Destination: Soviet Union. Moscow, Lenningrad, Kiev, Yalta, Talinn. Purpose: To study the various cultures of Russian, Ukranian, Latvian and Estonian people.

One year from today an airplane carrying about 18 students—many of them NIU students—and at least one faculty guide will touch down at Moscow’s international airport.

Among other historical and cultural sites, they’ll see the fortress of Peter and Paul, where political dissidents were once jailed.

“Why did they even need prisons? What do Soviets do with political dissidents now?” asked Orville Jones, assistant director of NIU International and Special Programs, suggesting the kinds of questions students might find answers to during their study abroad next summer.

Another group of students arrived in Hawaii today, marking the start of their three-week outdoor education study program. Although their overseas travel kept them in the United States, this International Programs-sponsored course includes a very different classroom atmosphere—the islands of Hawaii and Oahu.

The tours are two of about 33 trips planned yearly through Jones’ office—tours that “provide people—students and faculty—with an opportunity to learn what they cannot learn on campus and experience culture first hand,” Jones said.

Through International Programs, students are studying contemporary British theater in London, educational practices in New Zealand and Australia, and management systems in Egypt (to name a few)—learning experiences that cannot be brought to any classroom on DeKalb’s campus.

The philosophy behind the programs is that a different—maybe more enriching—kind of learning is available away from the classroom environment. “We don’t transplant our courses,” Jones said. “We try to keep a seminar sort of an environment—keep groups small so there’s a lot of interaction.” Students have the same teachers, occupy the same classrooms and ride the same buses to visit historical and cultural sites.

Foreign language Professor George Gutsche and Jones initiated plans for the Soviet Union tour, but Jones said tours are also created in other ways. Faculty bring ideas to Jones, Jones brings ideas to faculty, and some ideas come as the result of student suggestions.

NIU also works in accordance with other universities on some programs. Arizona State University and NIU conduct international business seminars in several European countries, and Michigan State University and NIU have a Spanish language and literature study in Denia, Spain.

After World War II language and area studies increased, Jones said. As universities began to expand in the 1950s, ‘60s and ’70s, the idea of studying language in the context of its geographic setting became more popular.

NIU first offered international study programs in 1972, and when Jones arrived in DeKalb in 1974 there were three study-abroad opportunities.

Oxford University’s Oriel College near London is “home” for several more weeks to three groups of NIU students studying British literature, British studies and children’s literature.

James Miller, English department undergraduate director, said, “The people who go to England are going not just to a place where English is spoken—they’re going to a place where English was spoken before it was spoken anywhere else.

“In one direction, its 30 miles to Stonehenge. Another direction—about 30 miles—and they’re in Stratford, home of Shakespeare. It’s easier to get in touch with the history of English literature in England. A lot of historic locations are right there,” said Miller, who studied abroad in England as a college student.

“To travel to another country is to get outside the immediate influence of America, which in some ways is very standardizing. It’s extraordinary to be in England as opposed to a country where they speak another language, where you tend to relax and feel you belong to another group. But England, where you certainly understand the language, somehow involves you without putting you at your ease.”

While many undergraduate students study English abroad, comparatively few undergraduates study art abroad. Art department assistant chairman Jerry Meyer said most students are from “more mature” age groups and are mostly teachers from public schools or other universities.

Art history Professor Helen Merritt said she led about five tours to the Orient, including China, Japan and Taiwan. “I immerse them (students) as much as I can in living in the country, putting them on their own as much as I can.”

An Institute of International Education survey revealed NIU has one of the top six international-study programs in the United States and is listed in the Vacation Study Abroad handbook as one of the best of 450 international programs.

Meyer said only about 30 to 50 percent overseas art students are NIU students and Jones agreed that NIU’s international programs attract people from throughout the country, some even from other countries.

Destination: Abroad. Purpose: Jones seems to sum it up best. “Students come back as different individuals,” he said. “Most have a limited or provincial point-of-view. They change personality-wise—they grow in independence, they grow in self-esteem and become more opportunistic. Doors open they never even dreamed of. I think it’s a fantastic experience.”