The USC School of Social Work will offer two new study-abroad seminars in Mexico and the Philippines this summer, giving participants an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of another culture and different community development models of social service in an international setting.

Open to both graduate-level students and professionals, the "Social Work and Social Development in Mexico" seminar is scheduled for May 13-28 in Mexico City, and the "Feminist Theory, Social Action and Social Work" seminar will convene Aug. 2-14 in Manila, Philippines.

Both programs will combine a classroom component with experiential learning through field trips and a group project that pairs participants with a local organization to consult on a real issue.

"These hands-on experiences are good opportunities to explore challenging social and economic issues that face us in serving people from a variety of backgrounds," said Assistant Professor Kristin Ferguson, faculty adviser for the Mexico program. "Our goal is to offer participants a new vantage point to work more effectively with their immigrant clients and build their confidence as bicultural social workers."

The Mexico program was developed in partnership with the National School of Social Work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.

Students will spend 16 days networking with Mexican educators and social work professionals while visiting community organizations, as well as historical and cultural sites, including weekend excursions to Cuernavaca and San Miguel de Allende.

Daily Spanish-language classes will help facilitate communication and enhance participants' foreign-language proficiency.

The Philippines program, offered at the University of the Philippines, Dilliman, will teach participants about the feminist perspective in social work and its influence in facilitating social change. Students will hear from guest speakers on labor issues, land ownership, poverty, prostitution, legislative process and health care.

Field trips will provide views of a women's prison, peasant community, picket line, export processing zone and red-light district.

Students will keep a journal, helping them articulate observations and insights, and participate in a field research project they will present to the USC and Los Angeles Filipino-American community at the end of the trip.

Students have the option of taking either course for credit, which will count as four units toward their master of social work degree.