Abroad101, the first and largest website featuring study abroad program reviews, has partnered with Academic Programs International (API) to offer a $2,000 scholarship giveaway contest. This groundbreaking “2K Scholarship Giveaway” comes on the heels of another promotion form a partnership with StudentUniverse where a lucky recipient walked away with a $500 international travel voucher.

“Both API and Abroad101 strive to promote enriching international experiences, so we are thrilled to be partnering with them to offer this scholarship opportunity.” says Michael Stone, President of Abroad101. “We want to demonstrate our commitment to helping more students study abroad by providing access to scholarship giveaways such as this one, as well as student-generated program feedback for prospective students and academic institutions alike.”

Fifteen years ago, API was founded by four women who were all dedicated to providing high-quality and affordable study abroad programs to U.S. students. They have since been sending over 2,500 students abroad each year to 34 different cities in countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. One of API’s programs in Florence, Italy was ranked by students as a top ten study abroad program in Abroad101’s first annual study abroad rankings.

Jeramy Johnson, API’s Vice President of Development stated, “Offering this scholarship is just another way API is sustaining our mission by consciously providing affordable study abroad programs that have long-lasting, positive impacts on our students.” With nearly 200 API student reviews on Abroad101’s website, returning study abroad students have contributed to API’s near perfect rating of a 4.8 on a 5.0 scale.

BOSTON, MA, November 4th, 2010 – Abroad101, the leading study abroad review website, won $50,000 in the first annual MassChallenge Global Startup Competition. Additionally, Abroad101 recently completed its second fundraising round, totaling $500,000 raised from investors.

MassChallenge, the world’s largest startup competition, launched on April 14 and attracted 446 applications from 26 countries. Startups were judged on impact, scalability, competitive positioning, and execution. John Harthorne, CEO and founder of MassChallenge, commented that, “What impresses me the most about Abroad101 is how hard the team works and how dedicated they are to impacting the world through their business.”

Abroad101’s investors include Steve Kaufer and Nick Shanny, two co-founders of TripAdvisor. The founder of StudyAbroad.com, Mark Shay, also invested in Abroad101 and joined its advisory board in order to help the team capitalize on his experience building the most popular study abroad website.

“In 1995 StudyAbroad.com helped propel international education into the mainstream,” says Mark Shay. “Today, I see that same potential in Abroad101, using the power of program evaluations to help students find the best fit and to help program administrators improve the quality of their offerings.”

Abroad101 recently began generating revenue, and the company plans to expand its team beyond the four current employees. Adam Miller, CEO of Abroad101, says “More capital will allow us to grow the business faster and maximize its impact by building more software and expanding our reach.”

“Education is only getting more global and study abroad is a fragmented industry with lots of dollars behind it,” says Rob Go, founder of Micro VC NextView Ventures, formerly of Ebay and Spark Capital. “Abroad101 is well positioned to address this opportunity through their partnerships with hundreds of schools that send tens of thousands of students abroad each year.”

Abroad101 is a review website and online marketplace for the $40B International Education industry. Founded in 2007 by Tufts, Harvard, and MIT graduates, Abroad101’s mission is to promote global citizenship and intercultural understanding by fostering a safer, better-researched, and most-meaningful study abroad experience for as many students as possible. Abroad101 empowers universities with its free market-leading online evaluation tool and provides an advertising and student recruitment platform to global program providers.

BOSTON, MA, September 22, 2010 – Abroad101, the first website featuring study abroad program reviews, has just partnered with 101 universities throughout the country. Partnered schools can take advantage of a free online evaluation tool to generate comparative reports, while program providers can utilize Abroad101’s advertising platform to more efficiently showcase their offerings and recruit students.

The extensive university partnerships coupled with the nationwide launch marks a pivotal moment for Abroad101. The value of the tool increases as the dedicated network of partnered schools continues to expand.

Sheila Bayne, Director of Programs Abroad at Tufts University, says, “Since using Abroad101, we find that student evaluations are more thorough, detailed, and thoughtful, and thus more useful for us. We appreciate that the Abroad101 team has worked with us to create the evaluation tools we need.”

Through its personalized user experience, Abroad101 has also evolved into a popular destination for students to find the perfect study abroad program for their needs.

“Study abroad changed my life, but far too many students miss this opportunity because the process can seem overwhelming and unattainable,” says Michael Stone, President of Abroad101. “Abroad101 is committed to enabling as many students as possible to participate in this transformative experience through insider program feedback for prospective students and academic institutions alike.”

Extensive student reviews cover everything from program safety to culture shock, with an overarching focus on academic outcome assessment. Students can also rank programs based on their school’s pre-approved program list.

Karen Adler, an international-bound college student researching programs, asserts that, “Nothing can compare to reading about firsthand experiences of other students. Abroad101’s comprehensive database of honest reviews made it easy for me to compare potential study abroad programs.”

Abroad101 plans to attract more growth capital in the coming months in order to continue its nationwide and international expansion efforts.

Abroad101 is a review website and online marketplace for the $40B International Education industry. Founded in 2007 by Tufts, Harvard, and MIT graduates, Abroad101’s mission is to promote global citizenship by fostering the most meaningful study abroad experience for as many students as possible through technology innovation in higher education. Abroad101 empowers universities with its free market-leading online evaluation tool and provides an advertising and student recruitment platform to global program providers. Abroad101 was recently a winner in the MassChallenge global startup competition (www.masschallenge.org).