World Study

Studying abroad is an option for all!

2005-06-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

UCLA is number two in sending the most students abroad! (Insert a little pride here). It's amazing though that at a university of 30,000 (or more from what I'm told) that only 2,000 students are able to study abroad in a year. Though it certainly is a significant amount that are able to go it is only a sixth of a percent of students overall.

Outreach has to be done at all levels at the university and at other levels of education. There are programs in high school through AFS and volunteer programs. In community colleges there are travel study programs that are available and for which financial aid is available, all you have to do is fill out a FAFSA. Here is a good example of a program at Coast Community College. At four year universities there are university affiliated programs as well as independent programs and internships at career center offices. Many of these programs have financial aid available as well as scholarships and grants. There are many options for grad students as well, whether it be to conduct research or take classes abroad.

After graduation there is always the option to work abroad, through volunteer or paid positions abroad in many fields but particularly teaching. One of the biggest and most popular programs nowadays is the JET Program, in which English speakers are hired as teaching assistants in Japanese schools. JET pays pretty well, arranges for housing and flight to and from Japan. But there are virtually teaching programs for every non-English speaking country in the world, and even some private schools in English speaking countries that hire new graduates.

Stop thinking of excuses! Everyone can find a way to go abroad. Studying abroad though offers a unique experience, that is enriching, rewarding and mind-opening. it will literally give you the world.

Not to brag but...

2005-06-14T00:44:00.000-07:00

Open Doors 2004
Report on International Educational Exchange
Institute of International Education

LEADING INSTITUTIONS BY TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS:
TOP 20 DOCTORAL/RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, 2002/03

Study Abroad
Rank/Institution City State Students

1 New York University New York NY 2,061
2 University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles CA 1,917
3 Michigan State University East Lansing MI 1,864
4 University of Texas at Austin Austin TX 1,654
5 University of Arizona Tucson AZ 1,466
6 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison WI 1,441
7 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC 1,426
8 University of Georgia Athens GA 1,401
9 Indiana University at Bloomington Bloomington IN 1,379
10 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana IL 1,377
11 Boston University Boston MA 1,369
12 University of Florida Gainesville FL 1,357
13 Penn State University - University Park University Park PA 1,35 14 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis MN 1,294
15 Georgetown University Washington DC 1,290
16 Arizona State University - Tempe Campus Tempe AZ 1,278
17 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA 1,228
18 The Ohio State University, Main Campus Columbus OH 1,227
19 Miami University - Oxford Oxford OH 1,208
20 University of Southern California Los Angeles CA 1,207

More from Open Doors: The Top 20 Study Abroad Destinations

2005-06-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

Open Doors 2004
Report on International Educational Exchange
Institute of International Education

LEADING DESTINATIONS OF U.S. STUDY ABROAD
STUDENTS, 2001/02 & 2002/03

					% of All
Rank	Region/Locality	2001/02	2002/03	% Change	Study Abroad
	TOTAL	160,920	174,629
1	United Kingdom	30,143	31,706	5.2	18.2
2	Italy	17,169	18,936	10.3	10.8
3	Spain	17,176	18,865	9.8	10.8
4	France	12,274	13,080	6.6	7.5
5	Australia	9,456	10,691	13.1	6.1
6	Mexico	8,078	8,775	8.6	5.0
7	Germany	4,856	5,587	15.1	3.2
8	Ireland	4,375	4,892	11.8	2.8
9	Costa Rica	3,781	4,296	13.6	2.5
10	Japan	3,168	3,457	9.1	2.0
11	Austria	2,180	2,798	28.3	1.6
12	China	3,911	2,493	-36.3	1.4
13	Greece	1,856	2,011	8.4	1.2
14	Czech Republic	1,659	1,997	20.4	1.1
15	Chile	1,492	1,944	30.3	1.1
16	New Zealand	1,326	1,917	44.6	1.1
17	Netherlands	1,676	1,792	6.9	1.0
18	South Africa	1,456	1,594	9.5	0.9
19	Ecuador	1,425	1,567	10.0	0.9
20	Russia	1,269	1,521	19.9	0.9

Scholarships

2005-06-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

Scholarships

Gilman

NSEP

More Scholarships

Here is one wonderful pages of scholarships to go study abroad, and the others are links to individual scholarships. In my personal experience I had not thought to apply for a scholarship and I just depended on financial aid. In addition I took loans in order to subsidize my travels. However, like scholarships for universities there are tons of scholarships to go abroad that go unrewarded.

There are many people that study abroad every year that would not otherwise go because they received scholarships. At the same time there are those who would not try because they already feel they are already limited. But studying abroad is an option for everyone. If it a wonderful experience that can open doors to international careers, graduate programs, as well as just be an enriching experience in itself.

Financial Resources

2005-06-13T14:13:00.001-07:00

Rule #1.FILL OUT YOUR FAFSA!

I know I probably just broke internet protocol rules but that is something that you should be doing anyway. Never underestimate the power of financial aid. It can lead, not only to subsidized loans, but grants!

Programs

2005-06-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

There are tons of programs available to study abroad. Check your local college campus to see if they a university affiliated program. Here is one for the University of California

There are also many independent programs that are listed on-line. If you are a returnee and want to add programs to the list please feel free to contact me, or better yet, join the forums!

The Profile of a Student Studying Abroad

2005-06-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Though this article deviates into self-promotion, it does make an important point about studying abroad. It states that less than one percent of university students study abroad each year. This unsightly low number cannot only be explained by the September 11th attacks on the United States. If anything interest in the Middle East has increased since that time and interest in studying at Middle Eastern universities such as the American University of Cairo or Beirut. Enrollment in Arabic classes has increased phenomenally in the last few years. When in the past these programs were smaller in number and focused on Middle Eastern Studies students, now there are students from all fields, though they still are frequently by Political Science and International Relations students. I predict that in the future there will be a greater interest in other regions where Muslim populations are prevelent such as in Central and Southeast Asia.

While there virutually study abroad programs everywhere in the world, it does seem that much of this interest lies in Europe. It is no coincidence that many of the students abroad are Caucasian. Also, the majority of students going abroad are female.

http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/?p=49953

The Institute of International Education lists the percentage of Caucausian students going abroad to be at 83.2 percent. Though the number of students going abroad since 1993/1994 has increased by 100,000 the percentage of Caucausian students has remained the same. Asian Americans make up the second percentage at 6 percent, 5.1 percent are Hispanic, 3.4 percent are African-American, 1.8 percent identify as multiracial and .5 percent are Native American.

And this makes up the whole "under one percent" of the total amount of students going abroad in a year.

Why Study Abroad?

2005-06-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v51/i39/39b02001.htm

From the issue dated June 3, 2005

POINT OF VIEW

The Benefits of Short-Term Study Abroad

By TAMMY L. LEWIS and RICHARD A. NIESENBAUM

Study-abroad programs can enhance students' acquisition of a foreign language, improve their knowledge of the host culture, and even transform their worldviews. Yet less than 1 percent of American college students study abroad each year. And of those who do, almost one-third enroll in programs that take place in English-speaking countries or that use English as the language of instruction. That reduces the impact of the experience because of the lack of immersion in a foreign language.

Students choose to stay in this country for a variety of reasons, including financial constraints; fears of violence against Americans abroad, particularly since September 11, 2001; and a perceived or real lack of fit with their academic program or major, especially when the courses in the major are hierarchical, as in many science and health-profession majors. For those students, short-term study-abroad programs -- those that last less than a semester -- are a good option to consider. They can make living in a foreign country easier and less threatening; in some cases, they give students the confidence to participate in subsequent programs that last a full semester or year.

We teach a course in the spring called "Environmental and Cultural Conservation in Latin America," which lasts a semester on the campus and has an additional two-week study-abroad component in Costa Rica immediately following the semester. To increase the short-term program's effectiveness, we focus on a specific community -- a small, economically diverse town with no tourism, where hardly anyone speaks English, and where the students have direct access to the local people -- rather than the whole country.

Through our annual trips and regular e-mail communication with local leaders, we have come to know the community and its concerns well. The program has research and service-learning components; both are linked to the community's needs. One longstanding issue is the local people's desire for sustainability -- to have an economy that supports all members of the town, to protect their watershed, and to guarantee good health for everyone in the community.

We design the course to reflect the community's needs and our students' interests. Students from all the college's academic divisions -- natural science, social science, arts, and humanities -- typically enroll in our course. During the on-campus semester, we provide background and context for the experience abroad, and opportunities to develop language skills, research skills, and interdisciplinary research projects. Those tools will help the students get the most out of the short time that they will spend abroad.

The research projects that the students create on our campus and then pursue in Costa Rica involve a number of methodological approaches, including environmental and ecological sampling, observational study, interviews, case studies, and formal surveys. Projects have analyzed land use in the watershed in which we work in Costa Rica, water quality in the river that runs through the area, and perceptions of ecotourism; one compared environmental education in Costa Rica and Pennsylvania.

In addition to the research projects, students spend at least three consecutive days on community service, and they have multiple opportunities to discuss and reflect on that activity. Examples of the service include helping clean up the river, working with a women's cooperative on recycling, and teaching English in elementary schools.

Both the research and service experiences teach our students about a specific community and its concerns. We have chosen that in-depth strategy over a more touristic approach, moving from site to site, learning a little about a lot of aspects of Costa Rica, but not getting to know people very well. In that way we try to give our students what we see as the chief benefit of study-abroad programs: learning about people from different cultures.

Last fall we surveyed the students who had taken our course during the past six years, to see if our short-term study-abroad program had outcomes similar to those of longer programs. We reached four main conclusions.

First, when the students returned to the campus, many of them took courses outside their major specifically because of their participation in the program. Nonscience majors enrolled in upper-level biology courses. Biology majors took additional courses in Spanish.

Second, almost half of our students traveled or studied abroad again. Those who did made a clear connection from their experience in Costa Rica to subsequent trips. For example, one student noted that the short-term program "gave me more confidence to do a semester program."

Third, most of the students demonstrated increased interest in interdisciplinary studies. For instance, biology students clearly saw the importance of economics and demography in analyzing the health of an ecosystem -- a lesson their field experience made plainer than any laboratory work could.

Fourth, all students indicated that their participation in the program had influenced their perceptions of the costs and benefits of globalization. Students' analysis of globalization became more sophisticated through the strategies of interlinking the short-term study abroad with both course work and community interaction. One student commented: "Before visiting Costa Rica, I was vehemently opposed to agricultural development. ... However, after talking with farmers in Costa Rica, I realized that choices are limited and that the problems surrounding deforestation of tropical rainforests are much more complicated than I had previously assumed. Essentially, I became a conservationist who does not separate people from the environment."

Both short-term and long-term study-abroad programs can meet some of the goals of the liberal arts in general. The students who took our course reported that it had made them question their assumptions, gather and interpret data, and use the data to reach a better understanding of their own role in a globalized society.

Although some students and parents have expressed fears about studying abroad since September 11, many scholars and policy makers have argued that it is even more important now for Americans to learn about other cultures. A recent report of the Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad, convened by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, has argued that after the terrorist attacks we are in a "Sputnik moment" in which "it is time to launch a major national effort to ensure that every U.S. college student graduates with both an understanding of at least one foreign area and facility in at least one foreign language." If a semesterlong or yearlong experience seems too daunting, our research suggests that a shorter, well-planned program can help students to achieve those goals.

Tammy L. Lewis is an assistant professor of sociology and head of the department of sociology and anthropology, and Richard A. Niesenbaum is an associate professor and head of the biology department, at Muhlenberg College.

http://chronicle.com
Section: The Chronicle Review
Volume 51, Issue 39, Page B20

Welcome to the World Study blog!

2005-06-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to share the experiences of students who have studied abroad and to encourage other students to study abroad. A variety of scholarship and information resources will be posted here. In addition, in the links section you will find a link to the Study Abroad forums, please register and use the forums to express your worries, concerns, thoughts or hopes about studying abroad. In the future we will hopefully be able to create a larger community of students and develop student mentorship.