Friday, August 11, 2006
August 12, the first one
An article from the South China Morning Post on Semester at Sea
FT News, Education
SHIP SHAPE After weathering a political storm last year, the Semester at Sea study cruise is back on course and called into Hong Kong with a refitted vessel taking students on a voyage of discovery. Liz Heron went aboard
1066 words
12 August 2006
South China Morning Post
6
English
(c) 2006 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
THE WORLD'S FASTEST cruise ship glided into Victoria Harbour this summer bringing 285 university students to Hong Kong on a voyage of learning and exploration.
The MV Explorer is home to the Institute of Shipboard Education's 90th Semester at Sea study cruise, a summer school combining degree-level courses with visits to eight East Asian countries, and is now returning across the Pacific.
It was the vessel's first visit to Hong Kong since it was refitted as a floating university in 2004 and the first voyage sponsored by the institute's new academic partner, the University of Virginia.
With visits to Angkor Wat, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City already under their belts, students disembarked into Ocean Terminal and fanned out on excursions and activities or tours to China.
This year's 65-day summer school was going with a swing after organisers weathered a political storm following disruption to last year's spring cruise when a 50-foot wave smashed into the bridge in mid-Pacific.
The wave shattered windows, shorted the electrical system and stopped all but one of the engines. A teacher suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung and students had to be flown onwards to China and Hong Kong from Honolulu.
Then the University of Pittsburgh - the programme's academic sponsor for the previous 24 years - pulled out in June last year over a number of issues, including opposition to the institute's decision to cut ties in 2004 with the Seawise Foundation, set up by Hong Kong shipping tycoon Tung Chao-yung and led after his death by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Executive Dean Don Gogniat said the Explorer had been fully repaired since the accident and the institute had stepped up international security intelligence for the vessel. "We have updates from a sophisticated consultancy firm that synthesises all the latest data on terrorism, military conflict and hazardous weather and provides advice on travel safety," he said.
Dr Gogniat said there had been five other universities that had shown interest in taking over Semester at Sea. "But we finally selected the University of Virginia," he said. "It's a top-notch school in the US."
Virginia has taken over accreditation of the courses offered on board, with the full programme accounting for 10 to 15 of the 125 to 130 points students need for a degree at most US universities, other than the Ivy League. The university is also a key sponsor, providing scholarships for needy students.
At sea, students attend classes seven days a week with just the occasional day off for rest and recreation. In port they must join field trips or conduct independent research that counts for 20 per cent of the academic credit.
All students must take a core course on global studies, but can select the rest from a menu of about 60 courses across arts, humanities and social science subjects.
This summer's cruise includes students from 136 universities across the US and nine in other countries, including Canada, Mexico and Japan. Also on board are 17 faculty, 24 staff plus 42 adult learners hitching an educational ride.
In addition, visiting faculty join the ship for anything from a few hours in port to several weeks, while "interport students" get a free trip home from the previous port in exchange for telling students about life in the next destination.
Former visiting faculty have included Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Bishop Desmond Tutu, who joined the ship for one whole transatlantic voyage from Brazil to South Africa.
Dr Gogniat said: "Semester at Sea changes students' lives. On this voyage you learn that you are in a closed system called the world and it is an integrated system. That makes for a global citizen.
"There are more people who get involved with service projects and the Peace Corps and non-governmental organisations after SaS than practically any American university per capita."
The summer school and the full 100-day round-the-world trip takes students beyond the normal tourist itineraries and includes places once off-limits for US travellers.
In 1994 Semester at Sea mounted the first large-scale visit to Vietnam by American college students since the Vietnam war and in 1999 made the largest US government-sanctioned visit to Cuba in nearly four decades. But at a time of growing public concern about safety standards in student adventure travel, it has also suffered accidents more serious than last year's wave.
In March 1996, five travellers, including four students, died in a bus accident in India and in October 2000, a container ship sideswiped the programme's former vessel, the SS Universe Explorer, on the Saigon River, slicing a 30-foot gash in its hull and damaging five student cabins. No one was hurt.
Captain Jeremy Kingston, who joined the ship after last year's accident, said that a wave-deflecting structure was added to the ship during maintenance last year. Security on the ship was also tight to meet the the International Ship and Port Facility Code, introduced 18 months ago in response to 9/11.
But, if today's world is marked by terrorism and security, the chance to study and travel is no less magical for the students.
James Maclean, 21, of Boston University, said: "The classes are great but we learn the most when we are in port meeting people.
"Everyone I met had preconceived ideas about Vietnam - I definitely did - and it was completely different. It was much more developed than I thought."
Abra Chusid, 21, a drama student from Northwestern University, said she had been struck by how westernised some Asian countries such as Singapore were, yet people had kept their culture alive through the arts. "I am applying for a fellowship to study theatre in Singapore," she said.
Lindsay Rolfe, 19, of Colorado State University, said: "We have all decided that in 30 years we are going to be adult passengers here."
The summer school costs about US$10,000 per head and the full semester round-the-world programme about US$15,000.
Visit www.semesteratsea.com
An article from the South China Morning Post on Semester at Sea
FT News, Education
SHIP SHAPE After weathering a political storm last year, the Semester at Sea study cruise is back on course and called into Hong Kong with a refitted vessel taking students on a voyage of discovery. Liz Heron went aboard
1066 words
12 August 2006
South China Morning Post
6
English
(c) 2006 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
THE WORLD'S FASTEST cruise ship glided into Victoria Harbour this summer bringing 285 university students to Hong Kong on a voyage of learning and exploration.
The MV Explorer is home to the Institute of Shipboard Education's 90th Semester at Sea study cruise, a summer school combining degree-level courses with visits to eight East Asian countries, and is now returning across the Pacific.
It was the vessel's first visit to Hong Kong since it was refitted as a floating university in 2004 and the first voyage sponsored by the institute's new academic partner, the University of Virginia.
With visits to Angkor Wat, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City already under their belts, students disembarked into Ocean Terminal and fanned out on excursions and activities or tours to China.
This year's 65-day summer school was going with a swing after organisers weathered a political storm following disruption to last year's spring cruise when a 50-foot wave smashed into the bridge in mid-Pacific.
The wave shattered windows, shorted the electrical system and stopped all but one of the engines. A teacher suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung and students had to be flown onwards to China and Hong Kong from Honolulu.
Then the University of Pittsburgh - the programme's academic sponsor for the previous 24 years - pulled out in June last year over a number of issues, including opposition to the institute's decision to cut ties in 2004 with the Seawise Foundation, set up by Hong Kong shipping tycoon Tung Chao-yung and led after his death by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Executive Dean Don Gogniat said the Explorer had been fully repaired since the accident and the institute had stepped up international security intelligence for the vessel. "We have updates from a sophisticated consultancy firm that synthesises all the latest data on terrorism, military conflict and hazardous weather and provides advice on travel safety," he said.
Dr Gogniat said there had been five other universities that had shown interest in taking over Semester at Sea. "But we finally selected the University of Virginia," he said. "It's a top-notch school in the US."
Virginia has taken over accreditation of the courses offered on board, with the full programme accounting for 10 to 15 of the 125 to 130 points students need for a degree at most US universities, other than the Ivy League. The university is also a key sponsor, providing scholarships for needy students.
At sea, students attend classes seven days a week with just the occasional day off for rest and recreation. In port they must join field trips or conduct independent research that counts for 20 per cent of the academic credit.
All students must take a core course on global studies, but can select the rest from a menu of about 60 courses across arts, humanities and social science subjects.
This summer's cruise includes students from 136 universities across the US and nine in other countries, including Canada, Mexico and Japan. Also on board are 17 faculty, 24 staff plus 42 adult learners hitching an educational ride.
In addition, visiting faculty join the ship for anything from a few hours in port to several weeks, while "interport students" get a free trip home from the previous port in exchange for telling students about life in the next destination.
Former visiting faculty have included Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Bishop Desmond Tutu, who joined the ship for one whole transatlantic voyage from Brazil to South Africa.
Dr Gogniat said: "Semester at Sea changes students' lives. On this voyage you learn that you are in a closed system called the world and it is an integrated system. That makes for a global citizen.
"There are more people who get involved with service projects and the Peace Corps and non-governmental organisations after SaS than practically any American university per capita."
The summer school and the full 100-day round-the-world trip takes students beyond the normal tourist itineraries and includes places once off-limits for US travellers.
In 1994 Semester at Sea mounted the first large-scale visit to Vietnam by American college students since the Vietnam war and in 1999 made the largest US government-sanctioned visit to Cuba in nearly four decades. But at a time of growing public concern about safety standards in student adventure travel, it has also suffered accidents more serious than last year's wave.
In March 1996, five travellers, including four students, died in a bus accident in India and in October 2000, a container ship sideswiped the programme's former vessel, the SS Universe Explorer, on the Saigon River, slicing a 30-foot gash in its hull and damaging five student cabins. No one was hurt.
Captain Jeremy Kingston, who joined the ship after last year's accident, said that a wave-deflecting structure was added to the ship during maintenance last year. Security on the ship was also tight to meet the the International Ship and Port Facility Code, introduced 18 months ago in response to 9/11.
But, if today's world is marked by terrorism and security, the chance to study and travel is no less magical for the students.
James Maclean, 21, of Boston University, said: "The classes are great but we learn the most when we are in port meeting people.
"Everyone I met had preconceived ideas about Vietnam - I definitely did - and it was completely different. It was much more developed than I thought."
Abra Chusid, 21, a drama student from Northwestern University, said she had been struck by how westernised some Asian countries such as Singapore were, yet people had kept their culture alive through the arts. "I am applying for a fellowship to study theatre in Singapore," she said.
Lindsay Rolfe, 19, of Colorado State University, said: "We have all decided that in 30 years we are going to be adult passengers here."
The summer school costs about US$10,000 per head and the full semester round-the-world programme about US$15,000.
Visit www.semesteratsea.com
