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Mark Shay
Chief Academic Liasion
EducationDynamics

The Education Conservancy is a Portland, Oregon group that opposes commercial influences in college admissions. Their web site offers position papers and research on the subject.

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One Million American Students Abroad?

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Study abroad leaders have called upon government and university officials to support a vision for one million American students abroad each year. At the recent Forum on Education Abroad conference, reaching this number was on everyone's mind. Today, we are less than one-quarter toward that goal. Is reaching this number possible and if so, how?

With the current study abroad model, the answer is no. But significant change in the way we think about off-campus education could potentially make this goal a reality.

Total college enrollment is the United States is now approaching 18 million students. Full-time students number just above 11 million, yet American study abroad participation only approaches 250,000. Most education experts agree that study abroad is a powerful supplement to higher education and is necessary to help our graduates compete in an increasingly global market.

According to UNESCO more than half a million international students study in the United States each year, and more than two million study outside of their home countries. Universities are expanding their international student recruitment efforts, and as OECD estimates, the number of international students is set to triple to 8 million by 2025.

To reach the goal of a million students, simply quadrupling the capacities of current programs will not work. As one example, there are an estimated 10,000 American students in Florence (population 350,000). If many more Americans study in Florence, the local identity may become challenged, turning it into an American college town.

Despite the low percentage of the total U.S. population that studies abroad, the percentage of the current core student market is actually relatively high. Core refers to full-time undergraduate juniors studying liberal arts at private colleges. Market share in this segment may well be near fifty percent. Because students in this segment have great flexibility in their course selections and their curriculum is not tightly integrated, the current study abroad format has succeeded. Where the curriculum is tightly controlled and integrated, study abroad has not been as popular, particularly during the fall and spring semesters.

To help identify underserved populations and program capacity to reach one million students abroad, the Institute of International Education has identified a number of innovative programs that are bringing students outside the core to study abroad.

Funding is clearly a major barrier to international education, especially for students who are attending public institutions. The "study abroad industry" has recently mobilized an impressive effort to gain federal support. The group once called the Lincoln Commission has succeeded in creating compelling reasoning for federal endorsement. The initiative has become the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act which now is seeking Senate support and funding. Federal money would be earmarked for further expansion of programs into non-traditional areas and would help go a long way toward moving study abroad into the mainstream of the college population.

To achieve any significant market share outside the core, study abroad is going to need deeper ties to professional degree curriculum and endorsement from post-baccalaureate program providers. If there was wider acceptance of study abroad credit for required courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), participation from students in these disciplines would likely increase. If Medical, Nursing and other health professional admissions programs would officially recognize foreign earned credits and encourage participation, further deterrents to study abroad would potentially disappear.

Other opportunities for increasing study abroad participation come from non-traditional university students. 6.6 million of the 17.2 million U.S. students attend universities part-time. In another Federal analysis (1), 16 percent of all students changed their enrollment status. Students in these categories may have a short-term window where they can intensify their studies and attend a full-time study abroad program, or perhaps a part-time study abroad work/study/internship model can be successful. 83 percent of part-time undergrads held jobs while enrolled, 53 percent of which were full-time jobs. Most surveys of prospective part-time students report that career advancement is the primary motivator for attending school, so it would seem plausible that a work/study model would succeed in study abroad.

America's call for one million students abroad each year means that we categorically need to rethink how we build, market and fund our academic programs. Collectively, we need to recognize that foreign universities offer equivalent instruction, and that the learning in foreign classrooms and communities is key to developing the next generation of not only American leaders, but American citizens in general. For the enterprises that facilitate study abroad, the call for creative thinking and greater program diversity is needed. The time is right and the demand is strong.

Additional sections of this journal address Innovative Practices in Communicating with Students 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 Student Recruiting portal.