Students Undertake Academic Voyage

A group of about 600 students and 30 lecturers from the University of Virginia in the United States are undertaking an academic voyage on board a US Ship, The Explorer.

The three-month voyage is a semester programme that aims at exposing the students to life in other parts of the world.

The voyage, known as “Semester at Sea”, would take the students to Africa and Asia. In Africa, they would make four stops -Morocco, Takoradi, Cape Coast and Mauritius.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic on board The Explorer from the Takoradi Port where the ship berthed while in Ghana, Prof. Gayle Allard, an expert in economics who teaches in the International MBA programme at the IE Business School, said “we take the students out of their bubble to let them appreciate how the world is outside”.

He said the voyage included rigorous coursework and was designed to help undergraduate students to understand today’s rapidly globalising world.

She said they decided to come to Ghana on the first voyage to Africa because of the country’s stability and its democratic credentials on the continent.

Prof. Allard noted that while on the ship, students were taken through their normal class activities where they are taught History, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, among other subjects.

At the ports, she said they visited tourist sites, historical monuments and other places of interests.

“It’s been a fantastic experience in Ghana. The people are so friendly and I am very impressed,” she said.

The Explorer has since left for South Africa after which it would move to Singapore and China.