EASTERN COLLEGE CONSORTIUM: A JOINT STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMME AT THE WORLD’S OLDEST UNIVERSITY FOR STUDENTS AT SOME OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

The Eastern College Consortium (E.C.Co.) is a study abroad programme run jointly by three top liberal arts colleges in the North-eastern United States. The programme is delivered at the prestigious, ancient Università di Bologna in Italy – the oldest university in continuous operation in the world and one of the most renowned too. Eligible students enrolled at one of the participating institutions may undertake an immersive course of study in the Italian language whilst residing at the revered university.

ABOUT

The consortium was founded in the 1990s when Vassar College, Wellesley College and Wesleyan University came together to combine their Italian study abroad programs. They teamed up with the illustrious Università di Bologna which would become their delivery partner and would host students from the three American colleges undertaking studies under the Eastern College Consortium scheme.

The Università di Bologna (“Unibo”) is the world’s oldest continuously operating university, tracing its foundation back to 1088. It is also one of the world’s largest research universities with over 90,000 students enrolled on Unibo courses. The university is a central pillar of the beautiful, medieval town of Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna region in the mid-North of Italy. The town is famous for its rich history and rich culinary legacy making it a very attractive destination for tourists and international students alike.

The university has been an important partner to American colleges and universities and has been the preferred host for Italian study abroad programmes for many of the most highly selective, top-ranked colleges and universities in the United States. In addition to the Eastern College Consortium, longstanding partner institutions include Brown University, Dickinson College, Johns Hopkins University, the University of California system (including Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Riverside) and, through the Bologna Consortial Studies Program (also known as the BCSP or Bologna Consortium), Indiana University, Illinois, The University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In a similar fashion, the three colleges that launched the Eastern College Consortium have a long history of cooperating with one another as peer schools and are recognised as being amongst the best schools in the United States, attracting an international student body. Vassar, Wellesley and Wesleyan participate in the 12 College Exchange Program, allowing pupils to undertake study and cross-register at any of the other member schools or programmes offered by them. They are also all members of several other consortia and associations that share ideas, resources or common practices between member schools. Such associations include The Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC), the Annapolis Group of Liberal Arts Colleges, the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC), the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), the Oberlin Group of College Libraries and the Questbridge tuition access programme. Vassar and Wellesley are both members of the prestigious Seven Sisters conference. Vassar is also a member of the Selective Liberal Arts Consortium (SLAC). Wellesley is a member of The Boston Consortium for Higher Education and the 568 Presidents Group. Wesleyan is a member of The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the Fall Recruiting Consortium (FRC). All three colleges are fully-accredited and in good standing with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and the New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE).

The three colleges are key proponents and advocates for a liberal arts education and incorporate the classics tradition alongside modern sciences and modern languages for the broad-based instruction for which they have been celebrated. Each of the colleges has developed a particular renown for the quality of their Italian departments which typically school students in history, economic history, politics, literature, and language through the medium of Italian. Vassar, especially, is regarded as having one of the best Italian programmes in North America, being the first women’s college to develop an Italian programme in 1865 and instituting an Italian Department in 1922. The college, at one time, had the largest Italian Department in the United States.

When Middlebury College established Middlebury Sede Capponi in Florence in 1960, many Vassar students, amongst those from other colleges in the region (Wellesley and Wesleyan included), were encourage to undertake a semester abroad at Middlebury’s Italian school site. Students would be awarded credits to apply towards their overall course qualification requirements. A number of other American institutions began to establish similar centers overseas and in Italy, with students from other colleges being eligible to participate.

The success of these schemes encouraged the Eastern College Consortium colleges to further develop their presence in Italy and to support the installation of dedicated staff and faculty on the ground. Vassar maintained a number of study abroad scholarship programmes, some funded by the Italian government. In the 1990s, Vassar set about further expanding upon their presence in Italy and determined that combining their resources and approach with other colleges into a single scheme would be beneficial from a cost and administrative perspective. Wellesley College and Wesleyan University were invited to come onboard.

Since at least 1997, the Eastern College Consortium has been in existence, jointly administered by the three colleges. The consortium maintains a full-time faculty member, appointed from the Italian Departments of any of the member schools, who is based in Bologna and works with the programme administrators and staff of the University of Bologna. They oversee the scheme and support students who are undertaking a semester abroad under E.C.Co. Students reside in the university’s dormitories and have access to the university’s facilities and resources. Various social events, activities and cultural enrichment trips are organised to augment their learning. Students who have demonstrated sufficient proficiency in the Italian language may also be eligible to take classes at the University of Bologna alongside Italian students. All students enrolled with the Italian Department of Vassar, Wellesley, or Wesleyan are encouraged to spend a semester in Bologna under the E.C.Co. scheme. Students from other peer universities and colleges are sometimes eligible to participate in the scheme too.

The Eastern College Consortium colleges are also members of various other consortia and initiatives that support students spending time studying in Italy. Vassar has a longstanding programme in Siena and all three colleges are members of The Centro – the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome (ICCS Rome). The Eastern College Consortium and The Centro are members of the Association of American College and University Programs in Italy (AACUPI).

To find out more about the Eastern College Consortium and eligibility and participation requirements you might like to get in touch with the E.C.Co secretariat here or speak with the appropriate faculty member at your member school, listed below.

Our readers would be very grateful to hear from any students who undertook a study abroad semester in Italy under the Eastern College Consortium or similar scheme. Please feel free to share your stories with us in the comments section below. If you have any further insights as to the cooperative relationship between the Eastern College Consortium member schools why not let our community know too.