Admissions

Students at Chester College of New England have several options for international study: various three week summer courses taught by Chester College faculty at overseas locations, semester long programs in Italy and Greece, and shorter four and five week summer programs in Italy. While plans for summer 2010 courses taught by Chester faculty are still being developed, some recent study abroad summer courses have included: art history and landscape photography (Ireland, 2009); Latin American literature and memoir writing (Puerto Rico, 2009); Art and Technology (“The Grand Tour” of Cairo, Luxor, Athens, Florence, and London, 2008). Each travel abroad course provides students with the opportunity to earn six academic credits which they can transfer back to their Chester program of study.

Students desiring a longer and more intensive study abroad experience may also choose semester long programs in Greece and Italy. Chester College of New England has close affiliations with the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, located on the Greek island of Paros and with Firenze Arti Visive, located in Florence, Italy. Approximately 15 Chester students have benefitted from their involvement in these two programs over the past several years.

The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts offers two separate semester long programs. The fall semester program typically runs from early September to mid December. Unique to the fall program is that it begins in the Tuscan city of Pistoia, Italy, 30 km west of Florence and concludes at the Center’s permanent facility on the Greek island of Paros. The spring semester runs from early March to early June and takes place on the island of Paros. Courses at the Aegean Center include The Art of Singing, Painting, Drawing, Figure Drawing, Black & White Silver Photography, Digital Photography, Printmaking, Creative Writing, Art History (the Italian Renaissance and Classical Greece & Rome); Photographic History, and Classical Literature. The Art History courses feature visits to museums, architectural sites, and churches where many art works may be seen in their original environment.

Firenze Arti Visive (FAV) provides Chester College students with the opportunity to study the studio arts, Italian language and culture, and the humanities in Florence, the center of the Italian Renaissance. Students may choose from four options at FAV: the fall semester (early September to mid December), spring semester (early January to late April); the four week Late Spring program (late May 28 to late June) for up to six credits), and a three week summer program (July and August). Courses include Art History, Humanities, Film Studies, Italian Language and Culture, Video, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Digital Media. Like the Aegean Center program, courses at FAV feature a small faculty to student ratio in order to maximize individual learning. Chester College of New England has carefully chosen to affiliate with these two study abroad centers because their programs reflect and reinforce the College’s own academic philosophy.

Further information including cost of tuition is available at each study abroad website, www.aegeancenter.org and www.firenze-artivisive.org.
Students considering a semester-long study abroad experience in either Italy or Greece are carefully screened for their academic readiness and must be recommended by their program advisor and the Dean of the College. The faculty has established rigorous academic criteria in order to assure that students have achieved levels of maturity and educational experience that will enable them to succeed in their chosen program of international study.

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