ISLE (Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education) offers undergraduate students a unique opportunity to study in Sri Lanka.
The isle program is distinguished by the quality and diversity of its academic experience. The program explores a multi ethnic society in an area of great natural beauty with the oldest continuing Buddhist civilization in the world. During the fall semester at the University of Peradeniya, Buddhism, the politics of ethnicity, the economics of development, the dynamics of gender relations, the creativity of literature and art, and the legacy of archaeology are systematically explored through small insightful course seminars in anthropology, economics, environmental studies, government, history, literature, philosophy, and religion.
Since 1982, the ISLE Program has introduced over 400 American undergraduate students to Sri Lanka's history, archaeology, environment, society, religion, literature, language, politics, economics and art. Many ISLE students have subsequently returned to Sri Lanka for further studies on Fulbright grants or within the context of graduate study programs in the humanities and social sciences. ISLE is a consortium program, affiliated with Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby, Grinnell, Holy Cross, Macalester, Swarthmore, and Whittier Colleges. Applicants from those colleges have priority in applying, but ISLE also welcomes students from outside the consortium.
To learn more, please review the ISLE Application page.
Sri Lanka (view Resources) is a politically turbulent but socially congenial and astonishingly beautiful country located on a tropical island (the size of West Virginia) in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, just off the southern tip of India. Before 1972, it was known as Ceylon. Among its many other names historically, it has also been known as Ceilao (Portuguese), Serendib (Arab), Taprobane (Greek), Dhammadipa (Pali), and Simhaladvipa (Sanskrit). Its Sinhala Buddhist culture is the oldest continuing Buddhist civilization in the world, yet modern Sri Lanka is a very diverse and extraordinarily complex society. Economically, it is a developing nation. Politically, it is democratic.
ISLE is an atypical study abroad program. It is a demanding academic and intense cultural experience designed for highly motivated students with interests in various aspects of South Asian cultures and societies. Past students have found it challenging in many ways: intellectually, emotionally, socially, and physically. Students who are ready to be challenged in these ways will find the ISLE program a deeply rewarding study abroad experience.
The ISLE Program, as a non-profit Incorporation in the USA, complies with applicable provisions of federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, admission, or access to its educational or extracurricular programs, activities, or facilities based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, marital status, place of birth, veteran status, or against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability.
