VOA慢速英语:Studying religion in the US

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A Chinese woman studying business law in Japan has a question about studying a different kind of law. Wang Yuxian says she is a Christian and would like to know about theological seminary programs for foreign students in the United States.

A theological seminary is a graduate school of religion and a professional school for training religious leaders.

Foreign students who want to study at a seminary in the United States apply just as they would to any other graduate school. They have to meet the academic and English language requirements and prove they would be able to pay for their studies.

Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, is one of the largest in North America. Today it has more than four thousand students from about seventy countries.

Fuller is one of 253 schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. An accredited school is one that has passed inspection by a rating group like the association. All of the schools are Christian. But other schools train leaders in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other faith traditions.

The Fuller Theological Seminary opened in 1947. It has three schools: Theology, Intercultural Studies and Psychology. It also has a center for lifelong learning.

Students at Fuller can earn a doctor of ministry degree or more than twenty other graduate degrees. Examples include a master's degree in marital and family therapy and a master's in global leadership.

There are also degree programs taught in Korean and Spanish. And Fuller admits some students through its English as a second language program.

Some degree programs cost more than others. One year at Fuller can cost anywhere from 12,000 to 24,000 dollars.

International students can apply for scholarships and grants. But Fuller says that normally they will not be permitted to work during the time of their studies. The same is true for family members.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. We began our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States in September. We are almost at the end of the series. But all of the reports, including this one, can be found along with links to helpful sites at VOAspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

theological seminary :神学院