Semester at Sea (SAS) is a study abroad program founded in 1963, now managed by the Institute for Shipboard Education[1] in Charlottesville, Virginia. The University of Virginia is the current academic sponsor for the program[1] 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[2] 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 heading either east across the Atlantic or west across the Pacific, visiting from 8 to 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America, 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, 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 and South America, often transiting the Panama Canal or traveling up the Amazon River.
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Students attend classes while the ship is at sea in a variety of subjects and disciplines. These classes are typically humanities classes connecting with one or more of the countries on the itinerary. All students are required to take Global Studies, an interdisciplinary core course;[3] 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, Bucknell University, Emerson College, Bentley University, Pennsylvania State University, Duke University, University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Cornell University, Jacksonville University, Stanford University and the University of Arizona.
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.
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.[1] Constructed in 2002 by Blohm & Voss shipbuilders in Germany, 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), 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), burned and sank in Hong Kong Harbour during its conversion into a floating campus in 1972, and consequently was never used for students.[4] 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's Seawise Foundation.
Semester at Sea was originally named University of the Seven Seas and later World Campus Afloat before gaining its present name in 1977.[5] In December 2005, it was announced that the University of Virginia would begin academic sponsorship of the program in Summer 2006. Previous sponsors include the University of Pittsburgh (1981–2006), the University of Colorado (1977–1980), and Chapman College (1965–1975). World figures such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, and Fidel Castro 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 of MTV's reality television show Road Rules.[6]
The itinerary of ports changes each semester.
The ship docked in Denmark during summer 2008,[7] 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, 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.
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.[8]
The Fall 1997 voyage was re-routed due to terrorism concerns. On November 12, 1997, Ramzi Yousef was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Consequently, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Americans in the Middle East. On November 17, 1997, while the ship was docked in Port Said, Egypt, 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 and Turkey, being skipped and the ship re-routed to Cyprus and Spain.
On the Fall 2001 semester following the events of September 11, the S.S. Universe Explorer was redirected after its stop in Kobe, Japan. The planned route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia into the Indian Ocean then up through the Suez Canal to ports including Egypt and Croatia was changed by the State Department of the United States. The ship's route for the semester was then pushed south to include Singapore, Seychelles and Cape Town, South Africa. 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, Semester at Sea students were flown to Hong Kong to continue their courses. The MV Explorer rejoined the students in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and continued on to circumnavigate the globe and complete the semester without further incident.[9] The ordeal is documented in an episode of the Weather Channel television series Full Force Nature, 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.[10]
During the Fall 2006 voyage, Typhoon Shanshan caused the MV Explorer, en route from Japan to Qingdao, China, to be re-routed to Hong Kong.
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.[11]
During the Spring 2011, the itinerary was changed following the tsunami that hit Japan. Instead, the MV Explorer docked in Taiwan.
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. 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.
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.