Learn more about: C.V. Starr | Middlebury Language Schools
Middlebury College has designed its C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad to offer serious language students, both graduate and undergraduate, the chance to enrich and expand their skills in a setting where they can fully live the language.
With 30 current sites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Uruguay, the C.V. Starr- Middlebury Schools Abroad have been in operation for half a century; the first session of the School in France opened in 1949, in cooperation with the University of Paris. A similar program began in Madrid in 1951, after which schools in Mainz, Florence, and Moscow were established in 1959, 1960, and 1977, respectively. Three new programs opened in Spain in 1998, along with a pilot program in Irkutsk, Russia. Programs in Ferrara, Italy, and Poitiers, France began in 2001. The School in Latin America with sites in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay began in 2002, as well as a new program in Berlin, Germany. More sites in Latin America were added in Belo Horizonte and Niteroi, Brazil and Guadalajara, Mexico in 2004 and in Tucumán, Argentina and Xalapa, Mexico in 2005. The fall of 2004 saw the opening of Middlebury's seventh School Abroad in Hangzhou, China. In the fall of 2006, Middlebury added six sites in Chile to the School in Latin America including Concepción, La Serena, Santiago, Temuco, Valdivia, and Valparaíso. 2007 brings three exciting new sites to the Middlebury Schools Abroad with the opening of Bordeaux, France and Florianópolis, Brazil, as well as Middlebury's newest School Abroad in the Middle East located in Alexandria, Egypt.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad are designed to immerse every student as completely as possible in both the language and the culture of the host nation. All course work is taught in the target language. Students often have the opportunity to enroll directly in the local university, where their classmates will be from the host country, or to take courses designed exclusively for program participants.
The programs strongly encourage students to pursue co-curricular activities in which they have a particular interest. Students have participated on various sports teams, volunteered in schools and social services, joined musical ensembles, interned in businesses—even joined a newspaper staff and a circus!
Because the experience of a full academic year abroad is greater —linguistically, culturally, and academically—than the experience gained during a shorter period, Middlebury College strongly recommends that undergraduates enroll for the full year whenever possible. All graduate programs abroad are offered for the full year only.
Just as they do during the summer Language Schools, students beginning their study abroad are asked to adhere to the spirit of the Language Pledge, which is a commitment to use the target language at all times. All students are strongly encouraged to spend a summer at a Middlebury College Language School before embarking on a semester or a year abroad. Students have found that this gives them the skills and confidence they need to live more independently in the host country and to enter more easily into co-curricular activities that bring them into direct contact with people in the host country.
Many of the newer sites abroad give students the opportunity to live and study in a provincial setting, where they will have less interaction with other Americans, and with tourists in general. Students looking for a more international city can still choose the programs in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, Madrid, Moscow, and Paris. Each of the Schools Abroad has a resident director and other support staff.
Middlebury Language Pledge
To take full advantage of their stay abroad, students are expected to maintain the spirit of the Middlebury College Language Pledge and to speak only the host country language while abroad. We expect that no English will be used, except for emergency consultations with the Director.