Academic Enrichment
Getting the most out of your college experience
At Manchester, we encourage you to become your best self, because while the value of a Manchester education starts in the classroom, you can take it to a whole new level by seizing all the opportunities available to you.
History proves that students who participate in activities at college not only enrich the time they spend here, but are better equipped for successful, rewarding careers and life after graduation, too!
Your best college experience is waiting for you, but it’s up to you to make it happen.
Enrich your Manchester experience
Study Away
From Indiana to places near and far!
A world of experience awaits
Shared experiences shape our lives, and our Study Away Program is a potent opportunity to experience the richness of humanity. Discover common ground and lifelong connections with your peers and through cultural enrichment around the globe.
Studying away is a rare opportunity to experience, understand and contribute to different cultures. Manchester University students have the opportunity to study away for a semester or full year, or for a shorter term during January or summer sessions. All study away programs count for full academic credit.
Short-term, faculty-led study away courses vary each year. Popular locations include: Guatemala, England, Australia, Hawaii and Florida.
Semester and full-year programs offer Manchester students the opportunity to study in Japan through Hokusei Gakuen University; to participate in Amizade Study Abroad around the world, including Spain; or to engage in semester internships through the Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture in Chicago, IL.
Questions?
Contact the Office of Study Away
Off-Campus Travel Courses
January Sessions 2024
January is a special time at Manchester University in which students have the choice to take a three-week course inside or outside of the classroom. And around the world! Each year, MU students immerse into hands-on experiential learning during January Sessions. Locally and traveling across the globe to work in various roles to within their degree types, students can align their passions with their MU education as they begin to actively participate in the roles they someday hope to form into careers.
Dates: 06 Jan – 31 Jan, 2025
- Exploring International Business, Amsterdam-Paris-Rome, Heather Twomey
- The Development of Modern Scientific Thought, London-UK, Greg Clark
- Current Issues in Peace and Justice, Mississippi-Louisiana, Katy Gray Brown
- Medical Practicum, Guatemala, Jeff Osborne
- Cultural Ecology, Belize, Jared Friesen
Summer 2025
- International Sports Medicine, England-Scotland-Wales, Jeff Beer
Music and Theater
Music Opportunities
You don’t have to be a music major to participate in a vocal or instrumental ensemble! If you love to sing, audition for the A Cappella Choir, Cantablie (women’s chorus) or Chamber Singers. If you play an instrument, perform with Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble or the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, which includes students mixed with community members and professional musicians.
Private lessons are available for all students, too. You don’t have to leave behind your passion for music when you come to college – bring it with you to Manchester!
Theater Productions
Although it’s not a major, theater classes include acting and directing, and you can audition for multiple productions each year, including musicals, operas and student-directed one-acts.
Experiential Learning
Get It First-Hand!
Experiential learning at Manchester means learning first-hand and outside the pages of a book. Whatever your major, your classes are hands-on, on-location, real-time.
Rich experiences come in many forms, and whether it’s in a class or through in-depth research, working an internship or performing community service, you’ll get a better understanding of the subject and your experience will stick with you well beyond graduation and into your career.
Your “classroom” might be in the Eel River, collecting zebra mussels to monitor water quality; at a local chicken farm, incorporating organizational psychology methods into the operation’s business plan; or at the Louvre in Paris, examining some of the world’s greatest masterpieces in an art appreciation course.
Experiencing things first-hand at Manchester is like virtual reality, but without the virtual!
Internships
Get Career Experience.
There’s no better way to get real-world work experience than an internship with an actual company or organization that aligns with your career interest! With guidance from MU’s Office of Career and Professional Development, students get exciting internships with area companies – from advertising agencies to hospitals to professional sports teams to non-profits. Manchester students impress their employers, too, and some are even offered jobs for when they graduate.
Career Planning
Get Focused On Your Future.
Tools to Excel.
Students at Manchester University are motivated to succeed and make positive changes in the world. They often ask: “How can my academic interests translate into a rewarding career?” “What should I put on my résumé?” “How can I get internship experience?” and “What about graduate school?” These are all questions the staff and faculty in the Office of Career and Professional Development can help you answer.
The Office of Career and Professional Development offers counseling, advice and resources to help students make positive work and life choices. With a dynamic website, career resource library, interview rehearsals, graduate school research tools, employment announcements for part-time jobs, and internships and full-time opportunities. All in all, it’s a hub of vital career information.
Athletic and Intramurals
Manchester is a Division III school, so we’re not about big money athletics. Students who come here get a chance to compete at the college level. The lessons they learn on the court or field about teamwork, sportsmanship and respect are valuable indeed. Our student-athletes truly know what it means to become their best selves.
Learn more about Spartan Athletics
If you like participating in sports, but not at the intercollegiate level, you can play intramurals, where the competition is just as fierce! Play volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball or touch football. Everyone plays. Everyone has fun.
