Short-term Abroad Programs

Short-term Abroad Courses

To excel in their career, our students need not only a deep understanding of global and regional issues but also the ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead in a cross-cultural environment. Short-term abroad programs allow students to strengthen these skills as they travel with Elliott School professors to their regions of expertise. Students will earn credit faster through these intensive academic and cultural experiences and increase their international knowledge and skills.

Winter 2026 Elliott School Short-term Abroad Program

Taiwan Resilience under Military Coercion

Location: Taipei City, Taiwan

Dates abroad: January 3rd - January 9th, 2026

Faculty lead: Dan Peck

Pre-departure class dates: 

• Saturday, November 8th: Morning: 9:30-11:30 and Afternoon 13:00-15:30 (on-campus)
• Saturday, November 22nd: Morning: 9:30-12:00 and Afternoon 13:00-15:30 (on-campus) 
• Monday, December 22nd: 12:00-13:00 (virtual meeting for final Logistics and itineraries check)

Description: Taiwan Resilience under Bombardment, Blockade, and Invasion; Past, Present, and Future is a three-credit short-term abroad course focused on a major global flashpoint. Located at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, central to intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition, and the target of focused and growing coercion from China's military, Taiwan could face military aggression in the near future. This course will examine a likely near term or future war, placed in the context of historical lessons learned, and framed by current and emerging technological development. The course will explore what a war involving China, Taiwan, the United States might entail, specifically China's military capabilities and options for coercion and compellence. Students will consider Taiwan’s whole of society resilience by visiting organizations and leaders at several key locations around Taiwan. Students will undertake a group project and an individual research paper assessing key factors related to China's coercive options, Taiwan's readiness and resilience, or elements of how a conflict would impact Taiwan, China, the region, the global economy, and the international order.

Application link

Information Sessions 

Zoom Info Session: 
Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 PM

September 11th Zoom Link

Zoom Info Session: 
Friday, September 12 at 12:00 PM

September 12th Zoom Link

 

Spring Break 2026 Elliott School Short-term Abroad Program

Solutions in Sustainable Development: Agriculture and Climate Change in Malawi

Location: Malawi

Dates abroad:  March 7th - March 15th, 2026

Faculty lead: Samuel Ledermann

Pre-departure class dates: TBA

Post-trip class dates: TBA

Description: This course provides an opportunity for graduate students to apply what they have learned and gain invaluable field experience abroad for their careers in sustainable development. The project-based course is offered in collaboration with Dr. Julius Manda from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), who leads efforts to increase the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices amongst smallholder farmers. Under the guidance of their faculty advisor, who has extensive experience working and researching across sub-Saharan Africa, students will apply qualitative, participatory techniques to monitor progress made by Malawian smallholder farmers in improving their livelihoods through sustainable agricultural technologies. Beyond sustainability, the course will focus on vulnerabilities to climate change and how to build resilience. Our 2024 trip focused on adopting double-up legumes, and students completed over 50 focus group discussions and interviews. This year’s focus will be finalized later in Fall 2025. The joint findings from the short-term course will flow back into programming by IITA. The program will include exposure visits with local and national experts and will start in Lilongwe. The majority of the time is spent in rural Malawi interviewing smallholder farmers. You can find impressions from our last two trips on our @stap_esia Instagram account. We will be accompanied by a GW graduate student who participated in last year’s trip throughout the fieldwork.

This STAP course is only open to graduate students.

Application link

Ethical Decision-Making in International Institutions

Locations: Western Europe: France, Belgium, and The Netherlands

Dates abroad:  March 7th - March 14th, 2026

Faculty lead: Yasaman Sutton

Pre-departure class dates: Jan. 24th and Feb. 21st from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Description:  

This STAP course provides an opportunity for students to gain invaluable experience abroad for their future careers. In collaboration with prominent contacts at international institutions, along with lectures and tours at various European institutions, students will have the opportunity to discuss policy development with leaders in the vanguard at the apex of international business, government, ethics, and law. 

The fundamental academic goal of the course is to look at the way in which several international institutions coalesce around common values to transcend differences and reconcile views. First in the classroom, and then practically through discussion with the entities abroad and in-person, we will study how these specific international institutions identify, articulate, and apply those shared ethics rules or values to their decision-making processes. This program includes coursework from the one-credit Formal Briefings course. 

This course will begin in Paris, move to Brussels, and then end in The Hague. 

Likely academic site visits include: 

• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 
• European Union (EU) ● International Court of Justice (ICJ) 
• Other prominent European NGOs

This course is open to graduate students. Qualified, upper-level undergraduates will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Application link

Summer 2026 Elliott School Short-term Abroad Programs

Climate Frontlines: Lessons from the Amazon for Global Environmental Security

Location: The Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

Dates abroad:  : June 20th - June 30th (dates subject to slight change)

Faculty lead: Renata Avelar Giannini

Pre-departure class dates: 

• May 26th 
• June 2nd 
• June 9th 
• June 16th

Post-Departure Class Date: July 7th

Description:  This interdisciplinary course explores the Amazon as a critical case study in environmental security, examining how deforestation, climate change, and extractivist pressures intersect with governance, violence, and human rights. With a strong emphasis on human security and the leadership of Indigenous peoples and women environmental defenders, students will gain hands-on experience through case studies, stakeholder mapping, and geospatial tools to monitor environmental change and territorial threats. Blending theory with practice, the course equips students to analyze complex environmental conflicts and propose rights-based, sustainable policy responses that protect both communities and ecosystems.

Application Link: TBA

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply?

To begin an Online Application, use the links above or find the brochure for the program(s) you are interested in applying for in the programs section of GW Passport. Once there, click "Apply Now" to be in an application. (If no “Apply Now” button appears, the application cycle for the program is not yet open.) Students must apply via GW passport and log in using their GW Net ID and password. You will select the semester in which you wish to study abroad. The system will then direct you to your application home page. Complete all e-signature documents, fillable forms, and offline requirements as listed on the right side of the screen.

Are there funding opportunities available for these programs?

ESIA does not offer any short-term abroad-specific scholarships at this time, but we encourage students to look into external funding opportunities. If you have funding or scholarships for tuition, you can apply them to the cost of tuition. If you have other scholarships or funding, please check with the financial aid office to see if they can be applied to the other program fee costs posted to your student account.

What if I missed the info session?

Please email esiashorttermgwu [dot] edu (esiashortterm[at]gwu[dot]edu) for info session recordings.

I am a faculty member interested in creating a STAP course; how should I proceed?

A call for STAP proposals for the next academic year is circulated to faculty during the Spring semester. If you are interested in creating a program, please email esiashorttermgwu [dot] edu (esiashortterm[at]gwu[dot]edu.)

If you have any questions about Short-term Abroad programs, please contact esiashorttermgwu [dot] edu (esiashortterm[at]gwu[dot]edu).