"If students have it in mind that they want to study abroad, colleges should have campus-supported program options in place to meet that need, and keep students enrolled at their institutions."

Brian Whalen

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Brian Whalen

Study Abroad's Increasing Impact on Higher Education

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PEOPLE WITH IMPACT INTERVIEW - An active member of the global education community for over 20 years, Dr. Brian Whalen possesses a unique perspective on international learning from the viewpoint of a professor, program director, and journal editor. He shares selected insights in the following interview.

Q: Have you found that study abroad has emerged as an effective tool for student retention?
Brian Whalen: Education abroad can serve as a an effective retention tool as long as it is embedded effectively within the fabric of the campus and integrated within the curriculum, making it a relatively seamless transition for students. Having all credits count toward their degree, and making programs affordable through financial aid support are important factors in making study abroad a smooth transition. Recent American Council of Education data suggests over 50% of high school seniors plan to study abroad in college, but only 5% actually participate due to various factors—the curriculum might be too restrictive, high cost may be a deterrent, or students might not want to give up involvement in campus to study abroad. If students have it in mind that they want to study abroad, colleges should have campus-supported program options in place to meet that need, and keep students enrolled at their institutions.

Q: What is the most effective way to market study abroad programs to recruit prospective students?
Brian Whalen: Small liberal arts colleges located in smaller towns historically have high rates of study abroad. These smaller schools can successfully market themselves as a place not only with a small town feel and a close knit community, but also with easy opportunities to study abroad in locations around the world. While that is a distinctive marketing lure for small liberal arts institutions vs. their large university counterparts, internationalization is a higher education buzz word in general, and utilizing the concept as part of admissions and marketing plans has become essential. However, the follow-through with an effective program is the most essential and challenging.

Q: The Forum on Education Abroad just released the third edition of the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad. What is the top consideration for higher education institutions and study abroad providers?
Brian Whalen: With the recent issue of subpoenas to study abroad organizations, the question on everyone’s mind is “What are the ethics of study abroad?” After a meeting with various leaders in the field, the Forum is drafting a “Code of Ethics” for education abroad designed to provide clear guidance to our members and other institutions involved in study abroad to ensure that they meet appropriate ethical standards in their operations. While ethics are probably the top consideration, others are also important: insuring program quality, assessment of outcomes, and building the capacity for expansion of study abroad are a few others.

Q: Do the Standards address issues regarding capacity in study abroad?
Brian Whalen: Yes. The Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act will, potentially, make millions of dollars in scholarships available each year in an effort to increase the number of students studying abroad from 200,000 to one million over the course of the next ten years. We need to build-up capacity to accommodate the five-fold increase in participation, and develop a plan to maintain ethical behavior, standards of best practice, and quality assurance. This is precisely what the Forum has done in the development of its Quality Improvement Program for Education Abroad, which began this year.

Q: Has study abroad witnessed a rise in the numbers of for-profit international education providers?
Brian Whalen: We are seeing increasing numbers of for-profit organizations providing study abroad programs to colleges and universities. Partnerships and cooperation between not-for-profit and for-profit providers is necessary to meet increasing demand over the next ten years. This is an area of concern in the sense that we want to ensure relationships are ethical and transparent, and that there is oversight for the quality of programs. The Forum has noticed increasing numbers of members that are for-profit programs and we welcome them and all organizations and institutions involved in education abroad into the Forum. The Forum’s goal is to assist our members to improve their programs by adhering to best practices and becoming involved in an ongoing quality improvement process.

Dr. Brian Whalen is a 20-year veteran in the international education field, having taught and directed global education programs abroad and stateside. Not only has Dr. Whalen held professorships at Boston University, Lesley College, and Dickinson College, but also he is the founding editor of Frontiers, a leading journal in the field of study abroad.

See an index of all the "People with Impact" Interviews

Additional sections of this journal address student recruiting and student retention. We have also placed all articles with a common theme of online education and distance education programs in a separate portal. New articles will be posted each Monday, please check back by bookmarking this site or placing a link to this Innovative Practices in Communicating with Students portal.

Also refer to our Study Abroad Section for further reading and interviews