International Year program (3-Quarter) - Bachelor of Arts in Journalism - Visual Journalism

at Study Group - Western Washington University USA

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Music Performance
With an emphasis on high-level performance and pedagogy, students receive comprehensive instruction on their primary instrument, gain a variety of solo and ensemble experiences, and perform two recitals in addition to completing a core set of courses in music theory, aural skills, keyboarding, and music history.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Music Composition
Music composition majors learn a variety of skills enabling them to express their musical ideas in an effective manner that allows for performance of their creations. Each student receives private composition instruction along with instruction in basic music theory, music history, conducting, lessons on their major instrument or voice, and ensemble performance. While composition instruction will cover all modes, genres, and periods, students may elect to concentrate their creativity on one or more specific areas. Instruction will include introduction and advanced courses in the use of computer hardware and software.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Geophysics
Geophysics involves studies in the application of physics as a means of understanding a range of geological processes.

Western’s Geophysics major is distinct from geology in that a more intensive set of math and physics courses, and applications of these skills, are required. Students are strongly encouraged to complete a senior thesis project as part of this degree, providing them with an excellent capstone experience.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

East Asian Studies
The East Asian Studies program offers an interdisciplinary study of the area, with a primary focus on the countries of China and Japan. Under special advisement, Korea and Mongolia are also subjects for study.

The program is designed to attain three major objectives. First, it offers students an opportunity to acquire accurate, detailed, and comprehensive knowledge of a region that is becoming increasingly important in world affairs. Second, it prepares students who are attracted by job opportunities related to East Asia in business, government, or teaching. Third, it provides solid undergraduate training for students who plan to enter East Asian programs in their graduate studies.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Environmental Studies/Journalism
Journalists are responsible for gathering information, analyzing and editing it for a mass audience, and dispensing it using some form of media platform. Increasingly the methods of distribution have become more complex, but the basic mission of a journalist remains the same: to serve the public by finding, defining, writing, and editing information.

Environmental Journalism offers the opportunity to explore the intersection between the natural world and politics, science, economics and culture. It combines rigorous research with creative storytelling.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Political Science/Social Studies
Political Science is one of the oldest fields of academic inquiry. Social ideals and their realization through law were systematically studied in ancient Greece. In an increasingly interdependent world, the study of politics and government has flourished as the relations between persons, groups and nations have become more complex, and questions of freedom and authority have challenged every citizen. Modern political science is equally concerned with questions of political philosophy and with the pursuit of social scientific research. These concerns are reflected in a broad and diverse curriculum.

The Political Science faculty are committed to the belief that understanding politics and government is essential to a well-educated person, vital to democratic citizenship, indispensable to effective public service, and critical to the maintenance and ethical progress of a free society.

Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the Earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment. Geography links the social sciences and natural sciences together, studying the relationships between human activity and natural systems.

Students studying Geography at Western choose courses from both the environmental science and environmental studies departments to fulfill major requirements. Prospective Geography majors are strongly advised to take additional preparatory course work that provides a strong background in chemistry, biology, geology, physics, mathematics, statistics, political science, anthropology, and/or history.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Economics/Social Studies
Western’s combined Economics/Social Studies major provides students with a thorough grounding in both economic theory and a broad based study of anthropology, sociology, geography, history, and political science. The major is open to any student but is specifically designed for pursuing a career in teaching.

Elementary Education students and Secondary Education students who wish to be endorsed in Social Studies may choose this major. However, the Economics/Social Studies degree does not require that a student pursue a teaching certificate. Completion of this combined major leads to an endorsement in Social Studies.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Spanish
The study of Spanish includes instruction in language, literature, linguistics, and culture. Students of Spanish acquire the skills required to not only speak the language, but also to learn about and appreciate Hispanic societies, cultures, and artistic expressions. The guiding principle of the curriculum is that one of the best ways to understand a culture is directly through its language.

Western’s Modern and Classical Languages Department trains in two areas: language structure and literary analysis. Language structure is taught both holistically and analytically — with multimedia technology, study abroad, language skills courses, and linguistics courses. Literary analysis is an essential component to the curriculum, and the department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory.

The Spanish program at Western places a strong emphasis on building a solid grammar and vocabulary base, with an equal emphasis on cultural awareness through culture, film, literature, and linguistics courses. 

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Exceptionality and Disability
Completion of this major results in a BA in Education. Students who complete this major typically seek employment in non-school settings, such as health and human services and non-profit organizations; they do not qualify for a teaching certificate. With their advisor’s permission and input, students choose an area of emphasis and design a program of study in preparation to work with persons with disabilities across a variety of settings.