Overview

In this program, you will be enrolled in a spring semester course with students on various linguistic tracks at RIT and then travel to your target linguistic destination for 1-2 weeks in the summer term to learn how language, culture, and entrepreneurial thinking can help address the world's sustainability challenges. You will learn how to discover, evaluate, and enact opportunities in multiple linguistic, cultural, and national contexts in order to create goods and services. During the travel portion of the course, you will meet with international entrepreneurs, businesses, and incubators to learn how they create and operate a business. You will also engage in the local culture by practicing your linguistic skills and participating in various cultural excursions and activities.

Below are the program highlights for Taiwan:

• National Chengchi University (NCCU) - This is our partner university in Taiwan, and one of the best universities in the country. You will work with NCCU students (over Zoom and email) on homework before the trip. When we go, we will stay at the NCCU downtown campus and you will meet your NCCU counterparts in person. We may visit their class in person, they will take us on a business-oriented tour and a company visit, and they will be invited to join us for lunch at the start of our visit and for dinner on our last night in Taiwan.
• Shopping - We will look at how Taiwanese people shop, visiting supermarkets, and a variety of other shops, including a 7-11, which is quite different in Taiwan from how it is in the US.
• Night Market - As the name implies, the night market is a bazaar that appears at night around the permanent stores in the same area. Not only can you find all sorts of products in the Night Market, you can sample an amazing variety of Taiwanese street food.
• Tea Garden - Immerse yourself in the art of tea-making as you explore a traditional tea garden and gain insight into Taiwan's rich tea culture.
• Taiwan Semi-Conductor Museum of Innovation - Discover how TSMC revolutionized semiconductor technology and became a global leader, producing nearly 90% of the world's advanced chips used in AI and quantum computing.
• Taipei 101 - Once the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101 remains one of the tallest, with an excellent view of Taipei and the surrounding mountains. Our visit will include taking a look at some of the engineering marvels they use to keep the building stable even during typhoons.
• Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall - This is a memorial hall celebrating the first President of Taiwan. It is culturally significant.
• The National Palace Museum - This museum has about 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks dating back as far as 8,000 years ago, many taken from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in China when Chiang Kai-Shek retreated from it in 1948. We will not see all 700,000 pieces on our visit.

Program Details

• Term: Spring Course/Summer Travel
• Location: Taipei, Taiwan
• Faculty-director(s): Jerrie Hsieh (jhsieh@saunders.rit.edu)
• Application Deadline: Sunday, October 20^th, 2024 by 11:59PM

• Program/Travel Dates:
  • Date of U.S. Departure: 5/17/25
  • Date of In-Country Arrival: 5/18/25
  • Date of Host Country Departure: 5/25/25

(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:

UNDERGRADUATE

• MLST 449: Language and Culture for International Entrepreneurship (CLA)
  
  -OR-
  
  
• MGMT 489: Management Seminar: Language and Culture for International Entrepreneurship (SCB)

GRADUATE

• MGMT 758: Management Seminar- Language and Culture for International Entrepreneurship (SCB)

• Total Credits: 3 (Must complete Rochester campus AND travel portion)
• Term credits earned: Spring: Students will receive an incomplete grade until travel portion is successfully completed
• Pre-requisites: MLCH202 Beginning Chinese 2 (by Spring 2025) or equivalent as determined by RIT Language Placement Exam. If you need to take a Language Placement Exam, this must be completed by the application deadline (October 20, 2024), please follow this link for more information about how to take the exam: https://www.rit.edu/liberalarts/language-placement-exam
• Course meeting days/times: Tailored based on student availability
• Credits may count towards Major Elective, Minor, Immersion, Free Elective, GE Elective (Only for MLST 449 course). 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 SCB or CLA 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 2024, your certification for graduation could be delayed until the end of summer.

Special Considerations

As with all international travel, we strongly encourage you to visit the U.S. Department of State website to learn more about risks associated with this location and recommended safety precautions prior to making a decision to participate.

Please note that this program includes:

• Hot climate. Most destinations have air conditioner, but there may be some outdoor walking.

If you are concerned about these components of the program, please contact the faculty member and/or RIT Global. We will make efforts to accommodate or identify alternative plans.

Program Eligibility

• 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, Grad Levels
• Meet the language pre-requisite or equivalent determined by the RIT Language Placement Exam
• 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) – International Entrepreneurship Taiwan, Spring/Summer 2025

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