News and Publications

BestSemester Program Update

BestSemester Program Update

June 26, 2020

Due to the global impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) made the difficult decision that we will not run eight of our nine BestSemester programs for the duration of the 2020-21 academic year. Our Scholars’ Semester in Oxford program may run as a hybrid online/in-person program for the coming academic year (we will be making that call later this summer).

The following programs will not run for the 20-21 academic year:

  • American Studies Program
  • Australia Studies Centre
  • Contemporary Music Center
  • L.A. Film Studies Center
  • Latin American Studies Program
  • Middle East Studies Program
  • Northern Ireland Semester
  • Uganda Studies Program

This was a difficult decision made in response to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus. Future program activities are still under consideration, and the CCCU will be using this next academic year to create a new strategy and vision for our global education offerings moving forward. Future programming decisions will be posted on bestsemester.com.

More than 13,000 students have benefitted from our academically rigorous, Christ-centered experiential education programs for the past 40 years. We remain committed to offering global experiential education opportunities for students that foster their intellectual, cultural, vocational, and spiritual growth, and will continue to work with our “Blue Ribbon Task Force” comprised of study abroad leaders to make recommendations on future program offerings.

All students that were scheduled to attend our programs have been notified of these decisions, and any confirmation deposits that have been paid will be refunded in their entirety.

If you have any questions, please contact the BestSemester team at info@bestsemester.com.