Deaf Culture in Europe: Croatia & the Balkans

Spend 4 weeks over the summer immersing in the regional Deaf culture of the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. RIT Global was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State's IDEAS Program for this program which aims to broaden study abroad opportunities through a four-week immersive experience centered on European Deaf cultures.

• Learn about regional European history, Deaf education practices, and the basics of international sign languages while engaging with local community organizations in four countries. Gain insight into disability rights, education, and societal disparities.
• The first three weeks of the program are based at RIT’s campus in Zagreb, Croatia. There, you will learn about the unique historical, geographical, economic, social, and political landscape that has shaped Croatia and the Deaf community in the Balkan region of Europe.
• During a week-long study tour to Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia, you’ll visit cultural and historical sites while delving into the social, political, and legal aspects affecting the Deaf communities.
• RIT Global received an award from the U.S. State Department to increase its study abroad programming to highlight European Deaf culture.

Term: Summer
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Program dates: May 16-June 13, 2025

Left to Right: Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia

Course:

• Deaf Culture in Europe (3 credits)
  All coursework will take place during the summer while in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia.
  
  No course pre-reqs. Open to all undergraduate majors, all year levels. Participants must be fluent in ASL - program is taught in ASL. 

Housing
In Zagreb, students will live in shared apartments with other RIT Rochester students. The apartments are equipped with Wi-Fi and are usually within 30 minutes of campus. Please note that it is possible that students on this program may be placed in mixed-gender apartment-style housing, in which bedrooms are separated by gender, but the apartment itself has students of the opposite gender.

On the study tour to Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia, students will stay in shared hotel rooms.

Application Deadline: February 15, 2025

Video is signed in ASL and captioned.

To Apply

1) Make an appointment with study abroad advisor Myles Chalue, to go over the required application steps - choose date and time. Please reserve Access Services for your meeting at myaccess.rit.edu.

2) Start an application in the Compass.

3) To assess your ASL skills, please submit a 1–2 minute video following the instructions below:

Record yourself addressing the following topics in ASL:

• Introduce your name.
• State your student status (e.g., NTID student or from another college such as COS, COLA, etc.) and how long you have been at RIT.
• State your major.
• Mention where you are from.
• Explain why you want to participate in the Deaf Culture in Europe: Croatia & the Balkans Study Abroad program.

Use your @g.rit.edu email address to submit your video on this Google Drive by the application deadline.