Acadia’s Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ESST) program now offers a new international exchange opportunity thanks to third-year student Emily Matthews (’16).

“Establishing a new partnership is always exciting,” says International Admissions and Study Abroad Officer Mike Holmes (’93), “but to develop one almost entirely through the initiative and effort of one of our students is an even better story.”

An exchange program is a reciprocal arrangement between two universities that allows students from each institution to study at the other for a semester or a year.

Matthews, a Toronto native, started looking into exchange programs for ESST last year. That search, in conjunction with an assignment called “Make a Change” for an ESST course led by Dr. Alice Cohen, prompted her to research programs on a global scale.

Her efforts were motivated by a desire to create opportunities for future students. She hoped that ESST students would be able to do an exchange secure in the knowledge that their academic credits would be fully transferable. “It would also allow students to study in a country with a different culture and language and allow them get the most out of their experience,” Matthews says.

She began by conducting a general search online, looking at programs that overlapped with ESST. The result was a list of eight universities in locations ranging from Hawaii to Norway.  

Under Holmes’s guidance, Matthews contacted the exchange coordinators at each school, provided them with information about Acadia’s ESST program, and pitched the idea of an exchange.

Great interest

The Norwegian School of Life Sciences (NMBU) responded with great interest. Vilma Bischof, an advisor who works with student exchange agreements, said that Matthews made it obvious why an exchange partnership between the two institutions would be a great fit.

“Our university,” Bischof says, “has a strong focus on the environment and sustainability, and Acadia students will benefit by experiencing the Norwegian perspective on these topics. The Norwegian/Scandinavian perspective can be a fascinating and inspiring experience for any student.”

Bischof says the partnership also works at a national level. “Norway has expressed a wish for extended and intensified contact with Canada, not only due to political ties, but also due to a similar climate and environment, which can be conducive to joint research projects.”

Once the relationship and interest was established, Matthews met with Holmes and Dr. David Duke, ESST Program Coordinator at Acadia, to work out the finer details, ensuring credits would transfer. Now a formal agreement exists between Acadia and NMBU, and students from each institution can begin applying to visit the other.

New academic environment

“This partnership,” Duke says, “will allow Acadia ESST students to experience a new academic environment in Scandinavia, regarded as one of the world leaders in terms of environmental advocacy, environmental sensitivity, and environmental policy.”

Matthews hopes Acadia students will gain independence, confidence, knowledge and experience from the exchange program. “I strongly believe that a crucial part of learning can only be gained while traveling. It forces students to get out of their comfort zone and try new things.”

Matthews believes students should have these opportunities, as they will be able to apply their experiences to become stronger students and leaders once back in Acadia classrooms.

Holmes says these exchange agreements often arise from existing relationships with alumni and faculty, or from meetings between university representatives at conferences. The partnership with NMBU didn’t develop this way, though, which is unusual. 

“As far as I'm aware, this is the first time that a student has initiated an exchange partnership, and it's even more unusual because Emily had no prior relationship or contact with NMBU,” Holmes says.

This kind of initiative is characteristic of ESST students, and can be attributed partially to the program, Duke says. ESST students approach questions of sustainability and leadership from a variety of different perspectives: they evaluate challenges; develop rational, step-by-step plans to tackle them; and engage stakeholders in a meaningful and productive way to move projects forward.

“Emily comes from that tradition,” Duke says. “She was able to work toward establishing the exchange because of her own drive and vision, together with the skills and abilities developed in the ESST program.”

Students must have a minimum 3.0 GPA to be considered for the exchange. The application is available on the Study Abroad website at http://studyabroad.acadiau.ca/outgoing-students.html, and students must submit their applications by January 31 in the second year of their program so they can go on exchange during their third year.

(Story by Laura Churchill Duke, ’98)