Examine economic and social development in the cultural context of Vietnam, one of Asia's most dynamic and rapidly changing countries
Program Highlights
Live and study in Ho Chi Minh City.
See Hanoi, Vietnam’s vibrant capital with more than 1,000 years of history.
Interact regularly with Vietnamese peers.
Participate in a service project designed to assist a local community.
Examine economic and social development in one of Asia’s most dynamic and rapidly changing countries.
Visit indigenous K'ho Hmong, Dao, and Giay communities and learn about their cultures.
Trek and bike amid the flower, tea, and coffee farms of the lush central highlands.
Choose to conduct independent research or to complete an internship.
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
Independent Study
During the final four weeks of the program, you can choose to use your new language and cultural skills and the academic knowledge you have acquired to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) on a topic of interest to you.
In preparation for your Independent Study Project (ISP), you’ll be paired with a Vietnamese student to interview households in the Mekong Delta and NGOs in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese students tutor SIT students on the Vietnamese language and help them understand culture and social life outside the classroom. Both groups participate in cultural exchange activities, like teaching each other games, songs, and dances. During the ISP period, you’ll get translation help from your Vietnamese partner. This supports learning and aligns with the program’s philosophy that learning is not just about attaining knowledge, but experiencing life.
Sample topics:
Gender roles and sexuality in Vietnamese society
Food culture and organic farming
Healthcare and inequality
Colonial architecture
Heritage site management and conservation
Entrepreneurship and business development in Vietnam
SIT internships are hands on and reflective. In addition to completing the internship, you will submit a paper processing your learning experience on the job and analyzing an issue important to the organization you worked with, and/or you will design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.
SIT Vietnam offers a wide variety of internship opportunities through its network of long-term contacts with government agencies and nongovernment and private organizations that work in various fields including geopolitics, civil society, environmental and natural sciences, and humanities.
Sample internship sites:
Supporting training workshops, micro-credit programs, and women’s empowerment at the Center for Community Health and Development in Hanoi
Doing innovative work with green living, public space development and restoration, and organic agriculture with the Action Center for City Development in Hoi An
Assisting ongoing projects on mental health, micro-nutrients and nutrition, policy advocacy, and social work at the Research and Training Center for Community Development in Hanoi
Providing support services to local nonprofits, international nongovernmental organizations seeking Vietnamese partners, and individual volunteers and philanthropists who are committed to building strong communities at LIN Center in Ho Chi Minh City
Key Topics of Study
Pressing issues caused by rapid urbanization related to the Doi Moi "Renovation" economic reform
Challenges of sustainable development and current strategies for new rural development in the Mekong Delta and Da Lat Central Highlands and different livelihood models in each region
Balancing efforts between economic development, job creation, and environmental protection and natural resource management
The effects of war, development, and tourism on Vietnam's rich but increasingly fragile cultural heritage
Changing gender relations and development pressures among K'ho, Hmong, Giay, and Red Dao ethnic minority groups in the Sapa mountains
Money Matters
Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.
SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:
All educational costs, including educational excursions
All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
Health and accident insurance
Scholarships:
SIT awards nearly $1.6 million in scholarships and grants annually.
All scholarships and grants are need-based.
Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.
Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
