This person provides on-site supervision of the academic program, housing placement, counseling services, student activities, student health problems, etc. In addition to an orientation handbook that includes valuable information about studying and living overseas, most of our programs offer an orientation session overseas. These sessions are organized to prepare students about housing, banking options, living in a different culture, do's and don'ts in a foreign setting, etc. An important component of most of NIU's semester programs are program-related excursions to sites of historic or cultural interest to provide students with an overview of the country in which they are studying . Field study trips integrate classroom teaching with studies in the field through, sometimes, weekly field study visits.
Some programs allow students to gain practical experience through non-paid work in a host country.
Internships give students opportunity of getting valuable work experience in an area related to their course of study or intended career field in an overseas location. All students are expected to be full-time students. The process of gaining credit for study abroad is a closely interrelated system of pre-program advisement. The study abroad office works in coordination with the academic departments to identify course equivalencies, verify pre-requisites for NIU students, and register students. This process is very important.