Expanding students' world views
Solveig Hagen and her host family in Chile
Solveig Hagen, a biology major at St. Olaf College, has studied abroad three times. The secret to her success: “you need to make it your own, and make it right for you.” For one of Hagen’s experiences, this meant making a home for herself in Valparaíso, Chile. She stayed in one city, with one family, at one university for six months:
I built relationships with my family’s friends, coworkers and relatives. I grew to know the owner of the bread shop on the corner of our street, the names of the bus drivers in my neighborhood and the families of my university friends. Laboriously, I worked to speak Chileno, and not the Spanish I learned in my U.S. classes. Part of being at home there meant being at ease and comfortable enough to try and fail, be laughed at and learn from my mistakes.
Study abroad is among 10 practices that improve academic outcomes of college students according to a just-released report from the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The common denominator of these practices is that they require significant effort by students, increase meaningful interactions with faculty and peers, expose them to differing views and involve them in more hands-on and collaborative learning. (First-year seminars, service-learning, internships and research experience are among the other practices).
For alumni who have studied abroad, the experiences “positively and unequivocally influenced their career paths, worldview and self-confidence,” according to a 2004 survey of study abroad veterans by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Respondents overwhelmingly indicated that their study abroad experiences increased their understanding of their cultural values and biases and caused them to develop a more sophisticated way of looking at the world. They also noted that the effects continued long after their time abroad.
High participation rate
Several Minnesota private colleges and universities rank as national leaders in study abroad participation by students. The 2007 Open Doors report published by IIE showed that more than 4,600 students from our 17 schools studied abroad last year — that’s nearly three of every five Minnesota college students who go abroad.
St. Olaf and Carleton College are among 22 institutions participating in a three-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Beyond Immediate Impact: Study Abroad for Global Engagement (SAGE) is looking at how more than 6,000 participants have become globally engaged during their lives since studying abroad and the degree to which this is related to their study abroad experience. More than 98 percent of survey respondents said that studying abroad has had an impact on their lives.
The vast majority of the 800 St. Olaf alumni who responded to the SAGE survey said that studying abroad was the highlight and most influential experience of college, according to Eric Lund, who directs international and off-campus studies at St. Olaf. “We live in an inter-related world; we interact with other cultures in our living or work situations,” he said. “Study abroad is valuable preparation for that reality.”
Similarly, comments from the 580 Carleton respondents ranged from the impact on personal growth, expanded worldview and identity formation — to influencing career and civic engagement choices. As one respondent put it, “study abroad has been directly responsible for a cascade of events that has impacted my life ever since.”
“We are extremely proud of the fact that 69 percent of our class of 2008 had a study abroad experience,” said Helena Kaufman, off-campus studies director at Carleton. “Programs like this that integrate academic learning, wider world context, public issues and personal experience are central to Carleton's mission.”
National support for study abroad
One organization that’s seeking more emphasis on study abroad is NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The group recently released its recommendations for the next U.S. president on public diplomacy and international education. Central to the report’s recommendations is a call for robust presidential leadership in support of “a major international education initiative designed explicitly to foster an America that knows, understands, and is able to communicate with the world, and to strengthen the relationships through which the American people and the world's people can relate to, interact with, and understand each other.”
“A study abroad experience is an absolutely vital part of the 21st century education of our college students,” said Marlene Johnson, NAFSA’s executive director and CEO. “It is a proven means of building essential foreign language skills and developing the indispensable cross-cultural competencies that our graduates will need for life and leadership in today’s world.”
Assessing the value
If colleges and policymakers aim to increase students’ understanding of the world and prepare them to be leaders in a global economy, IIE and SAGE data suggest that international study experience is very valuable.
Hagen would definitely agree, based on her experiences in Chile and four Asian countries. “The opportunity to study in a foreign country is a privilege, and an individually unique, and in many ways, incommunicable adventure,” she said.
Lund also notes that most students grow personally. “They learn how to handle new situations and become better at dealing with challenges,” he said. “And the cultural experience has a transferable affect in how they interact with diverse people here at home.”