Explore visual storytelling and Deaf culture in Vietnam.

Highlights

• While in Vietnam, you'll participate in excursions and services planned by Hands on Travel (HOT), a travel organization that specializes in experiences for Deaf and ASL signers, and offers small-group travel tours with local deaf guides.
• Visit sites in Vietnam such as the “Hanoi Hilton”, Independence Palace, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and Halong Bay - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Create bilingual multimedia storybooks using sign language and written language to tell stories about Vietnam, Deaf people, and folklore.
• Learn about Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese deaf culture, Vietnamese history, Asian customs, and cross-cultural team development.
• Develop a basic understanding of Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Sign Languages.

Visual storytelling is the central focus of the program and you'll explore Vietnam's rich and complex visual and cultural traditions through multimedia storytelling. During a spring 2025 class in Rochester, you will learn about Vietnamese culture, Deaf culture, history, Asian customs, and basic Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Sign Languages. As you travel to Vietnam during the summer, you will further develop cultural competencies through interactions with Deaf peers in Vietnam and visiting local programs and clubs for Deaf people. During the spring semester course and while in Vietnam, you will create multimedia storybooks using sign language and written language to tell stories about Vietnam, Deaf people, and folklore.

While in Vietnam, you will travel to Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City to learn about Vietnam's history, government, and arts. You'll participate in a fisherman experience in Fishing Villages in Hoi An. In Ho Chi Minh, you'll gain a historical context of the Vietnam War (Cu Chi Tunnels, War Remnants Museum, and Reunification Palace). In the nearby Mekong Delta villages, you'll explore markets and experience Vietnamese people's daily life by water.

Program Details

• Term: Spring course/summer travel
• Location: Vietnam (Hanoi, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City)
• Faculty-director(s): Christopher Kurz (caknsp@rit.edu), Thomastine Sarchet-Maher (tasbka@rit.edu)
• Application Deadline: Sunday, October 20^th, 2024 by 11:59PM

• Travel Dates:
  • Date of U.S. Departure: 5/25/25
  • Date of In-Country Arrival: 5/27/25
  • Date of Host Country Departure: 6/8/25

(Travel dates are subject to change. Do not make travel plans until you are accepted to the program and receive instructions to make travel arrangements from the faculty director).

Note: You will travel independently to/from your program location and be responsible for booking your flights. Once all students are confirmed for the program, the faculty director(s) will let you know more details about the flights and when to book them.

Course Details

Courses:

• NTID-NDLS 280: International Studies (undergrad)
• MSSE 780: Global Education Seminar (grad)
  
  No previous technical skills required.

• Total Credits: 3 (Must complete Rochester campus AND travel portion)
• Term credits earned: Spring: Students will receive an incomplete grade until the travel portion is successfully completed
• Pre-requisites: None
• Course meeting days/times: Class is asynchronous and will meet twice online for orientation meetings
• Credits may count towards immersion, free elective, perspective, GE elective. Applicants should discuss with their academic advisor how credits will count towards their degree program.
• Program open to graduate students: Yes

 Class Registration & Grading

• You will receive letter grades for the course(s), which will count toward your GPA.
• You will not register yourself for the study abroad course(s) in SIS. You will be registered by an advisor in NTID before the start of the program.
• You will receive an incomplete grade in SIS until the travel portion is successfully completed.
• Please note that you cannot audit study abroad courses.
• Please note that the overseas portion of the course takes place in the first few weeks of the summer term. Students will receive an Incomplete at the end of spring term until the successful completion of the overseas portion and required reflection activities are completed. This means that if you are planning to graduate in May 2025, your certification for graduation could be delayed until the end of summer.

Special Considerations

 Please note that this program includes:

• Vietnam has small and narrow roads. Some sidewalks might not be accommodated for wheelchairs. However, we will make sure travels are accommodating with Cyclos, vans and public transportation.

If you are concerned about these program components, please contact the faculty director and/or the RIT Education Abroad office. We will make efforts to accommodate or identify alternative plans.

Additional application components required for this program

To assess your ASL skills, please submit a 1-2 minute long video following the instructions below: 

1. Record yourself in the video and address the following topics in ASL: 

• Introduce your name.
• Student Status- Example: NTID student or other college (e.g., COS, COLA, etc.) student, and how many years at RIT
• State your major
• Where you are from
• Explain why you want to participate in the France Study Abroad program.

2. Use your @g.rit.edu email address to submit your video on the Google Drive link

Program Eligibility

• 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, Grad Year Levels
• Proven ability to sign in ASL
• Must meet all study abroad eligibility requirements outlined below:

Study Abroad Eligibility

All RIT students who study abroad must:

• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher (students with lower than a 2.5 GPA would be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• Have a clear conduct record with RIT
• Have no financial holds on your RIT eServices account at the time of your program acceptance/confirmation
• Be an RIT matriculated student at the time of the program
• Have a valid passport at the time of travel that is valid at least 6 months beyond the dates of your travel
• Be able to obtain any necessary visa documents on your own

To Apply

1. Watch the short video below to understand all the application steps and important information.
2. Use the Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program Checklist to make sure you are completing all the application steps
3. Start an application by clicking the "Apply" button for the appropriate term below.

You should have a pending application in the Compass at the time of the deadline to be considered for acceptance into the program. A couple of weeks after the application deadline, you will receive an email regarding your acceptance. You will typically have one week from the time of your acceptance to confirm (or withdraw) your participation in the program. By confirming your participation, you are signing a legal document agreeing to be billed and pay a non-refundable deposit and program fees.

Before confirming your participation, read RIT’s cancellation/refund policy for studying abroad to understand your financial obligations and responsibilities fully.

Program Cost & Financial Aid
Most study abroad programs typically charge tuition, a program fee to cover housing and program excursions, and out-of-pocket expenses such as your flight, food, and spending money.

Student budget worksheet (outlines all program costs) – will be available here soon. Take a copy of the budget worksheet to a meeting with your financial aid advisor PRIOR to the application deadline to determine how your aid may apply towards program costs.

As you review the budget worksheet, please remember that it does not include your RIT financial aid or scholarships, which may cover some of the program costs. The purpose of the budget worksheet is to show all the costs associated with your study abroad program, which will help your RIT Financial Aid Assistant Director determine how your aid and scholarships may be applied.

To understand how your financial aid and scholarships may apply to your program costs:

• Make an appointment with your financial aid assistant director (call Financial Aid at 585-475-2186) and mention that you are calling for a study abroad appointment.
• Upload a copy of your budget worksheet(s) via the Financial Aid upload portal at https://join.rit.edu/register/FA_upload (at least 48 hours before your scheduled meeting, so they have time to prepare).
• Please rename the file name of your budget worksheet before uploading it to the Financial Aid portal based on the instructions provided in the portal (adding your name and student ID)

To find out the name of your financial aid assistant director for your degree program visit:
https://www.rit.edu/admissions/aid/contact#counseling-team

You should meet with Financial Aid before the application deadline to understand how your aid will apply. If you plan to receive financial aid for this program, it will pay out in the term you are receiving the credits, not necessarily the term of travel if those terms differ.

If you are on tuition waiver or exchange (parents are RIT employees, etc.) let the Education Abroad office know because it may affect your tuition costs (email global@rit.edu).

Scholarship funding for study abroad is available!
• RIT Study Abroad Scholarships
• National Study Abroad Scholarships

Keep in mind that scholarship deadlines are often early, so it's best to investigate these at the start of your application process.

Additional considerations when applying for study abroad:

• If you require Access Services support for this program, contact Angela Hauser (abhdis@ntid.rit.edu) to discuss your needs. Support is most often available for RIT Global Campus, RIT faculty-led, and short-term affiliate programs.
• If you receive disability services support at RIT and would need support on your program abroad:
  1) Contact your Access Coordinator in the RIT DSO office;
  2) Share your Eligibility Letter in your RIT MyDSO portal that outlines the services you receive with the faculty-director for your program to find out what support would be available to you abroad (do this before you commit to the program).
  
  It is important to remember that disability accommodations in other countries vary, and you may not be able to receive the same exact support you receive at RIT.
• As with all international travel, we strongly encourage you to visit the U.S. Department of State website to learn more about the risks associated with this location and recommended safety precautions before deciding to participate.

• Consider how you will manage your health and wellness while you are abroad: Health & Safety
• Before you make any program commitments, understand how your host culture values your diverse characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Identity & Diversity Abroad