The University of Exeter is one of the top universities in the United Kingdom and has a well-established 20-year relationship with USF. It is a member of the prestigious Russell Group, a consortium of the top universities in the United Kingdom. Students on the program will enroll as an exchange student at the University of Exeter, live the life of a UK “uni” student living in campus housing alongside other USF Honors students on the program, and take three courses (or “modules,” as they are called in the UK) that can count towards USF major and other graduation requirements. Three Exeter modules (9 USF credits) are included in the program cost. To find out more about the university, explore the University of Exeter website.

For a quick introduction, check out these videos: 

• University of Exeter, 2030
• A Student's Guide to Life at the University of Exeter
• International Alumni reflect on their experience at the University of Exeter
• International Student Experience at the University of Exeter
• This is the University of Exeter

Student Housing

Honors students on the program will live in student housing on the University of Exeter Streatham campus. Each student will have their own private room and adjoining private bathroom. Private rooms are part of a shared suite, which includes a shared kitchen for preparing meals.

Student Life

You will discover a rich array of opportunities within the University of Exeter, the city of Exeter, and the wider southwest of the United Kingdom. The Exeter Students’ Guild is a key feature of student life at the University of Exeter. From academics to sports to outdoor adventures, these student Clubs and Societies give students a fast-track connection to a diverse array of experiences and friendships. To find out more about the student experience, follow this link to  life at the University of Exeter.

The Semester in Exeter program offers two immersive Honors courses that invite students to engage in interdisciplinary undergraduate research centered on human well-being. As “self-interpreting animals” (to borrow a phrase from the philosopher, Charles Taylor), our existence and well-being is inextricably linked to our capacity for the first-person experience, making choices, and crafting meaning. Our aim will be to make contributions to both the theory and practice of cultivating human experience. 

All students in the program will enroll in the core research seminar, “Wonder, Wander, and Belonging: Cultivating Optimal Experience through Immersive Travel and Study in England.” This course examines how travel, study abroad, and intercultural immersion shape understanding and personal growth. For students seeking to deepen their exploration, the Honors seminar, “Flourishing: Cultivating Persons, Cultures, and Environments of Well-being,” offers an advanced interdisciplinary approach to studying well-being through Engaged Happiness Research (EHR), integrating insights from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, social science, and engaged research methods.

These interdisciplinary courses invite students from all majors to examine the nature of first-person experience, personal growth, leadership, and well-being. They are flexible in content and assignments, allowing students to tailor their research and projects to their academic and professional aspirations. While both courses are designed to complement each other, students may enroll in either Wonder, Wander, and Belonging alone or in combination with Flourishing for a deeper, more integrative experience.

Wonder, Wander, and Belonging: Cultivating Optimal Experience through Immersive Travel and Study in England

How do travel, study abroad, and intercultural experiences shape who we are? How do perception, emotion, and action weave together to create our sense of wonder, belonging, and personal growth? This course invites students to engage deeply with these questions by utilizing England—its towns, countryside, moors, coastal paths, vibrant culture, and living history—as a dynamic experiential laboratory.

Drawing on existential phenomenology (the study of first-person lived experience), computational neuroscience, psychology, philosophical hermeneutics, virtue ethics, and the philosophy of mind, we will explore how our predictive brains construct perceptions and actions in lived experience and how—shaped by culture, geography, and relationships—our understanding of self and world are transformed through time and choice. We will examine how studying abroad fosters personal flourishing, ethical engagement, lifelong well-being, and optimal experience. 

The phrase “optimal experience” refers to a state of deep engagement, fulfillment, and alignment between one’s actions, abilities, and environment, often characterized by a sense of flow, meaning, and well-being. It arises when challenges are met with skill, attention is fully unavailable to the present moment with historical awareness, and a sense of purpose or intrinsic motivation fuels sustained engagement and a sense of deep belonging. Beyond mere pleasure, optimal experience fosters personal growth, creativity, justice, practical wisdom, balance, courage, and a deeper connection to self, others, and the world.

In this course, we will explore cultural intersections through three fundamental dimensions of human experience: food, field, and friendship. These elements shape how we connect with the world, each other, and ourselves, offering rich ground for inquiry into human flourishing. Within these dimensions, we will cultivate three core qualities—wonder, wander, and belonging—as central aspects of optimal experience and its contribution to personal and collective development. These are not abstract ideals but foundational experiential qualities that fuel personal growth, innovation, and ethical action in a complex and interconnected world.

This course combines theory and experiential learning through Engaged Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research (EHPR), investigating optimal experience within our travel community. By integrating Recursive Experiential Hermeneutics (REH) with generative AI tools, students will use AI-generated conversation summaries of recorded field conversations as reflective data, uncovering patterns in movement, dialogue, and attention to deepen their understanding and descriptions of lived experience. Rather than replacing personal interpretation, AI tools are here used to provide a recursive touchpoint, fostering critical reflection, disruption, and reinterpretation. Applying these insights, students will design and lead excursions within the UK, leveraging technology-enhanced reflections to explore optimal experience in the field. Through dialogue, embodied engagement, and intercultural exploration, we will examine how studying abroad cultivates deep personal insight, intellectual growth, and ethical responsibility.

Through innovative reflective meaning-making research about optimal experience, interdisciplinary readings, and immersion in England’s rich literary, cultural, and historical traditions, students will explore how perception, emotion, and action shape lived experience. They will engage in both structured and spontaneous reflection aimed at cultivating skills for lifelong happiness and well-being, while critically analyzing the role of travel and intercultural experience in the formation and transformation of self, and ethical responsibility within community. By applying hermeneutic phenomenological research methods, students will investigate the subjective dimensions of optimal experience, deepening their understanding of personal and collective meaning-making. Additionally, they will develop essential skills in creativity, adaptability, and mindfulness, equipping them to navigate new environments with resilience and openness.

Regardless of your academic major or career aspirations, this course equips you with tools for leading a flourishing life—one that is meaningful, pleasurable, resilient, and ethically engaged. By navigating the intersections of self, society, and culture in an unfamiliar yet historically rich environment, you will cultivate a lifelong capacity for curiosity, resilience, and deep connection—essential skills for thriving in an increasingly global and complex world.

Flourishing: Cultivating Persons, Cultures & Environments of Well-being

How do we cultivate well-being in our lives, communities, and environments? This course invites students to participate in the development of Engaged Happiness Research (EHR), a participatory approach to understanding, expanding, and deepening human flourishing. In collaboration with the University of Exeter’s Center for Cultures + Environments of Health (CCEH), the course integrates Happiness Studies—an interdisciplinary field combining psychology, neuroscience, sociology, economics, philosophy, and others—with Engaged Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research (EHPR), a method emphasizing dialogue, reflection, and the cultivation of practical wisdom (phronesis). Through this approach, students will explore how happiness is shaped by personal experience, social structures, and cultural narratives, and mediated through personal choices and skills. They will not only study well-being but also develop skills to cultivate it within themselves and their communities.

This seminar research course offers students an opportunity to co-create knowledge rather than passively consume it. Through EHPR, research is approached as a recursive process of meaning disruption, reconstruction, and refinement, allowing students to engage with real-world complexities. Participants will work alongside local communities, employing methods such as dialogical storytelling, sensory and spatial reflection, and collective inquiry to generate situated and context-sensitive insights. Rather than producing static conclusions, students will create living research products, such as interactive storytelling, well-being strategies, and evolving community archives. This participatory and interdisciplinary approach makes research an active and transformative practice, strengthening both personal and collective well-being.

By focusing on experiential well-being, students will develop deeper self-awareness while exploring the broader conditions that support human flourishing. They will engage in reflective dialogues, embodied practices, and iterative research cycles, refining their interpretive and adaptive skills. The course will also help students develop practical strategies for well-being, integrating insights from philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and social sciences into everyday life. Through EHPR, they will analyze how culture, relationships, and environment interact with personal mental habits to shape happiness, fostering a more nuanced and actionable understanding of the experience of well-being. These experiences will encourage students to apply research in ways that enrich both their personal lives and the communities they engage with.

Open to students of all disciplines, this course is designed to accommodate a variety of academic interests, personal goals, and professional aspirations. Assignments and projects are flexible, allowing students to shape their learning around individual passions and career pathways. Whatever your future holds, participants will find ways to connect Engaged Happiness Research with their own lived experience. By bridging scholarship and practice, this course encourages students to see well-being as a dynamic, evolving process that they can actively shape, personally, culturally, and environmentally. Ultimately, students will leave with a deeper understanding of happiness—not as an abstract concept, but as an ongoing, participatory endeavor in leadership, within themselves and their communities.

Each week, students on the program join Dr. Benjamin Young on an excursion to explore England. These trips are woven into the Honors coursework and often involve a meal together. The list below provides a sample of possible locations. 

• Royal Albert Memorial Museum
• Home-cooked meal at Dr. Young’s apartment & film screening
• Exeter Cathedral & Library and Archive
• Walk Along the River Exe
• Redcoat City Tours
• Exeter Guild Hall
• Darts Farm
• Dartmoor National Park
• Exmouth & Jurassic Coast Walk 1
• Powderham Castle
• Walk from Branscombe to Beer, Jurassic Coast Walk 2
• City of Bath
• St. Ives
• Literary Walk at Lynton and Exmoor
• Salisbury Cathedral & Magna Carta
• Stonehenge
• The Eden Project

Genshaft-Greenbaum Travel Scholarship

• $6,500 (All students accepted to the Honors Semester in Exeter program are also awarded this scholarship)
• This award is not subject to limitations based on prior participation in a study abroad program
• Award amount may shift based upon a student's total financial aid award package 

Program Cost for Spring 2026

• Spring 2026 program cost to be announced.
• Spring 2025 cost $13,250 + tuition for Honors courses
• In-State Tuition: All students on the program, regardless of residency status, will pay in-state tuition price for both university of University of Exeter modules and USF Honors courses

Included in Program Cost

• Coursework at the University of Exeter (up to 45 Exeter hours – about 9 USF credit hours)
• Housing for the program's duration
• USF on-site faculty members
• 24/7 emergency support
• Program related site-visits

Not Included in Program Cost

• USF tuition for Honors courses
• Passport / visa fees
• Personal expenses
• Meals
• International airfare
• Transportation not included as part of the itinerary
• 16-25 Railcard
• Student activity, lab, or ID fees assessed by the University of Exeter 
• Supplies

Other Sources of Funding

Please note that scholarship deadlines may vary and students may need to commit to a program before they know if they have received a scholarship.

• Gilman Scholarship: Students eligible for a Pell Grant are also encouraged to apply for the Gilman Scholarship, which can award up to $5,000 in funding towards a credit-bearing study abroad program.
• University of Minnesota's Study Abroad Scholarship Search database
• Adventures In Education
• Careers & Colleges Scholarship Search
• The Center for Global Education
• College Board Scholarship Search
• BeGlobalii Community
• GoAbroad.com
• Institute of International Education Study Abroad Funding
• International Education Financial Aid
• International Scholarships
• International Student & Study Abroad Scholarship Search

• Wander: A collection of walks in the southwest of England, by Sierra Shellabarger 
• An Exeter Experience, by Emily Fredrick
• Pilgrimage Podacast, by Katy Pfeiffer
• Cultural Pathways in Exeter 2020 Gallery
• Semester in Exeter 2020 video, by Ana Rooney