From the Scholar Ship update department:

Last month ago we last told you about The Scholar Ship, a floating university program partially backed financially by Royal Caribbean Cruises that is sailing around the world aboard the former Sea Princess. (link to original blog entry).

The trip started from Greece a little over a month ago, and the ship is now in Panama. All seems to be going well. We thought you might be interested in some first-hand reports, and we have come across three students' blogs:

• Caitlin Goes Sailing
• The Scholar Ship Trip
• Yas at Sea

Because it is meant to be a truly international program bringing students from all parts of the world and operating in conjunction with universities all over the world, the program is unique. (The similar programs of which we are aware operate in conjunction with a single university and draw students primarily from one country.) More information is available on the program's website at http://www.thescholarship.com/

Note: Links are valid at the time of posting.

From the college was never like this when I went to school department:

Last February we told CND readers about a new project that was forming with the corporate backing of Royal Caribbean, and yesterday it became reality. The Scholar Ship is a unique way for college students to study in an international environment. For 16 weeks, the floating classroom will sail around the globe, westward from Greece to China, carrying 200 students from all parts of the world from seven universities around the world.

The program is unique because of this international participation. All seven universities from the University of California at Berkeley to Fudan University in China are accrediting the courses. To ensure a truly world-wide student body from all economic backgrounds, a $2 million scholarship fund was established for the 207/2008 academic year to help defray the $20,000 tuition for some students, based on academic merit and economic need. Multinational corporations such as IBM, Microsoft and HSBC Bank were involved by the sponsoring organizations to assure learning outcomes would be relevant and practical.

Yes, there are other floating university programs out there, but they are the product of a single university and draw students from one general geographic area of the globe, making The Scholar Ship unique.

The program set sail from Piraeus yesterday, aboard the original Sea Princess, now renamed The Scholar Ship and reconfigured to be classrooms where many of the public rooms once were. It will sail westward to Lisbon, Panama City, Guayaquil, Papeete, Auckland, Sydney, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Classes will be held while the ship is at sea, and in each port students will participate in academic field studies and community service projects, as well as having a little time for independent travel.

More information is available on the program's website at http://www.thescholarship.com/