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PPLE College PPLE College

Study Abroad

We offer the possibility to study abroad but there is limited space in our curriculum. Learn more about the opportunities to study abroad during your studies at PPLE here.

PPLE is a rather structured programme, which means that going abroad often requires some flexibility and good planning on the part of the student.

Depending on the individual study plan, you can go abroad in the first semester of their third year. However, in that year there will also be three compulsory courses. In order to avoid a study delay, you will need to take the equivalent of these courses abroad, which can be difficult to arrange. It requires to investigate those partner institutes that offer equivalent courses, and our partners do not offer guarantees that these courses will indeed be available to you. You can also add an additional semester and go during your fourth year, however this requires a year of extra tuition.

We want to give you this information not to discourage your international ventures, but to make sure you know what to expect. Since the PPLE standard of teaching is very high, we don’t want you to get overwhelmed. 
 

Exchange opportunities

About 40 of our students go on exchange per year. Based on the past years, about 50% of them go abroad in their third year, and 50% add a fourth year to go abroad. Our Erasmus partners are Freiburg University, Sciences Po in Reims and Bocconi University in Milan. PPLE also has a special partnership with Singapore Management University. This doesn’t mean that other destinations are not possible, but it means that finding equivalent courses to those in the PPLE curriculum becomes slightly easier. For other destinations you can look at the UvA World Map.
 

Short term and summer programmes

If you don’t want to study an entire semester abroad, we do offer short term options or summer programmes. You can find a list here! 

Student experiences
  • Dilletta De Luca - Online summer course at the University of Hong Kong

    “I was able to take a summer course through the UvA with the Hong Kong University (HKU) Summer Institute. The course I chose was named 'Modern Hong Kong' and it was about the historical events and cultural developments of the city of Hong Kong.

    Even if the course was held online, I was able to academically learn a lot from it, in a field that interests me much. The course was managed well so that there were no time difference problems. Throughout the course, I was always able to contact teachers and staff from the HKU in case I had any technical or teaching issues, and it was extremely helpful to always have support from them during the two weeks.

    Of course I missed the 'live' aspect of the experience, but during the peculiar times of a pandemic it has already been very nice to learn more and get to know more people even if online.”

  • Jolien Huisman - Semester abroad at the University of Maryland

    “After my three years of PPLE, I decided to go abroad with the Global Exchange. PPLE is an international orientated study programme and I thought going on exchange would fit in this perfectly.

    I decided to go to the University of Maryland, as I wanted to have the full American campus experience, while being close to a big city (Washington DC is only 20 minutes away). [...] I did not only go to UMD for the academic experience, but for the entire life experience. It is amazing to meet people from all over the world, to live on campus, to travel around the country.”

  • Christian Gröber - Summer school at the Yonsei University

    “During the summer of 2018, I went to summer school at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea and had an absolutely unforgettable time there. I took one Korean language class and one Korean literature class, both to learn about and engage with Korean culture. I think I managed to grasp a basic understanding of the Korean language and of Korean culture at large, using the latter course as a six credits elective for my PPLE degree. After the summer school I travelled for one week within Korea and was able to communicate with locals about things I learned particularly in the literature course. I am also planning to apply my acquired knowledge in my politics classes, as I have already analysed the Korean case previously. In the future, I am currently considering to potentially do my master studies at Yonsei or to at least return for an exchange semester here.”

     

  • Femke de Groot - Short-term exchange at Fudan University

    “I initially chose to do a summer exchange programme because it would still allow me to obtain all my PPLE credits within three years without any difficulties with course discrepancies between UvA courses and courses at university abroad. My exchange programme in Shanghai was the optimal combination between amazing Chinese food experiences, Shanghai nightlife and cultural eye openers. Academically, you get the opportunity to study economics (or any other PPLE discipline) from the Chinese perspective. It is really different to learn about economics and historical developments in Chinese society from an internal perspective.”