Through 皇家华人 and Montana State University Billings, students will have the opportunity to register for Japanese, Korean or Mandarin Chinese language courses. All three language courses come with the opportunity for students to apply for a $1,200 scholarship to study abroad for one year in the country of the language they’re studying.
Both the language courses and the study abroad opportunities are being offered through the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) Grant that was awarded to MSUB and NWC last fall and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
“Thanks to the UISFL grant, NWC students now have the opportunity to enroll in Japanese, Korean or Mandarin Chinese language courses and apply for a $1,200 scholarship to study abroad for a full year in Japan, South Korea, or China,” NWC Intercultural Program Manager Amanda Enriquez said. “Studying a foreign language not only allows students to connect with people and cultures that are different from their own, but it allows them to gain new perspectives of the world.”
The Japanese and Korean courses will be for-credit classes and Mandarin Chinese will be a non-credit class. Japanese will be offered through NWC and Korean and Mandarin Chinese will be HyFlex courses offered through MSUB. Through HyFlex courses, students have the opportunity to participate in the classroom, online or a combination of both.
Students who wish to study abroad and who are selected for one of the UISFL study abroad scholarships will begin language studies through MSUB or NWC before studying at one of MSUB’s partner universities in China, Japan or South Korea for two consecutive semesters.
Partner universities include Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB) in Beijng, China; Prefectural University of Kumamoto (PUK) in Kumamoto, Japan; and Hallym University in Chuncheon, South Korea.
Students of all majors are encouraged to enroll in these language courses and apply to study abroad, but applicants should express an interest in international studies and Asia.
Those who are interested in taking Japanese, Korean or Mandarin Chinese or studying abroad at one of the three MSUB partner universities are encouraged to stop by the Office of Intercultural Programs in Orendorff Building, Room 111 or email Enriquez at Amanda.Enriquez@nwc.edu.