Semester at Sea
Encyclopedia
Semester at Sea is a study abroad
Study abroad
Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a country other than one's own. This can include primary, secondary and post-secondary students...

 program founded in 1963, now managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...

. The University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 is the current academic sponsor for the program while the program, itself, is run on a cruise ship called the MV Explorer. Throughout the history of the program, nearly 55,000 undergraduate students from more than one thousand five hundred colleges and universities have participated in Semester at Sea.

During the spring and fall semesters, the approximately 100-day program circumnavigates the globe, traveling from North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 heading either east across the Atlantic or west across the Pacific, visiting from 8 to 11 countries in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, before ending the voyage in another North American port. The program previously had voyages that would sail through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, but due to piracy concerns in the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....

, voyages now typically travel around Africa. During the summer months, ISE hosts a shorter 65-day Semester at Sea program that concentrates on one general region of the world. Frequently, summer semester programs visit various ports in East Asia or Europe. In May 2011, Semester at Sea is introducing a new short-term or Maymester voyage with a curriculum focused on the UN Millennium Development Goals. This voyage will last 26 days and offer students the opportunity to earn 4-5 transferable credits.

Additionally, a two-week "Enrichment Voyage" program is held for continuing education participants during December and January. Itineraries for these voyages focus on Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, often transiting the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 or traveling up the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...

.

Academics

Students attend classes while the ship is at sea in a variety of subjects and disciplines. These classes are typically humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

 classes connecting with one or more of the countries on the itinerary. All students are required to take Global Studies, an interdisciplinary core course; When the ship is in a port, no classes are held. Students are then able to travel on Semester at Sea sponsored trips or independently within the country. However, travel outside the country of port is strictly prohibited, resulting in dismissal from the program.

Although the University of Virginia is the academic sponsor for the program, Semester at Sea is open to students from any university. Faculty members are drawn from colleges and universities throughout the United States, including the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

, Bucknell University
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...

, Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...

, Bentley University, Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
The University of St. Thomas is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...

, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Jacksonville University
Jacksonville University
Jacksonville University is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, on the banks of the St. Johns River. The school was founded in 1934 as a two year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until 1958, when it shifted its focus to four-year university degrees and adopted its...

, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 and the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

.

Prior to arriving at a port, students receive a pre-port briefing on the country they are visiting regarding the culture and societal rules of the country they are visiting. Upon arriving at the port of call, special guest speakers, ranging from community leaders from the country to American ambassadors, give lectures to the students and faculty. The pre-port briefing as well as the guest lecture prepare students for what to expect while visiting the country.

Ships

The vessel that is currently used by ISE is the MV Explorer, a 24,300-ton former cruise ship with a length of 590 feet. Constructed in 2002 by Blohm & Voss
Blohm + Voss
Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...

 shipbuilders in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, the ship had been operated by Royal Olympia Cruises until ISE acquired the vessel in summer 2004.

Semester at Sea has used a number of ships as its floating campus, including the MS Seven Seas (formerly the USS Long Island
USS Long Island (CVE-1)
USS Long Island was lead ship of her class and the first escort carrier of the United States Navy...

), the SS Ryndam (not the later freighter of that name), the S.S. Universe and the S.S. Universe Explorer. One ship SAS intended to use, the S.S. Seawise University (formerly the RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...

), burned and sank in Hong Kong Harbour during its conversion into a floating campus in 1972, and consequently was never used for students. The Universe Explorer, retired in 2005, had a structure of four main decks with a small swimming pool in the stern of the ship. The Seawise University, Universe, and Universe Explorer were supplied and managed by Tung Chao Yung
Tung Chao Yung
Tung Chao Yung better known as 董浩雲, , born 18th of the eighth lunar month in 1912; died 15 April 1982), also known as C. Y. Tung, was a Chinese shipping magnate, the founder of the Orient Overseas Line...

's Seawise Foundation.

History

Semester at Sea was originally named University of the Seven Seas and later World Campus Afloat before gaining its present name in 1977. In December 2005, it was announced that the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 would begin academic sponsorship of the program in Summer 2006. Previous sponsors include the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 (1981–2006), the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

 (1977–1980), and Chapman College
Chapman University
Chapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...

 (1965–1975). World figures such as Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

, Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...

, Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...

, and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 have all met with the program's participants at various times during its history. In 1999, the program's fame was boosted greatly when it was featured on a season
Road Rules: Semester at Sea
Road Rules: Semester at Sea was the eighth season of MTV's reality television series, Road Rules. This season, which first aired in 1999, featured six castmembers in the shipboard Semester at Sea study program, and followed the cast as they travelled aboard a cruise ship, both while taking school...

 of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's reality television show Road Rules
Road Rules
Road Rules was an MTV reality show that debuted on July 19, 1995. The series, which was MTV's second reality show after The Real World followed six strangers between the ages of 18 and 24 after stripping them of their money and putting them on an RV traveling from location to location only guided...

.

Ports of Call

The itinerary of ports changes each semester.

The ship docked in Denmark during summer 2008, in Namibia during fall 2008, Bulgaria during Summer 2009, and Ghana during Fall 2009, the first times in the history of the program that Semester at Sea had visited these countries.

The Fall 1997 Voyage began in Vancouver, BC, and visited Kobe, Japan, Shanghai, China, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Chennai, India, Port Said, Egypt, Limassol, Cyprus, Piraeus, Greece, Cadiz, Spain, Casablanca, Morocco, before ending at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

Incidents

Traveling in foreign countries poses risks for all travelers and a few incidents of non-shipboard fatalities have occurred to participants of Semester at Sea. One student died in a hiking accident on a 1993 voyage and five students were killed in a bus crash during a field trip in India.

The Fall 1997 voyage was re-routed due to terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

 concerns. On November 12, 1997, Ramzi Yousef
Ramzi Yousef
Ramzi Yousef was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a co-conspirator in the Bojinka plot. In 1995, he was arrested at a guest house in Islamabad, by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and United States Diplomatic Security Service, then extradited to the...

 was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...

. Consequently, the U.S. State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

 issued a travel warning for Americans in the Middle East. On November 17, 1997, while the ship was docked in Port Said
Port Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...

, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, and the students were in country, the Luxor massacre occurred. Although no students were involved, fears of further terrorism resulted in the next two ports, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, being skipped and the ship re-routed to Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

On the Fall 2001 semester following the events of September 11, the S.S. Universe Explorer was redirected after its stop in Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The planned route from Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Malaysia into the Indian Ocean then up through the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

 to ports including Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

 was changed by the State Department of the United States. The ship's route for the semester was then pushed south to include Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

 and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The ship's communication with other vessels in the Indian Ocean was limited due to the amount of American citizens on board and their security around the Indian Ocean area close to the Middle Eastern part of the globe.

On January 26, 2005, the MV Explorer weathered a storm in the north Pacific in which a large wave smashed the windows of the bridge, breaking one of them, and briefly affecting the navigation systems. While the vessel underwent repairs in Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, Semester at Sea students were flown to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 to continue their courses. The MV Explorer rejoined the students in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...

, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, and continued on to circumnavigate the globe and complete the semester without further incident. The ordeal is documented in an episode of the Weather Channel
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...

 television series Full Force Nature
Full Force Nature
Full Force Nature is a television series that premiered on January 15, 2006 on The Weather Channel. It showcases some of the most unbelievable weather moments caught on tape.-Plot:Full Force Nature focuses on extreme weather and weird weather on tape....

, complete with home video taken by the students during the storm. Later that year, safety concerns resulting from the incident were among the reasons cited by the University of Pittsburgh for ending its 24-year academic sponsorship of the program.

During the Fall 2006 voyage, Typhoon Shanshan
Typhoon Shanshan (2006)
Typhoon Shanshan was a strong typhoon that affected parts of East Asia in late September 2006. The 13th named storm of the 2006 Pacific typhoon season, Typhoon Shanshan was also the seventh typhoon of the year operationally recognised by the Japan Meteorological Agency...

 caused the MV Explorer, en route from Japan to Qingdao, China, to be re-routed to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

.

For the Spring and Fall 2009 voyages, the itinerary had to be changed in order to avoid the Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

During the Fall 2010 voyage the student Andre Ramadan died of unspecified reasons while docked in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

During the Spring 2011, the itinerary was changed following the tsunami that hit Japan. Instead, the MV Explorer docked in Taiwan.

Neptune Day Celebration

When the ship passes the equator for the first time on the Fall and Spring semester voyages, the students, faculty and crew of the vessel celebrate Neptune Day a line-crossing ceremony
Line-crossing ceremony
The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, and other navies that commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. Originally, the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates...

. Students are transformed from "polywogs" to "shellbacks" in an initiation ceremony, involving slime smearing, fish kissing, and (optional) headshaving. Neptune Day is one of several holidays celebrated during the voyage.

Sea Olympics

Passengers are divided into "seas" (occasionally including: Adriatic, Aegean, Arabian, Baltic, Bering, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Red, Yellow, and 3 seas for the Lifelong Learners, Professors and children of faculty). The student seas are generally determined by the hallway of their deck. The seas then compete in an all-day Olympic challenge. Opening ceremonies are held the morning of, and no classes are held during the Olympics. Events may include anything from synchronized swimming to pull-ups, dodgeball, trivia, a lip-sync routine and a ship-wide relay. The winning sea gets bragging rights for the rest of the semester and a grand prize, which is usually being the first to disembark from the ship when it returns to the United States, and a celebration in the faculty/staff only lounge.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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