Students Can Now Earn College Credit and Spend a Semester Learning 21st Century Digital Skills in Tech Capitals Around the Globe from Silicon Valley to London to Sydney

NEW YORK, September 10, 2015 – General Assembly (GA), the global educational institution building a community of entrepreneurs and professionals through instruction and opportunity in technology, business and design, is now offering study abroad semester and intersession programs for undergraduates to earn college credits. General Assembly is now accepting applications for both their 10-day Tech Intensive Program and the 16-week Tech Semester Programs. General Assembly has 14 campuses around the globe and will be bringing its Tech Semester and Intensive Programs to all its international cities including London, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, and Hong Kong, over the next year.

The two new study abroad programs now available to undergraduates are a 16-week semester program, and a 10-day January term program. The 16-week program is a 15-credit program featuring 10-weeks of learning top skills desired by employers like digital marketing, user experience design, front-end web development, and product management, followed by a six-week internship at a tech company or startup. In the 10-day program, students begin with an idea of something they would like to create, and then spend one week in crash courses to learn a variety of technical topics including product management, ux, business strategy, and more. At the end of the program, students pitch their product prototype to a panel of industry experts for feedback. Both programs feature cultural and industry immersion including industry excursions where students will hear from designers, developers, business managers, and recent grads about their experience utilizing technical skills at work.

“At General Assembly we believe the future of study abroad are experiences that feature both cultural and industry immersion,” said Mercedes Bent, general manager of university programs & partnership at General Assembly. “We’re combining the best of both worlds – career and cultural exploration. The same curiosity that drives us to explore other cultures drives us to find meaning and passion in our work. GA’s mission is to help students pursue work they love.”

“I was unsure I wanted to stick with my major. I had always wanted to travel to Sydney, so when I saw that GA had a campus there I jumped at taking a program. After just a few weeks in the program, I was able to build a product that does something. I’m heading back to Georgetown in the fall (for Junior year) I am going to keep the Government major and add a Computer Science minor,” said Matthew Thees, a current senior at Georgetown who took a semester away from Georgetown to study with General Assembly.

Study abroad has traditionally focused on providing students with the opportunity to learn foreign languages and experience the culture of another nation. Over the past few years, students have increasingly seen studying abroad as an opportunity to learn more pre-professional skills. According to Open Door Data, STEM students studying abroad recently grew by 9% in one year.

General Assembly’s move to infuse study abroad with career-building skills and industry immersion comes as a welcome time in light of employment prospects for college graduates. In a January 2014 report the Federal Reserve found that roughly 44 percent of recent graduates—meaning those ages 22 to 27 with a B.A. or higher—were in a job that did not technically demand a bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, 16.8% of recent college grads are underemployed – working part-time jobs to make ends meet. Grads that are lucky enough to land good jobs will make an average of $45,000. On the other hand, jobs that require skills learned in General Assembly’s tech semester program like front-end web development and user experience design, pay an average of $60,000 for entry level positions.

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About General Assembly
General Assembly is a global educational institution that is building a community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love through instruction and opportunity in technology, design, and business. General Assembly offers full-time immersive programs, classes, workshops, and online educational programming on the most relevant skills of the 21st century economy, including web development, user experience design, product management, digital marketing, and data science. Headquartered in New York, General Assembly was established in early 2011 and has 14 campuses worldwide in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Seattle, Sydney, and Washington D.C.

Contact Information
For General Assembly
Mercedes Bent
929.224.6200
mercedes@ga.co