Our overseas study programs for the Department of Food and Health Sciences are implemented at two partner universities, namely, University of Missouri, Columbia and Ara Institute of Canterbury in New Zealand. However in 2021, with the advent of COVID-19, the programs were integrated into the latter institution and implemented between March 15th and March 26th. The program had to be replaced mostly by an online format, but successfully delivered to all 30 sophomore students who participated in the program, thanks to the efforts by the professional staffs at Ara Institute of Canterbury and our eminent partners in Christchurch.

Since our overseas study programs are vital components in the curriculum to achieve our university’s educational goals, our focus was placed to build an online program that allows students to acquire the same level of learning outcomes as implemented on a face-to-face format. As the delivery of this online program was also a challenging experience at Ara Institute of Canterbury, it was widely featured on the university website (https://www.ara.ac.nz/news-and-events/news-stories/ara-finds-innovative-ways-to-deliver-course-content-to-international-partners/).