Program Duration

Academic Year: Mid-July to Mid-July
Fall semester: Mid-July to Mid-December
Spring semester: Mid-February to Mid-July Summer: June-July

Program Description

Offered through the Institute for Study Abroad-Butler University (IFSA-Butler), the Argentine Universities Program (AUP) is co-sponsored by UW-Madison. The AUP allows students great academic flexibility in the rich setting of Buenos Aires. Students can choose between semester, yearlong or summer program options.

Buenos Aires is a complex city that is home to wonderful attractions and one of the most cosmopolitan societies in the world. Incredibly, the city and the surrounding areas are home to nearly forty percent of the Argentine population. This "Paris of the Americas” has almost no skyscrapers, making the city seem even larger. The bus and local train services are inexpensive and reliable, and many cultural and social sites are located in the compact city center or the nearby and easily accessible barrios.

Academics

The AUP offers students a variety of rewarding academic options. Students on the semester or yearlong program can directly enroll in courses from just one or as many as four of the following Buenos Aires universities: Universidad Católica Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad del Salvador, or Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. All university classes are taught in Spanish and integrated with degree-seeking Argentine students. Some of the strongest departments available through the four universities are economics, history, international business, international studies, literature, philosophy, political science, and social science.

No matter which universities students enroll in, coursework will be supplemented with a mandatory Spanish Language & Argentine Culture course designed especially for IFSA-Butler program participants. Two other program courses are also available: Argentine State & Society and Contemporary Argentine & Latin American Literature. All IFSA-Butler program courses are taught in Spanish by Argentine professors.

In addition to the AUP options of studying at the four Argentine universities, AUP semester or yearlong program participants have the option to study in one of three specialized tracks designed especially for IFSA-Butler students: cinema studies; diversity, minority and gender studies; and human rights. This provides students a great opportunity to completely integrate into the cultural life of Buenos Aires by working and researching at prestigious civil society institutions alongside distinguished faculty and experts in these areas. The tracks include an Advanced Spanish and Argentine Culture class, a program class created exclusively for each track, a field experience and seminar, and one or two university classes related to the student’s topic of research and chosen track or student’s field of study in the United States.

IFSA-Butler also offers an independent research option for semester or yearlong program participants that combines academic training and practical experience in social problem analysis. Students who choose this option take part in a supervised research project designed individually for each participant on the basis of past academic work, research skills, and areas of personal research interest. The Fundación Simon Rodriguez appoints the academic director for the independent research option, and an academic committee of specialists oversee the course’s academic and research components. The culmination of the course is a research paper.

The summer academic focus is on Argentine Language and Culture. Students are required to take an advanced Spanish language course. Students must also choose one of the following two courses: Contemporary Argentine and Latin American Literature or Argentine Social History. Courses are taught by Universidad de Buenos Aires faculty.

AUP maintains a fully-staffed office in Buenos Aires and serves as a point of contact for both personal and academic support. The AUP program also matches each student with a tutor who is trained to help with language and academic questions. Students and tutors are paired by academic discipline and meet at least once a month.

Housing

Housing and some meals are included in the program fee. Students live with carefully selected host families in different neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Most of the culture of Latin America revolves around the extended family and living with a host family is one of the best ways to be immersed into the culture and language of Argentina. Families provide two meals per day during the week and one meal on Saturdays.

Excursions and Activities

Upon arrival in Argentina, there is an on-site orientation for all program participants. Several volunteer opportunities are available for the semester or yearlong programs. Some past student placements have included work with organizations: working to strengthen representative democracy in Argentina; working to rescue stray animals; improving the quality of life for children in marginalized neighborhoods; providing general and medical assistance to isolated rural communities; promoting social responsibility; promoting social integration of the LGBT community; promoting equal access to communication and information technology. There are several excursions and cultural events planned for all programs.