The Study Abroad Experience at Rutgers—Camden

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“South Africa was a transformative experience. Some of this learning abroad trip’s highlights included completing a case analysis with business students from the University of Pretoria (we learned that many of them also speak many languages as there are 11 languages in South Africa)…” Genesis Alves, a Student Counselor Advising for Undergraduate Programs, stated. In Rutgers—Camden study abroad programs students are offered the opportunity to take specific classes that offer a trip to a specific country in relation to the class. There is also an experiential learning fund that can help cover a portion if not all of a student’s study abroad trip expenses.

According to the Rutgers Camden website “All first-time, matriculated Rutgers-Camden undergraduate students who enrolled in Fall 2022 or later and maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.5 are eligible to apply for a one-time award of up to $3,000 from the Chancellor’s Experiential Learning Fund to support their participation in a travel, internship, or research experience.” This allows students to travel to different countries and learn about the country’s history, food, culture and even businesses. Studying abroad can help students connect with a language they have been learning or even just expand their horizon to different cultures than the one they’re accustomed to.

Alves has experienced firsthand several learning abroad trips, visiting Panama in 2017 and South Africa in 2018: “Panama was an inaugural trip for the School of Business. South Africa is a school of business staple learning abroad trip.”

When asked, “What was one of the memorable experiences you had while in each of the countries?” Alves replied “In Panama, the opportunity to visit the Panama Canal, as its impact is not only in Latin America but globally as some of the top countries using it are the USA, China, Chile amongst others. We also witnessed one of the largest cargo ships pass through and learned about their day-to-day operations. Some of the companies we visited included Copa Airlines, Dell and Panama Pacifico.”

Daisey Anyanwu, a senior at Rutgers Camden University, attended the South Africa trip last March during spring break with the business school. While in South Africa students were able to visit Table Mountain, museums, learn about apartheid, go on a safari experience and visit different businesses that helped assist youth during covid. Anyanwu commented about the study abroad experience, “My most memorable and favorite business meeting was when we got to go and visit pick and pay and their headquarters there. And we got to have a little presentation and meet the daughter of the founder who also serves as a board member with pick and pay and she got to just explain all the corporate social responsibility efforts that they did to help kids during covid in South Africa at the time… I fell in love with the country and the people.” She also mentioned this experience made her want to travel to more countries. Both Alves and Anyanwu agreed that visiting South Africa was transformative and a must visit trip.

Alves also shared that, “I will strongly encourage all students if they have the opportunity to take advantage of learning abroad or study abroad trips as they are life-changing experiences. The opportunity to immerse yourself in other cultures, get out of your comfort zone, exposure to other perspectives/ways of life, and building meaningful connections with not just your peers but with faculty and everyone you have the chance to connect is truly everlasting.”