Deaf Culture in Europe: Croatia & the Balkans (Summer)

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.

Note: the application deadline for the summer 2025 program has been reached. Email myles.chalue@rit.edu to inquire about next year's program.

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, 2.5 GPA or higher. Participants must be fluent in ASL - the 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 for the summer 2025 program has been reached.

To Apply

1) Make an appointment with study abroad advisor Myles Chalue, to go over the required application steps - choose date and time. If you need access services support for your meeting, please reserve at myaccess.rit.edu.

Program Cost & Financial Aid

Program Cost: Student budget worksheet - Deaf Culture in Europe, summer 2025 - outlines all program costs.

Financial Aid:
Since you’ll only be earning 3 credits on the Deaf Culture in Europe program, you will not likely be able to use any financial aid towards program costs. Typically, students earning 5 or fewer credits in the summer have limited options for using financial aid (perhaps only a portion of a Pell Grant (if you receive one) or private loans.

However, if you would like to meet with RIT financial aid to see what aid may be available to you, follow these steps:

• Make an appointment with your financial aid assistant director (call Financial Aid at 585-475-2186) and mention that you are calling for a study abroad appointment.
• Upload a copy of your budget worksheet(s) via the Financial Aid upload portal at https://join.rit.edu/register/FA_upload (at least 48 hours prior to your scheduled meeting so they have time to prepare).
• Before uploading the budget worksheet to the financial aid portal, add your name and student ID to the file name
• Choose “Other Financial Aid Forms and Documentation” as your document type in the Financial Aid portal.
• The RIT financial aid office is located in Bausch and Lomb Center (Bldg. 77), 2nd floor, 2125

To find out the name of your financial aid assistant director for your degree program visit: https://www.rit.edu/admissions/aid/contact

Scholarships:
RIT scholarships and national scholarships for study abroad are good options to explore for scholarship funding. Make sure you are checking scholarship eligibility requirements and take note of scholarship deadlines. More about undergraduate scholarships for study abroad

Contact

Myles Chalue
Global Programs Manager
Study Abroad Advisor - Global Campus & Exchange Programs
RIT Education Abroad
myles.chalue@rit.edu

Make an advising appointment with Myles: https://calendly.com/m_chalue