Study Abroad Opportunities – Film & Digital Media Department

Film and Digital Media students are strongly encouraged to make study abroad a part of their UCSC undergraduate education. UC Santa Cruz students have many options for study abroad or away. UC Santa Cruz programs include:

Faculty-led Global Seminars: UCSC courses taught by UCSC faculty abroad in the summer. Film and Digital Media Programs include:
- “Moroccan Cinema, Culture and Arabic Language” with Professor Peter Limbrick
- “Film History and Preservation in Bologna, Italy” with Professors Shelley Stamp and Jennifer Horne
Partner Programs and Exchanges: UCSC campus and department-based exchanges with institutions abroad and in the US. UCSC exchange programs with pre-approved Film and Digital Media Courses include:
- University of Sussex
- University of Bergen
Other UC and Independent study abroad options include:
- UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP): UC study abroad provider for all UC campuses
- Other UC Study Abroad: Study abroad programs offered through other UC campuses
- Independent Programs: Study abroad programs administered outside of the UC

Film and Digital Media students who study abroad or away can petition up to two courses to count toward the Film and Digital Media Major, with the exception of the UCSC Exchange program at the University of Sussex in which you can apply three courses for the major. While you have flexibility on when you can study abroad as a Film and Digital Media major, it is recommended that you meet with your advisor to discuss your plans. If intending to take courses for your FDM major requirements while abroad, you should plan to find courses that can satisfy FDM’s 20 level courses, any in the 130, 132, 134, or 136 categories and upper-division electives. Most likely the FDM-related courses you take will be most appropriately considered to be upper-division elective substitutions. For any courses that are not pre-approved, you will work with your advisor to petition for those courses taken abroad to satisfy major requirements.

The FDM substitution petition process is as follows:

Email fdmadvising@ucsc.edu the syllabus for the course(s) that you’re petitioning to count as upper-division elective substitutions, along with a brief written statement (1-2 paragraphs) about why you feel the course(s) should count as substitutions.
We then pass this along to the FDM faculty for review. We will email you back on the original email chain with a decision once one has been made.
Please note that substitution petitions are not guaranteed to be approved and that the review process can take up to 4 weeks.

The class topics don’t have to be identical to ones offered in the FDM department here at UCSC, however the classes do have to have a similar workload. That is one of the biggest factors of whether a course will be approved or not.

It is recommended that you SAVE ALL COURSEWORK!! It is your responsibility to retain all relevant course materials from your study abroad or away program should the department need to review them to determine course equivalencies. It can often be difficult to contact instructors after a study abroad program has ended.