University of Delaware Institute for Global Studies
Spring 2025: DIS Stockholm

Program Dates January 11, 2025 - May 09, 2025 (dates are tentative)
This program is closed.

Program Overview This program is highly competitive and will accept only a limited number of applicants. Interview appointments and acceptance decisions are at the discretion of the faculty director.

Program Quick Facts
Min GPA 3.0
Visa Required/Fee Yes
Internships Offered No
Move-in Date 01/11/2025
Orientation 01/12/25 - 01/14/225
Classes Start 01/15/2025
Add/Drop https://disabroad.org/stockholm/student-resources/academic-regulations/
Last Day of Classes 05/08/2025
Move-out Date 05/09/2025


Passport
All applicants must have a valid passport by the program’s application deadline. Your passport’s expiration date must be more than six months after the program ends. If you do not have a current passport, apply through the U.S. State Department. It takes an average of 10-13 weeks (3-4 months) to process a passport.

Residency Permit
After arrival in Sweden, DIS will arrange for you to receive a Residency Permit that will cover all medical-related costs. The estimated fee for the permit is $155.

Covid-19
Please review the CGPS COVID-19 Updates page before applying to a study abroad program for information about COVID-19 related travel requirements and policies for UD study abroad.

Traveling and studying abroad during a global pandemic poses new challenges and requires accepting a higher level of uncertainty than in the past. Students who choose to study abroad at this time must be prepared to adapt to the evolving situation and must take responsibility to act in accordance with the rules, regulations, and recommendations of UD, their program leadership, and legal authorities of their home and host country. Due to the rapidly changing and unpredictable global and local response to COVID-19, these rules, regulations and recommendations are subject to change at any time.

The University will continue to monitor the ongoing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) as we approach the departure date for this program. Please reach out to your program coordinator or faculty director with questions and continue to monitor the UD coronavirus webpage for updates. If UD decides to cancel a study abroad program, we will communicate directly with affected students.

DIS Study Abroad (DIS) is a UD-affiliated study abroad program offered every fall and spring semester (or for a full year) that allows the opportunity to study with a geographically diverse group of students from across North America and other countries, attend a broad spectrum of courses taught in English, and study alongside the urbanites of Stockholm, who balance life in a vibrant metropolis with the city’s beautiful and serene surroundings.

Famous for its progressive stance on equality and human rights, Stockholm offers you the perfect balance of history and modern living in serene surroundings. If you choose Stockholm as your home, your classroom will be in a state-of-the-art modern glass building right in the city center. From here, you can easily explore the strikingly beautiful capital that’s brimming with lively culture, ahead-of-its-time design, and friendly people.

In many ways DIS is organized like an American university, with course credits, semesters, and instruction in English. Faculty are mostly Danish, but many have spent time at North American universities. In addition, DIS boasts an extensive academic and student life staff to assist participants as needed. Students come from dozens of private and public universities across the United States.

Enjoy the Swedish democratic concept that nature belongs to everyone, allemansrätten. This unique right allows you to roam freely in the countryside. Explore Stockholm’s archipelago with 30,000 islands, go cross-country skiing, or pick berries and mushrooms like the locals. Comprised of 14 islands and a transit system that travels across waterways, Stockholm is well connected. 90 of the city’s 100 metro stations are decorated with paintings, sculptures, and mosaic.

As home to the Nobel Prize, Stockholm is led by forwardlooking decision makers, artists, innovators, and scholars. Experience life alongside the urbanites of this vibrant metropolis bustling with activity and ingenuity. Swedes love to celebrate traditional festivities, including throwing colorful crayfish parties in the fall, celebrating the mythical Saint Lucia in the winter, and awarding two traditional Swedish pastries with their own secular holidays..

The attraction of DIS as a study abroad opportunity is the wide diversity of programs and courses it offers that span the Sciences to the Humanities. Students begin by selecting a core program from the following list: Each core program has a required core course. Because the DIS program has a strongly applied approach, each core program includes a week-long study tour to explore the program topic in another country outside Sweden, or within Sweden depending on current travel restrictions, as well as a shorter study tour to a regional location within Sweden or a neighboring country.

Other elective courses to round out a student’s academic program can be selected from the approximately 240 courses DIS offers each semester from across 70 disciplines. DIS has also offered Exploration Electives with 3-day travel to other locations outside Sweden included in the cost of tuition.

A very well-organized orientation begins each semester, greeting students at the Stockholm airport, introducing them to their housing of choice, providing a crash course on survival Swedish, culture and customs, outlining the nature of the academic program and its opportunities, and offering an exploration of the city of Stockholm.

Housing and Meals
Students attending DIS have four different housing options and are requied to select three, ranked in order of preference, on their DIS application. Many students stay with host families who often become life-long friends. Alternatively, students may stay in a Studentboende (a student cooperative similar to a residence hall, but with more individual autonomy), a Living and Learning Community similar to small theme-focused housing, or a DIS Residential Community with other DIS students. All students are required to stay in program sponsored housing, independent housing arrangements are not allowed by UD or the program partners.

Students who choose a home stay with a Swedish family can expect the kind of experience that is at the core of studying abroad. Being part of the daily life of a foreign family, learning its habits, sharing its daily concerns, household chores and festive moments, getting involved in dinner conversations and debates - in brief, experiencing a foreign culture from the inside instead of observing it from the outside - will give you incomparable personal and intercultural insights and skills. And, it's a two-way street. Families, very carefully chosen by DIS staff, sign-up to be host families because they believe in the kind of intercultural exchange that occurs when having a foreign student living with them.

Most meals are covered in the homesay. For the other housing options, meals are not included in the housing fee. Instead, DIS provides a food stipend to offset your food costs (the stipend is not intended to cover your food costs for the entire semester). For more details regarding housing options, visit the DIS website which contains detailed descriptions and videos of life in each housing opportunity.

Experiential Learning
Semester-long study abroad programs may offer opportunities for more immersive experiences such as internships or community service engagement. Many such opportunities exist with DIS. To become more acquainted with the Swedish people, DIS can provide resources for students to join local athletic leagues or help them get involved in the community as a volunteer. A visiting family program can connect students through dinners and family excursions with a Swedish family for those who choose a housing option other than homestay. Finally, DIS arranges social activities throughout the year, including arrival and farewell parties, seminar nights, and diverse identities clubs.

DIS also offers a 3-credit research opportunity in which students collaborate with DIS faculty on projects in a variety of fields including public health, gender studies, psychology, justice and human rights, and environmental science. Topics vary by semester. Approval of the research course by UD is not guaranteed and must be approved by the appropriate UD department.

Language
English is widely spoken throughout Stockholm, and you should have no difficulty interacting with people you meet or with your host family, if that is your choice. In addition, all DIS courses are taught in English. You may wish to take a Swedish language and culture course as part of your program.

Calendar
Fall semester runs from mid-August through mid-December. Spring semester goes from mid-January through mid-May. See the DIS website for exact dates.

Travel and Transportation: As part of your housing fee, DIS provides transportation passes to DIS Stockholm students. Your transportation pass entitles you to travel within the given zones and dates with the transportation companies in the Greater Stockholm area. Transportation passes are valid for the T-bana, commuter trains, regional trains, buses, trams, and ferries, as long as you are within the appropriate zone.

Students are responsible for their own roundtrip airfare between the U.S. and Stockholm; airport pick-up at the start of the program is included in the program fee.

For more information about the DIS program from a student's perspective, check out DIS Student Blogs.

ACCESSIBILITY: Students with disabilities are welcomed and encouraged to study abroad, but should be aware that accessibility and accommodation in some program locations may differ from the United States. Transit systems and legacy building construction practices may not meet U.S. accessibility standards, and alternative access to public transportation, buildings, or public sites cannot be guaranteed. Review these questions with the Office of Disability Support Services to determine whether this program can meet your accommodation needs. In addition, see information about DIS' disability services on their website.

Courses: All students must enroll in the 0-credit course UNIV 550 (placeholder for this travel study experience) and UNIV 372 (Discovery Learning marker). All DIS courses are taught in English (except for Danish language courses), and offerings can vary from semester to semester. Students must take a minimum of 12 credit hours and courses must be for credit, not pass-fail. As a UD program, all DIS courses completed with a grade of C or better will transfer back to UD and be placed on a student’s UD transcript. UD's Registrars Office maintains a course equivalency matrix for DIS courses taken by UD students in the past (which transfer as courses from DIS' school of record, the University of Minnesota, and appear in the matrix list as INTL-US-DIS).

Before committing to the program students are encouraged to meet with their academic advisor or assistant dean to ensure that credits earned on the program will facilitate their progress towards graduation. Students wishing to take courses that do not appear in the matrix must pursue transfer credit approval. It is the student's responsibility to secure the necessary UD transfer credit permissions prior to departure according to UD's standard transfer credit procedure, and to have an official transcript from the host institution sent to UD upon the conclusion of the semester abroad.
UNIV 372-015: Study Abroad - DIS Stockholm (0 credits) pass/fail
Satisfies the following requirements:
  • Discovery Learning


Program Costs:




Contact Information:
Peter Rees
Faculty Director
Geography
rees@udel.edu
Desirae Wright
Study Abroad Coordinator
121 East Delaware Ave, Newark, DE, 19716
302-831-2852
wrightde@udel.edu



Deadlines:
Submit Program Application by 5pm on October 21, 2024
Recommendation also due by 5pm on October 21, 2024

Please note that this program is highly competitive and will accept only a limited number of applicants. Interview appointments and acceptance decisions are at the discretion of the faculty director.



Interest Meetings:
05/09/2024, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM, Zoom Link: https://udel.zoom.us/j/94358474053
05/10/2024, 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM, Zoom Link: https://udel.zoom.us/j/97668180319


Program information is subject to change at any time. Please check this web site periodically for updates.