Course Options at the Umbra Institute

There are three study options at the Umbra Institute, which are detailed below. After reading, you may want to return to the Umbra Institute program page, look at a list of available courses, or review course registration information.

General Studies Program
(14-18 semester hours of credit)

The General Studies program combines Italian language study with a choice of courses on Italian culture, history, politics, and business, among other topics. When you arrive in Perugia, you'll be placed in a language course based on your existing knowledge of Italian, so whether you have never taken a course, or speak at an advanced level, you will have an opportunity to improve your language skills throughout your time in Italy. You'll earn 4 credits for the language course and will also select three or four elective courses from among the long list of Umbra Institute offerings to complete your academic schedule.  All courses at the Umbra Institute are taught in English and include subjects such as anthropology, art history, archaeology, business, dance, economics, Italian studies, literature, religion, political science, studio art, and film/media studies. All general studies courses at the Umbra Institute carry three semester hours of credit, so you will enroll in three to four courses per semester for a total of 14-18 credits.

Honors courses

For highly-motivated students of proven academic ability, the Umbra Institute makes available a limited number of honors courses.  These courses are developed to provide an in-depth examination of specific topics on which members of the Umbra Institute faculty have particular expertise.  Syllabi are intended to challenge upper-division undergraduates to read deeply, to write thoughtfully, and to engage completely in intensive classes and seminars.  Permission to enroll in an honors course is granted by the instructor. 

To qualify to apply, students must present a cumulative GPAs of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) and an additional letter of reference from an instructor at their current home school.   Honors courses carry four semester hours of credit.  No student may enroll in more than two Honors Courses at one time.

Field Study Research Program 
(15-17 semester hours of credit) 

For students with some academic background in a particular aspect of Italy, or for those who wish to pursue a specific topic with some independence, the Umbra Institute offers the Field Study Research Program. This program is designed to enable students to pursue significant, in-depth study of a particular topic. The FSRP requires enrollment in the following curriculum:

• Research Methods (3 credits)
  
  
• Independent Study Thesis Project (6 credits) 
  This project will be carried out under the direction of an Umbra Institute faculty member or another locally-employed expert.  These supervisory responsibilities can, by special arrangement, be shared with a home school faculty mentor.
  
  
• Contemporary Italian Culture and Society (3 credits)
  
  
• One additional elective course (3 or 4 credits)
  
  
• FSRP students who have not completed the equivalent of four semesters of post-secondary level Italian will enroll in an Italian language course at the Umbra Institute.  It will substitute for one of the two courses indicated immediately above.

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Full-immersion program at the Università per Stranieri 
(14-18 semester hours of credit) 

For students who wish to concentrate on improving their language proficiency, as well as take courses in Italian culture, the intensive immersion program at the  Università per Stranieri di Perugia offers a unique opportunity at all levels.  Students will enroll in classes with students from all around the world: in fact, the diversity of the student population at the Università per Stranieri is a major advantage as the common language spoken will be Italian (most students you will encounter will not likely be native speakers of English). 

The program consists of full-time study (approx. 20 hours per week throughout the 15-week semester) at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia's Italian language and culture program. This is coupled with recitation classes with professors at the Umbra Institute. The Umbra professors provide support to students throughout their learning experience at the local university. 

Although this program is taught entirely in Italian, it is open to students at all proficiency levels, including students with no prior language study. This program is an intensive full-immersion Italian language and culture experience. Students will study Italian exclusively, or enroll in courses covering various topics in Italian language, literature, art, history and culture at the advanced and superior levels.  Students enrolled in the full-immersion program can expect to earn between 12-16 credits in Italian language per semester. 

To provide a complete immersion in Italian language, students who select this intensive learning option will be housed with other intensive learners of Italian, not with American students pursuing other Umbra Institute learning options.