The next major step came in 1982, when the Faculty passed legislation that essentially cut the link between concentration credit and allowed students from any concentration to study abroad.

“The expectation was that it would be permitted for students to study language or a foreign culture—even if none of the work was going to be related to their particular concentration,” Wolcowitz says.

The Standing Committee on Study Out of Residence established a procedure for reviewing petitions for study abroad.

This procedure was reviewed and essentially reaffirmed by the Faculty Council in 1991.

Over time, Wolcowitz says, the nature of the paperwork changed in an attempt to make the process simpler. For example, the requirement that students petitioning for study abroad had to get signatures from the heads of the departments of each course they were seeking to take was eliminated.

Wolcowitz says, however, that the process remained complicated.

Today, Pedersen says it is her impression that there is a growing recognition among the Faculty of the importance of study abroad as part of the undergraduate experience.

“I think we have the view now that some understanding of another culture is part of a liberal education,” Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82 says.

Some wonder if Harvard’s current housing shortage is a source of motivation behind this recent push to improve study abroad at Harvard. But most administrators say that, although a potentially convenient side-effect, it was not a reason for this decision.

“The effect that an enhanced study abroad program would have on housing is very much an incidental benefit,” Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 writes in an e-mail. “The liberty or restrictiveness of our study abroad options...should be determined by purely educational considerations.”

Rules, Rules, Rules

Many Faculty, administrators and students alike say the first step towards expanding study abroad opportunities for students at Harvard is simplifying the petition process.

“In the current system, the actual application process can be quite burdensome for students,” Pedersen says.

Currently, a student has to visit OCS, the Standing Committee on Study Out of Residence, his or her concentration tutorial office, the Core office, the housing office and the Senior Tutor before obtaining approval for a petition to study abroad.

Rohit Chopra ’04, chair of the Undergraduate Council Student Affairs Committee and one of five student representatives advising the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) on this issue, calls for a centralization of the application process.