About Access Study Abroad
Access Study Abroad is a study abroad provider that enrolls students directly at partner universities abroad, where they take English-taught courses alongside local students. Programs are credit-bearing and open to students from any country, in any major, for a summer, a semester or an academic year. Students pay for academic coursework, housing, and comprehensive support, all the core components necessary to maximize their experience abroad.
Our mission
To make rigorous, credit-bearing study abroad accessible to the full spectrum of students.
Study abroad should feel like joining a university in another country, not participating in an American program overseas.
Direct enrollment
How it works
There are many broadly different ways to study abroad, and plenty of students are well served by them, but we’re here to do it differently. Here's how our study abroad programs are built.
| Aspect | Provider-run cohort programs | Access Study Abroad direct enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| Model | A program operated by the provider, often at its own study centre | Direct enrollment at the host university itself |
| Classroom | Classes with other students from your home country | Classes alongside students of the host university |
| Travel | Excursions typically bundled into the program price | Travel is yours to choose and book |
| Housing | Often grouped accommodation with other program students | Housing arranged for you, mixed with other students where possible |
| Pricing | One inclusive price covering a defined package | You pay for education, housing, support, orientation and safety; extras are optional |
| Experience | Cultural exposure with a built-in community around you | Cultural participation as a member of the university |
A cohort program with a dedicated study centre and a built-in group of classmates from home is a genuinely good fit for a lot of students, and the organizations running them have decades of expertise behind them. Direct enrollment suits a different student; one who wants to be in the host university's own classrooms, and who'd rather decide for themselves where they travel at the weekend.
Our programs cost less because less is built into the price, not because we’re taking any shortcuts or scaling back what matters most. Unbundling excursions and add-ons from the base program price is our structural choice to make study abroad more affordable.
Everything you need is included. Everything else is your choice.
Our pillars
Every student deserves the opportunity to study abroad.
To us, access means:
- Lower costs
- Easier application process
- More program choices
- More universities
- Deeper student support and academic advising
- Clearer credit transfer guidance
We exist to change the sentence in a student's head from “I wish I could” to “I can actually do this!”
Who Access Study Abroad is for:
- First-generation students, who are most likely to assume this isn't for them.
- Students of colour, LGBTQ+ students, and more. We give honest, destination-specific information and an advisor who will talk it through with you directly. What we won't do is make promises about how a place will treat you that aren't ours to make.
- Students at community colleges and regional institutions, without a well-resourced study abroad office.
- Students in any major, because engineering, nursing and business students belong here as much as anyone.
- Students of any nationality, including those for whom a full overseas degree isn't financially realistic.
- Students who can't be away for a full semester. Shorter programs are real options, not lesser ones.
We don't charge for experiences you didn't ask for.
Your program covers your academic coursework, housing, and support before, during, and after your time abroad. Excursions, weekend travel and the rest are optional; you have complete freedom to book them yourself, at the price you choose.
Alongside that, we’re committed to offering flexible payment options, and an advisor whose job includes helping you find funding, whether that’s aid through your home institution, scholarships in the destination country, or program funding where it exists.
Our students take English-taught courses inside regular university classrooms, alongside students who are enrolled there. We don’t enroll students in a separate program for international students or put you in a classroom with a cohort of your classmates from home.
That's the whole point of direct enrollment: it changes who you sit next to in every course, which gives you access to a more immersive experience.
From our founder
“I didn’t study abroad in college. After a month of solo travel in Europe, a world of possibilities opened up.”
Ten years later, Bruce Jones set out on a two-year, 20-country journey around the world. Since then, as founder of International TEFL Academy, he has created opportunities for more than 50,000 people to study and work abroad in over 100 countries. He has now been to 70 countries and counting, and hopes Access helps you have your first experience abroad.
Founder, Access Study Abroad · Founder & President, International TEFL Academy
Your team at Access Study Abroad
Built by educators and world travelers who have been in your shoes.
Every member of our team has lived, worked, studied, taught or volunteered abroad. We’re here to guide you on a journey of discovery, show you what’s possible, and help you have one of the greatest experiences of your life.
Not corporate owned. Access is built by and for people whose lives have been changed by international exchange and education.
Admissions experts
Program match, course approval and applications.
University relations
Partnerships with host universities worldwide.
Student services experts
Preparation, arrival, wellbeing and return.
Student support
Before you go, while you’re there and after you return.
Our story
Why we built Access Study Abroad
Most students who want to study abroad never do. When they're asked why, cost is often the reason, but not knowing if it’s possible comes up frequently too.
That gap is what our company was built for.
The programs that do exist tend to be built the same way, with a provider-run cohort, a package price, and a fixed set of inclusions. It's a good model, and for a lot of students it's the right one. But it isn't the only way to spend a semester at a university in another country, and for students choosing on price it often isn't an option at all.
We’ve built a different structure: direct enrollment at the host university, courses taught in English alongside local students, and a price that covers what a student actually needs rather than a package assembled in advance. Fewer inclusions and a lower cost means our students have more choice about what the rest of their time abroad looks like.
We want the students who have always assumed study abroad wasn't for them to find out that it is.
- Europe
- Asia
- Latin America & the Caribbean
- Oceania
- Middle East & Africa
Destinations
Where we operate
We're building programs at partner universities across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and the Middle East and Africa, with more destinations in development.
We'll publish each destination and each partner university as agreements are finalized.
Frequently asked questions
Prefer to ask us directly? Email us.
Is Access Study Abroad a university?
No. We're a study abroad program provider. We partner with accredited universities overseas and enrol our students into their courses — the degree-granting institution is always the university, never us.
Is Access Study Abroad accredited?
Accreditation applies to institutions that grant degrees, and we don't. Our partner universities are accredited institutions in their own countries, and students receive academic transcripts from those universities.
How does Access Study Abroad compare to other study abroad providers?
The main structural difference is direct enrollment. Many providers run their own programs, often at their own study centres, with students from the same home country. We place students into the host university's existing English-taught courses alongside its own students, and we unbundle the price so students pay for essentials and choose the extras themselves. Both models work; they suit different students.
Why do your programs cost less?
Excursions, group travel and optional extras aren't built into the price, so students pay for education, housing, support, orientation and safety and decide the rest for themselves. It's a difference in structure, not a discount.
Are your programs credit-bearing?
Yes, students enroll in university courses and receive transcripts from the host institution. Whether those credits transfer to your home institution is your institution's decision — we support that process with course information, credit and grade conversion references, and guidance through the approvals your school requires, but we never promise the outcome.
Do students take classes with local students?
Yes, that's the model. Courses are taught in English within the host university's regular offerings, alongside students enrolled there.
What support is there for first-generation students, students of colour, LGBTQ+ students and students with disabilities?
A dedicated advisor who will answer identity-related questions directly rather than deferring them, and honest destination-specific information about what local law, campus culture and available accommodations actually look like — including where we don't yet have a complete answer. We won't guarantee how a country will treat anyone. What we will do is tell you what we know and help you decide.
Can international students apply?
Yes. Our programs are open to students of any nationality, and for many students a semester or an academic year abroad is a realistic alternative to a full overseas degree.
Ready to learn more?
Students
Tell us where you'd like to study, and we’ll update you when our programs launch. It's free and takes only a few minutes.
Universities and advisors
Work with us to bring more students into classrooms around the world.