graduate and all your work is calculated into a final cumulative GPA.

Faculty-led grades are factored immediately into your UNT GPA. 

As a part of the application process for an exchange or affiliated program, you will take a "Pre-Approval of Classes" form to your advisor with course descriptions of the classes you want to take.  Your advisor will determine how the foreign courses will count toward your degree and sign off on the form.  Then your dean will also sign off on the form and then you'll return it to the SAC.  This pre-approval will be recorded along with your transcript so that any advisor can look at it later and see how your credit should count toward your degree.

Pre-approval is not necessary for faculty-led programs, since you are enrolled in a UNT class(es).