Study Abroad Programs Respond to Need for Global Competencies
From the May 2009 Issue of InFocus (PDF)
As the global economy has become increasingly interconnected, the need for the United States to increase the number of its postsecondary students studying abroad has become more pronounced. The Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program has recommended that the number of U.S. students studying abroad reach one million per year within the next decade. The Obama administration has indicated that its foreign policy will be centered on expanding its diplomatic presence, strengthening ties with existing allies, and developing new partnerships with countries that promote stability and prosperity. The objective in both cases is to address the need for workers with the language skills and cross-cultural knowledge to maintain U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace, and to work with other countries to solve global problems.
According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), the number of U.S. students studying abroad increased almost 70 percent from the 1999-2000 academic year to the 2006-07 academic year, from about 144,000 students to nearly 242,000 students. However, this is still a small proportion of the nearly 18 million higher students that were enrolled in the U.S. higher education system in the 2006-07 academic year. This discrepancy represents a significant need to expand opportunities for U.S. students to study overseas.
Most U.S. colleges and universities that offer study abroad opportunities have experienced growth in the past five years. A recent IIE survey found that 32 percent of institutions have seen enrollment rates for study abroad programs increase 1-9 percent in that time period; 21 percent of institutions saw an increase between 11 and 25 percent; 14 percent an increase between 26 and 50 percent; and 13 percent increased more than 50 percent. Only 3 percent of institutions experienced a decrease in study abroad enrollments in the last five years, while 17 percent had enrollments that were essentially unchanged.
Despite these gains, the IIE survey showed that most institutions face significant challenges to increasing study abroad enrollments. The most significant challenges listed by survey respondents were rising costs for students, insufficient funding from endowments and scholarships, rising costs for program operation and administration, and insufficient federal funding for students. The study found that student interest, program diversity, and program availability were not considered to be significant challenges to increasing the number of students studying abroad. In fact, many institutions indicated that they would be able to send more students abroad if there were more scholarships and financial aid available.
More than 80 percent of the institutions indicated that they are actively trying to increase their study abroad participation. The largest area of growth, as expressed by survey respondents, is short-term programs sponsored by the sending institution (54 percent of respondents), followed by semester-long programs (35 percent). Full-year programs were seen as an area of growth by only one percent of respondents
As the accompanying graph illustrates, there are several factors that that would increase the number of U.S. students studying abroad, particularly more scholarships and more institutional funding for students. Nearly one in five institutions indicated that establishing more programs with potential host institutions in other countries would also increase study abroad participation. Many professional and continuing education units already have established such relationships with international institutions, and are positioned to expand these relationships with other host institutions.
—Timothy Sloate | 
