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Meredith Mason 

“I didn’t want a typical study abroad experience.”

When Meagan Costello mapped out her study abroad plan with Bentley’s Cronin Office for International Education, she emphasized that she was not interested in a traditional experience. She did not want to study in popular European destinations such as Paris or London and spend weekends jetting to different cities with her American friends. Instead she was dedicated to immersing herself in a culture that was completely different than her own.

After months of planning and weeks of packing, Costello boarded her flight to Cape Town, South Africa.

Thanks to the Santander Universities Study Abroad Scholarship Fund, Costello and 12 other Bentley University Students received the funds they needed to study abroad.

Since 2011, Bentley has partnered with Santander Bank to award hundreds of scholarships to make international education a reality for students with financial need. Priority is given to students like Costello who want to travel to countries outside of the popular European and Australian programs.

“Across the country, universities struggle to reach students who may never consider study abroad options, assuming cost is an insurmountable barrier,” says Natalie Schlegel, director of the Cronin Office of International Education. “The Santander Universities Abroad Scholarship sends a clear message to Bentley students that study abroad is accessible.”

Encouraging Cultural Immersion

In addition to providing students with financial assistance, Santander requires all scholarship recipients to complete a self-designed cultural investigation project that encourages students to conduct field research on topics ranging from diversity to economic equality. When students return to Bentley, they present their findings to representatives from Santander Bank and the Bentley community.

During this fall’s presentations students reflected on how the semester long project enhanced their study abroad experience:

1. It Helped Me to Get Out of My Comfort Zone 

Conducting a semester-long project while I was abroad encouraged me to get involved in the local culture. I am sometimes reluctant to try new things, especially on my own.  This project helped me break down my barriers of fear and forced me to ask questions to learn more about the culture from random people I met throughout my day.

- Megan Costello ’16 Cape Town, South Africa
- Project: #RhodesMustFall: A Rise Against Institutional Racism at University of Cape Town

2. I Interacted More with the Local People

My project pushed me to interact more with people, especially with native Japanese. At times I was afraid to go up and talk to people because of my broken Japanese, but the project motivated me to try. Not only did this requirement help me learn more about Japanese culture and people, but it also helped me improve my Japanese speaking and listening skills.

- Nikki Nguyen ’16 Tokyo, Japan
- Project: Dissecting Japanese Identity: How A Younger Generation is Fusing Traditional and Modern Japan

3. I Learned to Embrace a New Student Culture

The cultural investigation requirement encouraged me to actually think about cultural differences in a more in-depth and meaningful way. It also motivated me to interact more with the local Chilean students. Without it I would have likely become very comfortable just hanging out with my friends who were also in study abroad programs and would not have embraced the culture as deeply.

- Brendan Clifford ’16 Santiago, Chile 
- Project: The Student Protest Movement of Chile 

“Through their projects, students approach study abroad as a learning laboratory rather than a tourist destination,” says Schlegel.

“This attitude maximizes learning and personal growth, resulting in Bentley graduates who can really back up their assertion that study abroad was a life-changing part of their college education.
 

Spring/Summer 2015 Santander Scholarship Recipients 
 

  • Muhammad Imtiaz- London School of Economics, United Kingdom
  • Aja Piro-Ibrahim- CIEE Seville, Spain
  • Brendan Clifford- CIEE Santiago, Chile
  • Meagan Costello, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  • Mateo Henao- American College of Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Nicholas Hoffman- API Barcelona, Spain
  • Melissa Laffitte- Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE Business School Madrid, Spain
  • Lorena Mejia- CIEE Seville, Spain
  • Nikki Nguyen- CIEE Sophia University Tokyo, Japan
  • Tien Nguyen- Semester at Sea
  • Felicia Dodge- London Internship
  • Zachary Edwards- London Internship
  • Hanna Gomez- London Internship 


About Santander Universities

Santander Universities Global Division is the foundation of Banco Santander’s commitment to social action and enables it to maintain a strong alliance with the academic world.  Santander has 1,208 agreements in 20 countries. Through the Universities division, Santander supports the higher education sector in areas that include scholarships, mobility grants, research programs, university enterprise relations, new technologies, promotion of the Spanish language, and global projects.  Over the last 15 years Santander Universities has provided nearly $1.7 billion to fund projects and scholarships annually.

Click here to learn more about international education at Bentley University.

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