Brethren Colleges Abroad
Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA) was founded in 1962 as a secular, non-profit provider of academic and language immersion study for undergraduates from a consortium of colleges and universities (see below). Today, the organization is known as BCA Study Abroad and continues a mission of academic study abroad focused on peace and social justice for its founding members as well as a larger number of colleges and universities in the United States. BCA promotes international understanding, an awareness of global citizenship, and opportunities for academic scholarship through educational exchange. Currently headquartered at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, BCA's tagline is: Bridge the world, Connect for peace, Act for justice.
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. Today approximately seventy-five U.S. colleges and universities send students abroad through BCA.
Participating International Schools
Today BCA offers programs in several worldwide locations, including:
- 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.
- National University of Ireland Maynooth in Maynooth, Ireland
- University of Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico
- University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand
- Universitat de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain
- Madras Christian College in Chennai, India
Program
BCA's programs offer the 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.