IFSA Study in Sri Lanka

Select IFSA classes for a total of 12-16 U.S. credit hours.

LANGUAGE ELECTIVE CLASSES
Developing skills in a foreign language can profoundly impact your life personally and professionally. Though language study is not required, students frequently report their language class as one of their favorites and the one they applied most outside the classroom. Not all language electives may be offered in a given semester depending on enrollment. Click on each link below for a detailed class syllabus.

Essential Sinhala
If you’ve never studied Sinhala before, you can take this optional, introductory class in Sinhala language and Sri Lankan culture. By introducing key words and phrases and venturing out into the city to practice them, you’ll gain essential skills to communicate effectively and navigate in a new culture. (1 U.S. semester credit hour)

Beginning Sinhala I
Language instruction in colloquial Sinhala, emphasizing functional use of the language in contexts that students can be expected to encounter in daily life. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Beginning Tamil I
Fundamentals of conversational and written Tamil for beginning students. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

ELECTIVE CLASSES
Not all electives may be offered in a given semester depending on enrollment. Click on each link below for a detailed class syllabus.

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management
With over 250,000 archaeological sites, present-day Sri Lanka represents the collective and diverse traditions of art, architecture, literature, and religion that have been practiced by numerous groups. This class focuses on cultural heritage as the physically grounded and historically evolved patterns in the built environment, traditional practices, intangible concepts, and cultural landscapes. Students examine the development of cultural heritage management and its contemporary significance in Sri Lanka, while gaining experience with established documentation, assessment, and conservation practices of cultural heritage resources worldwide. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Biodiversity in Sri Lanka
The class focuses on one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots, how it evolved, and its relationships with sustainable development and conservation in a case study of Sri Lanka. Though field visits, students gain in-depth knowledge of Sri Lanka’s flora and fauna—from rice and orchids, to junglefowl and elephants—and assess first-hand the impact of habitat destruction, human population growth, climate change, and other factors affecting biodiversity. This class provides a foundation to inspire students to become informed decision-makers and contribute towards the conservation of the world’s biodiversity. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Climate Change Impacts in Tropical Ecology
This class examines the consequences of the climate changes on the Island and covers the management of coastal dynamics and the risks. The class is interdisciplinary in nature and explores how physical geography, human geography, social sciences, public policy, engineering, and ecology are all fundamental to managing coastal climate change risks for ecosystems and society. also, it will explore the core concepts including risk, vulnerability, and adaptation to coastal climate change, drawing on real life examples from Sri Lanka and around the world. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Ethnicity and Politics in Sri Lanka
This class provides an introduction to ethnicity and politics in Sri Lanka. The class begins with a conceptual discussion on ethnicity, identity politics, ethno-nationalism, and changing dynamics of ethnicity. The discussion topics include the impact of ethnicity on electoral politics, conflict, democracy, governance, development, and reconciliation. The aim of the class is to explore why and how ethnicity has emerged as an important factor in shaping social processes, political dynamics, and social conflict in contemporary Sri Lanka. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Gender, Identity, and Culture
There is no pre-conceived and ready-made category called “Sri Lankan women” into which all women in Sri Lanka fit. This class surveys the principal factors impacting the gendered identity and status of women in post-colonial, post-independence Sri Lanka. Students explore the production and reproduction of women from a cultural perspective, then examine the materiality of women’s lives as determined by prevailing legal, economic, and political structures. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Global Food Systems
The dominant influence of food production on agricultural ecosystems means that ecosystems risk reaching tipping points beyond which they lose the ability to provide people with food and other vital services. It then offers a tool for integrating climate change and ecosystem service risks into decision making and a framework for reconciling food production and conservation goals. To meet food security and conservation goals we need to move from managing ecosystems for food at the expense of other ecosystem services to managing ecosystems for food plus other nature-based services. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

International Conflict and Peace Building
This interdisciplinary class examines international conflict resolution, philosophies of peace, and post-accord peacebuilding, reviews the theories regarding the causes of international conflicts and peace, explores the approaches for enduring resolution to international conflicts, building peace, and the promotion of a global civil society. This class will address the conceptualization of peace and the implementation of peacebuilding projects by global, regional, national, and local actors, including the UN, development agencies and donors, INGOs, and local organizations in conflict-affected environments with a specific focus on Sri Lanka. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Living Religious Traditions in Sri Lanka
This class, taught by a team of faculty and local scholars, provides insights into the religious life of various ethnic communities in Sri Lanka: Sinhala Buddhists, Tamil Hindus, and Muslims. It will include an examination of different forms of worship at home and in religious shrines, healing rituals as well as rites of passage. The class also explores inter- and intra-religious tensions as well as common ritual practices that intersect religious boundaries. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Primate Evolution
The class will concentrate on basic evolutionary mechanisms and theory of evolution by natural selection, concepts of fitness and adaptation, genetic and developmental bases of evolutionary change, modes of speciation, molecular evolution, principles of systematic biology etc. Also, use animal and plant examples to illustrate and clarify fundamental concepts in evolution. Knowledge of these and biogeographic changes are used to develop the ideas of species and speciation, to construct phylogenies, and to interpret the fossil record and patterns of extinction. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

Sustainable Tourism
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is a major user of biological resources. In addition to nature-based ecotourism, many aspects of tourism, through both marketing and in-person experience, are dependent on Sri Lanka’s natural environment. In this class, students build foundational knowledge of sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka and gain adequate knowledge in principles of environment conservation and management in protecting biodiversity, natural resources, and cultural heritage which in turn greatly benefit the sustainable tourism industry. (3 U.S. semester credit hours)

New country, new way of learning!

Here’s what to expect when studying in Sri Lanka:

• Most classes are lecture orientated and it’s important that you attend and participate in class discussions and cocurricular, as this will contribute to your grade. To find balance between academic work and real word experiences, it is recommended that you set aside daily study time.
• We recommend taking Sinhala or Tamil language.
• You will be matched with a learning partner who is a local university student. This is an exceptional opportunity to learn more about Sri Lankan culture, customs, and ways of life. This partner will also speak English but will encourage and support practice of Sinhala language. Learning partners provide local peer support and create a more enriching and immersive cultural experience.
• You will have full access to resources in the main university library or in the IFSA Program Center. IFSA staff and faculty are available for support and individual help.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years of age. Students under 18 may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
• You must be currently attending or recently graduated from a U.S. or Canadian community college, technical college, two-year college, four-year college, or four-year university.
• You must have completed at least one (1) full-time year of study at your home institution before the beginning of the term.

Recommendation Letter
Not required.

TRANSCRIPT
Upon completion of your program, IFSA will send an official Butler University transcript to your home university with your classwork converted to the U.S. semester credit hour system. You will also have access to an unofficial transcript in your IFSA Student Portal. The transcript reflects classes taken, credits attempted, and grades earned during your term abroad. This service is included in your study abroad program at no additional cost. See our Transcripts page for more information.