Study Abroad & Social Work
Social work students have the advantageous opportunity to study abroad during their third year of study or complete their senior field placement abroad.
Messiah's Agapé Center for Local and Global Engagement connects students with study abroad programs that broden their horizons and furthers their social work education by studying in a new environment. In the past, social work students have studied in England, Thailand, Uganda, Lithuania, Chicago, and Harrisburg. Semester-long study abroad programming is available both locally and globally. Other opportunities include shorter, credit-bearing cross cultural opportunities locally and globally, as well as domestic outreach and international service trips.
Uganda Practicum
The Uganda Practicum is offered for students that want to complete their field work abroad, which gives students a first experience in international social work. At Uganda Christian University in Mukono, participants study and live with East African students and participate in homestays with Ugandan families. Lectures, research, worship, and a service projects help students experience daily life as a member of Ugandan society. Erika Kester, class of 2020, studied abroad at Uganda Christian University and created a blog which can be accessed through this link!
Chicago Semester
Social work students have the incredible opportunity of completing their senior field placement in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Semester is a program that provides students with professional experience in a densely-populated and diverse city. Students further develop their cultural competence skills from being immersed in such a unique environment. The program is tailored toward students that seek to explore their area of interest and obtain valuable experience working directly in the field. Chicago Semester is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our social work students.
Baltimore Urban Studies
Social work student can complete their senior field placement in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore Urban Studies (BUS) is a “study away,” experiential learning program, designed to teach, mentor, and train college students in spiritual formation and public health while providing urban global health internships. BUS believes there is an increasing need for Christian practitioners in all areas of healthcare practice and social justice work to have a deeply formed inner life as they seek, with wisdom and compassion, to positively impact individuals and communities. This is a semester that social work students will not regret.
Check out what students are saying about studying abroad
"My experience at LCC in Lithuania has shown me what it means to fully embrace a culture different from my own. I have been exposed to various cultural differences and ways of life by rooming with three Ukrainian students as well as living on a co-ed floor with students from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Armenia, and Ukraine. I find myself asking others about their study abroad experience and I have concluded that LCC has provided me a much broader and deeper experience than I could have ever expected or imagined. It has pushed me to form a better version of myself personally and as a professional as I work with a diverse clientele from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. I believe that this semester abroad has provided me with a holistic view at working collaboratively with others and maintaining a greater self-awareness." - Cameron, '20
"I completed my field placement at Hospice Africa Uganda in the spring of 2012 through the Uganda Studies Program (USP). This was the first time I really practiced viewing clients and coworkers as informants as I realized all I didn’t know about both social work practice and the foreign culture I found myself in. I also dealt with the confusion of what my presence as a young, white woman meant for the population I was encountering. Did they see me as a donor? As a healer with all the answers? I quickly found the best thing I could offer those patients and their families was my presence and a smile. I could listen to their struggles, either directly or from an interpreter. Just by showing up and listening, I could show them that their health and wellbeing mattered and they deserved to be treated with dignity." - Ruth Berta ‘12