US Student Mobility- Study abroad in Costa Rica

   Study Abroad in Costa Rica presented by Yvonnex and Siana     

1. The introduction of Costa Rica

      Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It has a population of around 4.5 million, of who nearly a quarter live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city, San Jose. Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by indigenous people before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until independence as part of the short-lived First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the united provinces of America, from which it formally declared sovereignty in 1847. Since then, Costa Rica has remained among the most stable, prosperous, and progressive nations in Latin America. Following a brief civil war, it permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without any standing army. 

2. Education in Costa Rica

           Education in Costa Rica can be divided into three parts, pre-education, elementary education, secondary education, and college education.

Education is generally free in Costa Rica, and every citizen is obligated to receive education by law. Thus, the literacy rate is one of the highest of all Latin American countries. The literacy rate is 95% in residents age 15 and older, and the country boasts more teachers than policemen. In a report by the World Economic Forum in 2015, the Costa Rican education system was also ranked highest in Latin America. In 1869, Costa Rica made education both free and mandatory for all its citizens. Since that time, the country's education system has grown to include more than four thousand schools. Over the last three decades, the country has invested nearly 30% of its national budget in primary and secondary education. 

Furthermore, the elementary education is 6-year-education in Costa Rica which is free and compulsory, but the following secondary education which is 5 or 6 years education gives students more choices. The first three years of high school are dedicated to general education while the remaining two or three provide students with specialized training. Students could pick one specification, either the academic schools which last 5 years or the technical schools which last 6-year-long, and both of these institutions give students a title in arts or sciences and a Costa Rican Bachillerato (high-school) Diploma, which is accredited by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. 

There are more than 60 universities in Costa Rica, and 5 of them are public universities in Costa Rica, all Public universities offer degree programs according to their specialty and by law. Each university offers certain degree programs and emphasis. And there are still some private universities. When compared with public universities in Costa Rica, private institutions are smaller and often specialize in a particular subject area. 

3. Study Abroad Education in Costa Rica 

               Students can study in Costa Rica by joining the study abroad programs at their universities, but they can only stay in Costa Rican for at most one year. So if someone plans to study in Costa Rica independently, or for more than a year, she/he will probably have to arrange more details, from admissions tests to federal student loans. Also, non-residents are required to have a student visa to study more than three months in Costa Rica.

Usually, students study abroad when they are in college. And the following are some information about Costa Rican universities. Students who want to study abroad in Costa Rica should first know which area they want to study so that to choose the specific university for better learning experiences.

 Costa Rican universities give most courses in Spanish, though individual classes in English are available. Several private universities offer entire majors in English. Those include the Universidad de Iberoamerica (UNIBE) that specializes in medicine; the Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia (ULACIT), which offers baccalaureate through doctorate degrees in many subjects; and the Universidad Veritas, a national leader in architecture and design. 

      The University of Costa Rica, which offers more than 100 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, is Costa Rica’s highest ranking public university.  It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious institution of higher learning in Costa Rica, originally established as the Universidad de Santo Tomás in 1843. It is also the most important research university in the country, and Central America. Approximately 39,000 students attend UCR throughout the year. The University for Peace, located in Cuidad Colon, and the INCAE Business School, in Alajuela, are two well-respected universities that cater mostly to international students and offer classes in English. The United Nations and former Costa Rica President, Rodrigo Carazo, helped found The University for Peace. Its mission is to promote peace, understanding, and tolerance and the school offer several related master’s degree programs – Gender and Peace Building, International Law and Human Rights, and Peace Education. 

          INCAE, ranked by the Wall Street Journal in 2005 as the #10 international business schools, was founded in 1964 by Harvard Business School, USAID, and the private sector in Central America. Today, it offers four master’s programs – a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA, English, and Spanish); a Master’s in Agribusiness Management (MIAM, English); a Global Real Estate Management degree (GREM, English and Spanish); and a Global Executive MBA (EMBA, Spanish).

   According to recent studies by Kiplinger, even with the average financial aid package, student loans, and possible scholarships, most students will spend $11,000-$21,000 per year and will graduate $10,000-$22,000 in debt. In Costa Rica, your savings and financial aid will stretch further, and you are guaranteed a quality education and a college experience unlike any other. 

The ranks of Costa Rican Universities

4. Application for Costa Rican Universities

The requirement for students to study in UCR

5. Grading Systems in Costa Rica
    

6. Why American students choose to go study abroad in Costa Rica? (presented by Siana)

             There are a lot of Americans who choose to study abroad in Costa Rica due to a number of reasons, discussed in this article. Firstly, the Ticos are famous with their relaxed and peaceful lifestyle. In fact, Costa Rica is among the very few countries with abolished army. Due to their positive attitude, diet, and environment, the Ticos have the life expectancy that exceeds 80 years. Therefore, there is a wide range of people of different ages and ethnicities and a student in Costa Rica has the chance to explore a lot of different cultures.  Secondly, when the army was abolished in 1949, the Ministry of culture replaced it with an “army of teachers”, which meant that the money previously meant for military investments were now used for educational purposes. Costa Rica holds the highest literacy rates in Latin America with its 97%. Therefore, not only the education system is on a very high level, but the studying environment is composed of educated people. Additionally, being in such environment could help with learning the local language more easily. Immersing with people speaking Spanish will definitely show faster results than learning the language back in the U.S. This is quite beneficial since Spanish is among the top five most spoken languages in the world and knowing it well would be advantageous when trying to find a job. Thirdly, Costa Rica is medically developed as well. The World Health Organization puts it above the U.S. in its ranking. The majority of medicine in Costa Rica is not only of the highest quality but is very affordable too, costing less than medicine in America. Fourthly, the education in Costa Rica is more affordable than in the U.S. Renting an apartment could cost less than $600. All living expenses will be a lot less than if one were studying in Europe and Australia, for example. Finally, Costa Rica could offer stunning aspects of nature. The Ticos do not only enjoy hot weather throughout the whole year but they are also lucky enough to experience one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. It has a lot of rare species including the smoky jungle frog and the beautiful zebra longwing butterfly, It has mountains, rainforests, 14 volcanoes of which 6 are active, and an impressive amount of Natural Parks. This is an advantage for all students studying ecology, biology, zoology, or other environmental sciences. However, even if one is a Law student, he or she will still enjoy the diverse and colorful nature that Costa Rica has to offer.

7. Statistics

The comparison between Mexico and Costa Rica

In 2008, the statistic indicates that US students tend to study in Mexico are approximately 1000 more than students choose to study abroad in Costa Rica. But in the recent years, because of the increasing violence in Mexico and the political conflict between the US and the Mexico, a deep decrease in study abroad in Mexico happened. Costa Rica is a good candidate, which has beautiful natural landscapes and qualified education, and a sharp increase in the study in Costa Rica existed.

Top 20 destination for US study abroad students, 2013-15

        According to research and statistics, UK, Italy, and Spain are always the top three destinations for the US students to study abroad. In addition, the percentage of changes from one year to the other indicates that Costa Rica is increasing by 8.5 percent from 2013 to 2015, which is a huge increase. From my perspective, because the percentage for the US students to study in other countries, some of the top countries are improving slowly or even decreasing, and I think as long as the percentage of Costa Rica remain the same as right now or gradually increase in the future years, Costa Rica may become one of the top 5 destinations for US students to study.

    

8. Students feedbacks on Study abroad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b74T89t3T-w

Reference:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica#Geography

2. https://www.costarica.com/relocation/costa-ricas-education-system/

3. http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/US-Study-Abroad/Leading-Destinations/2013-15

4. http://www.ticotimes.net/2014/05/23/costa-rica-remains-most-popular-latin-american-study-abroad-destination-for-us-students

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b74T89t3T-w

6. https://www.goabroad.com/articles/study-abroad/10-reasons-to-study-abroad-in-costa-rica

7. https://www.studyabroad.com/in-costa-rica

8. http://www.classbase.com/Countries/Costa-Rica

9. http://oaice.ucr.ac.cr/en/international-students.html