Brethren Colleges Abroad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) is a fully accredited student exchange program affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. BCA offers opportunities to study abroad for a single semester or a full academic year. The organization works with college students to promote international understanding, an awareness of global citizenship issues, and opportunities for academic scholarship through educational exchange. Currently headquartered at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, the organization motto is: Bridge the world, Connect for peace, Act for justice.
[edit] Origins
BCA was founded in 1962 as a consortium of six charter member colleges affiliated with the Church of the Brethren:
- Bridgewater College
- Elizabethtown College
- Juniata College
- McPherson College
- Manchester College
- University of La Verne
BCA offered its first exchange program with Philipps-Universität in Marburg, Germany, the oldest Protestant university in the world. BCA is among the nation's oldest independent organizations that has a commitment to promote international understanding and academic excellence through college study abroad programs for U.S. students. BCA also offers adult seminars for college faculty and administrators. Today approximately seventy-five U.S. colleges and universities send students abroad through BCA.
[edit] Participating International Schools
Today BCA offers programs in several worldwide locations, including:
- Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia
- Vesalius College in Brussels, Belgium
- Dalian University in Dalian, China
- Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador
- University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, England
- Philipps-Universität in Marburg, Germany.
- University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France
- City University in Athens, Greece
- National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland
- Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan
- University of Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico
- University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand
- University of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain
BCA's program offers the unique opportunity to study peace and justice issues in places where conflict has profoundly affected culture, history, and daily life. A resident director is on hand at all locations to help students with the academic and cultural transitions. The exchange programs provide cultural immersion experiences for U.S. students while simultaneously offering international students the opportunity to study in the United States.
