Location
  • Costa Rica
    • San José
Term
Academic Year, Maymester, Short Term, Summer
Subject Areas
Agriculture Animal Science Biology Botany Conservation and Preservation Cultural Studies Earth Sciences Ecology Food Science and Nutrition Gender Studies Geography Global Studies Health Sciences Hispanic Studies History Humanities Latin American Studies Life Sciences Service Learning Social Sciences Sustainable Development Wildlife Sciences Women's Studies +13

Program Details

Program Type
Direct Enrollment
Degree Level
High School Diploma Associates Bachelors
Housing
Apartment Dormitory
Language
English

Pricing

Starting Price
2425
Price Details
The cost for each course (two-week session) is U.S. $2,425 and includes tuition, room and board, access to campus facilities, student services, excursions throughout the region and administrative fees. Airplane ticket, international health and travel insurance, personal expenses and any additional study abroad fees from your home institution are not included.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Airport Transfers Classes Meals Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Domestic Airfare SIM cards Travel Insurance Visa
Jul 06, 2018
Jul 12, 2018
12 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

This program offers four intensive courses, each exploring a unique approach to sustainability. You will gain access to projects and practices employed on EARTH University’s campus, as well as numerous notable sites throughout Costa Rica. During these 14-day courses, you have the opportunity to join international peers, research partners and renowned professors to learn about critical global sustainability issues. Courses involve lectures, participatory activities and field visits.

Courses offered:
1: Tropical Forest Carbon Management (3 Credits)
2: Making Agriculture Sustainable (3 Credits)
3: Engaging Rural Communities (3 Credits)
4: Tackling Environmental Issues (3 Credits)

Interested students are encouraged to register for multiple course sessions.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Travel to Tortuguero National Park - Turtle Island - Indigenous Communities - La Selva Experimental Station
  • Experience the rainforest - be able to see a lot of animals such as Jaguar - Sloth - Cocodriles - Monkeys
  • Share with more than 300 students from more than 35 nationalities around the world
  • You will travel through the entire Costa Rica while learning!

Related Programs

Program Reviews

4.67 Rating
based on 12 reviews
  • 5 rating 66.67%
  • 4 rating 33.33%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Academics 4.5
  • Support 4.7
  • Fun 4.6
  • Housing 4.25
  • Safety 4.85
Showing 1 - 8 of 12 reviews
Default avatar
Marlene
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Pura Vida 02

My experience here was amazing and I am so glad I made the decision to come to CR. I will definitely return to CR perhaps even to live. I am not more nature friendly and aware of the issues planet Earth is facing. I learned about treating was water and how to recycle and how to calculate carbon dioxide emissions. My favorite trip was going to Isla de las Tortugas because it was the very first time I went snorkeling and in fact that first time I went inside the ocean. Thanks to this program my vision for the future has been found. As a manufacturing engineering student I would like manufacture any products in the most sustainable method possible.

What would you improve about this program?
The program was great but maybe a destinations that could be visited on our down time would be great.
59 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Hi Marlene!

We are more glad or as equal as you for choosing Costa Rica and EARTH University as your study abroad program.

We encourage you to come back, be an entrepreneur, set up a company and help us improve what we are doing, your knowledge is very valuable.

Thank you very much for choosing Costa Rica and we really hope you come back. You have our contacts, feel free to write us any time, our doors are always open!

Default avatar
Lida
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Tackling Environmental Issue

This course has provided me with a very unique international experience in Costa Rica that many other programs may lack. There are not many locations similar to Earth University. The educational system with its emphasis on creating solutions to global problems is in a league all of its own. The course material went very in depth, and as a student, I was able to gain some professional knowledge which I will likely be able to use in a future career.

55 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Hi Lida,

Thank you very much for your feedback and review, we are really happy that this program help you enable your professional knowledge to use it in your future career.

We also encourage you to keep doing study abroad programs, this will make you a global citizen capable of solving global issues with your major!

We wish you the best endeavours!

Thank you for coming!

Default avatar
Guadalupe
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

pura vida summer 2018

Translation: I liked the experience of coming to Costa Rica, the people were very nice. I would like to come again in the future. I like the programs they offer. Something that I liked was when we visited the house of a senor (roots farm) because the food the walk and the history of the senor was something very beautiful that I will never forget. As a Mexican and a Latina, I am glad that I came to this country and in the future I will visit more Latin American countries and return to Costa Rica.

me gusto la experience de venir a costa rica, la gente fue muy agradable. me gustario venir otra vez en el futuro. me gusta los programas que ofrecen. algo que me gusto fue cuando visitamos la casa de un senor (raices farm) porque la comida la caminata y la historia de el senor fue algo muy bonita que nunca voy a olvidar. Como mexicana y latina que soy me da gusto que vine a este pais y en el futuro voy a visitar mas paises Latinoamericanos y regresar a costa rica. pura vida

What would you improve about this program?
El programa puede mejorar en ir a mas lugares de costa rica para tener mas experiencia.
58 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

We really appreciate that you enjoyed visiting Raices Farm! as Latinos that we are we really appreciate that you took the time to get to know your fellow latinos.

We encourage you to travel more to other sites in Latin America and South America as well, doesn't matter were we go, the latin american flavour will still be there!

We really hope to have you back in Costa Rica at any time soon!

Safe Travels!

Carie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Tackling Environmental Issues

I really enjoyed learning and applying the concepts we used in a classroom setting to a real life example while going on field trips to understand the impacts from our course. I found the concepts covered important and informative; making sure to address different contextual factors while attempting to understand and create sustainable solutions. This program was a good balance of fun and engagement in the subject matter, especially given that not everyone in the program was in the field of environmental sciences.

What would you improve about this program?
I think creating more balance between indoor and outdoor activities on a day to day basis would improve it. It seemed that most of the field trips occurred in the span of a week, but the analysis happened the following week, which, by the time, some of the information was forgotten.
53 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Thank you for coming to EARTH University. As you say, our educational model is based on learning while doing and we are really glad that you found a balance in the program contents.

We also appreciate your feedback, we will improve our program contents in order to make it more balance and distribute 50/50 the field trips and the analysis,

thank you very much for coming to EARTH University, we hope we can have you back!

Default avatar
megan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

intensive training in responsibility for individual waste management

i have too many favorite memories that are truly ineffable. our professors are not only highly educated, but also beautiful people. the field trips are mind blowing, enough for anyone to appreciate our majestic planet.
if i must pick one full circle experince
snorkeling in Tortuga:
i was able to feed gorgeous fish from my hands, i cried from on the way home that night from all the beauty and joy i experienced. however, understanding the fact that all of my amazing fish friends will be dead the next week due to red tide is the most heart wrenching thing i can think of. The beach of Tortuga was the most beautiful i have ever seen, though the sands are covered in bleached, dead coral from the reefs... the juxtaposition was hard to comprehend. i am so grateful i have experienced the biodiversity that my children will never see...
i surely hope we can turn climate change around, it is breaking my heart and will kill us all.

What would you improve about this program?
more hands on learning activities, possibly hold students more accountable for there own waste production during there stay. make them use less A/C, gasoline, sort there garbage, use less power and turn there fans off when not using the dorms. an intensive training program such as this, will hopefully allow them to be more responsible once they return home. not only learning to appreciate the earth and environment but training them to better care for it for the rest of there lives (the short term students are amazed by beauty, however there habits are not necessarily reflecting their new feelings...)
56 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Hi Megan!

We trully enjoyed reading your review and feedback. It is amazing how much you can learn when we travel abroad, it opens our mind to see a new perspective on things that we might already now. For us Turtle Island is also one of the best places to visit in Costa Rica and we are glad that you had the chance to visit the place.

We trully support your toughts in regards of the efforts in conservation and holding students accountable for the recycling process. We will encourage our future students more in order hold them accountable for the values that we preach at EARTH University.

Thank you for coming to EARTH and we hope to have you back !

Read my full story
Default avatar
Fernando
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Engaging Rural Communities

My experience at EARTH was exiting. We were able to interact with people from all around the world, see different points of view and have lots of activities during our stay. The course we took were very complete and the material was well delivered by great professors, accompanied with field trips where we were able to apply and see what we learned in class. My experience in the dorms was good, comfortable bed, wide closet for all our stuff and a desk where we could do our reports and study. Even thought time was not our friend and didnt got a chance to see other thing inside the university I wanted to see, I had a nice time and if I had the opportunity for visiting again I would do it without thinking it.

52 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Hi Fernando,

We are really happy that you had a great time learning and studying here at EARTH University. We do understand that, given the short time here you did not had the chance to see other things in our campus, but you are always welcome here, so please come back at any time we will be more than happy to receive you again!

Safe Travels!

Default avatar
Gabriela
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Engaging Rural Communities Evaluation

This program involved the engagement of rural communities in modern society by acquiring knowledge, tools and methodologies about sustainable development. Through the concepts learned in class, the works done in groups, videos and especially the field trips I was able to get a much better understanding of what sustainability is and what it involves if we wish to be the agents of change into developing a more sustainable society. Because of this course I will be better equipped for my future en devours both in my educational as well as personal development. Thanks to EARTH University I will leave Costa Rica with a whole new perspective on agriculture, helping me develop new ideas into what I want to do in the future in the field of international agriculture. It has definitely inspired me into keep looking for more educational programs like this one on sustainable agriculture and development in order to redefine the paradigms of modern agriculture and help develop a more sustainable, unified and complete society.

What would you improve about this program?
Make the course longer! The students as well as faculty will take more advantage of the time and can possibly enrich the course experience even more!
51 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Dear Silva,

Thank you very much for your honest feedback, we hope you can implement everything that you learned while at EARTH in the field of international agriculture. In addition, we will try to make the course longer, or even better, you can join next year in two consecutive courses :)

We really appreciate your feedback,

Take care!

Default avatar
Eli
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Engaging Rural Communities: A Fantastic 2 Week Course at EARTH University

The past 2 weeks have legitimately flown by. I have spent time learning rigorously in a classroom, days out visiting Costa Rican farmers/entrepreneurs and even a day just swimming in the Caribbean Sea! In classes we learned an incredible amount in a short amount of time, through formal lectures but also plenty of discussion, critical questioning and videos. We went on several different field visits, each of which was very different but focused specifically on providing real world context to the material we had just studied in class. If you are a hands-on, experiential learner like myself, you will love a summer course at EARTH.

What would you improve about this program?
Even more field visits, especially to sites on the very large campus would be great!
55 people found this review helpful.
Response from EARTH University

Hi Eli!

It is amazing how time flies! We really appreciate that you understood the whole purpose of your course, hands-on/experiential learning.

We will for sure follow your feedback into the implementation of more field visits!

We hope to have you here next year!

Take care,

Questions & Answers