African Studies Center

at Michigan State University

National Study Abroad Initiatives

The African Studies Center has long supported the development of quality study abroad programs for U.S. students - undergraduate and graduate - in Africa. We believe that quality and affordable study abroad programs in Africa are an essential component of African studies in the U.S. academy.

National Consortium for Study in Africa

Headquartered at MSU and founded in 1994, the National Consortium for Study in Africa (NCSA) is a consortium of 15 current and former National Resource Centers for the study of Africa. The goal of the NCSA is to promote and support high-quality study abroad programs in Africa for U.S. students. The NCSA received support from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Edcuation.

Study Abroad in Africa Videos

The NCSA has produced two videos to encourage students to study in Africa and help them prepare to go:

Study Abroad for Economically-Disadvantaged Students

In 2000, the African Studies Center and MSU Office of Study Abroad initiated a collaborative study abroad project with the Council of Opportunity in Education (COE). The Washington, DC-based COE is the national consortium of TRIO programs that serve students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds on more than 1,000 campuses throughout the U.S.

Since 2003, MSU and COE have co-sponsored programs that have taken 56 economically-disadvantaged students from more than 20 colleges to study in Africa. Some have studied in semester programs in Durban, South Africa and Dakar, Senegal, while others have studied during the summer in South Africa. Some of these programs have received support from the U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program.