CIEE Summer Updates and Cancellations for Study Abroad Programs 2020

 Update on summer 2020 study abroad programs. CIEE teams have been closely monitoring the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the obvious travel restrictions and health concerns that this pandemic is raising, teams also assess the ability to plan for a successful summer in these conditions. Now is typically the time of year where CIEE starts firming up logistics: from hiring program leaders, to booking excursions or finalizing home stay placements. We want to stay optimistic, but without a clear end in sight for this pandemic, we had to make the tough decision to cancel most of our summer abroad programs for 2020.

The list of programs below details what programs we are still planning to run this summer. The reason we did not cancel these at this point is because these locations have shown early signs of recovery from or excellent management of the COVID-19 pandemic, and because our local staff and infrastructure in these locations make it easy for us to adapt our plans later this spring without comprising on the programs’ quality. We have alerted students who are confirmed on these programs that we still plan on running them, providing the health and safety conditions there continue to improve. We can make the call to run these programs or not as late as June 15.

• Chinese Language & Culture in Tainan, Taiwan – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/8)
• German Language & Culture in Berlin, Germany – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/8)
• Japanese Language & Culture in Kyoto, Japan – Session 2 (7/11 to 8/7)
• Spanish Language & Dominican Culture in Santiago, D.R. – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/8)
• Spanish Language & Mexican Culture in Yucatan, Mexico – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/8)
• K-Pop immersion in Seoul, South Korea – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/1)
• Tropical Biodiversity & Sustainability in Monteverde, Costa Rica – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/1)
• Women in STEM in Monteverde, Costa Rica – Session 2 (7/12 to 8/1)

For all other students, we realize this will be very disappointing news. Fortunately, they will all be able to:

1. Request a full refund of their program tuition payments.
2. Transfer their application to one of the few programs that will be running this summer.
3. Defer their participation to summer 2021: any scholarship recipients who will still be in high school for the 2020-2021 school year will be able to transfer their award to summer 2021.

Click here for complete details on CIEE’s Program Assurance Advantage policy.

CIEE is also offering students as much flexibility as we can by extending the personal cancellation deadline for summer 2020 and 2021. Students will have until 6/15 to cancel at no cost if they choose to either transfer or defer.

Please note, our final round of scholarship awards was put on hold until we made final decisions on 2020 programming. We will be awarding final scholarships by the end of April, but all of these awards will be valid for summer 2021 travel.

For motivated French and Spanish language learners who prefer to stay state-side this summer, CIEE is proud to be offering live, interactive, communicative online courses run by our highly-qualified local teachers in Spain and France! Students will have the opportunity to advance language proficiency as they explore the cultures and current events of Spain and France through authentic audiovisual materials, interact with each other and with people in the host culture, engage in peer chats and virtual cultural activities, all the while earning 3 college credits thanks to Tulane University, their school of record. Look out for an email soon with more details!

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns at hsabroad@ciee.org