At a time when the world’s challenges and opportunities are increasingly global and the resources to support study abroad have never been greater, why are so few American students pursuing international education? As we work towards a more peaceful future, it’s an important question to address.
Experience tells us that leaders with an international education are best equipped to help create global solutions to global problems.
In the just-released Open Doors 2023 report on international exchange, the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education found that of the 2.87 million students enrolled in college in 2021/22, just under 170,000 studied abroad.
That’s less than 6% of all American college students. And a closer look at this small subset who do choose to pursue international educational experiences reveals troubling disparities among underrepresented students.
Statistics from the Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education show that only 8% are first-generation students, despite being one of the fastest growing populations on American campuses today.
Also troubling are these findings from a 2022 survey of 3,106 US adults conducted by the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs: Gen Z and Millennial Americans question the value of US involvement in world affairs and are less interested in international affairs than older Americans.
This apparent lack of interest among students stands in stark contrast to the US government’s belief in the importance and value of international educational exchanges. Over the past century, US foreign policy and diplomacy have relied on such interaction to build mutual understanding and goodwill among nations.
The State Department invests in nearly 50 educational exchange programmes for US citizens.
These include the prestigious Fulbright Programme and the Gilman International Scholarship Programme, the latter of which is open only to students receiving federal Pell Grants. Last year alone, these programmes provided funding for nearly 7,000 American students, teachers, and others to engage in meaningful educational and cultural experiences abroad.
Funding opportunities are especially plentiful for first-generation college students and other underrepresented students who add language and area studies to their undergraduate majors.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Boren Awards, for example, provide up to $25,000 for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to study in regions of the world critical to U.S. interests. In addition, the DoD’s Language Flagships provide a four-year curriculum and a year abroad for students to achieve professional proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese or Russian.
In addition to enriching students’ educations – first-generation students who studied abroad had higher graduation rates than the general college population – international education builds resumes to compete for the highest-paying jobs.
Consistent with these findings, a 2017 IIE study reported that students looking back on their study abroad experience largely credited the experience with enhancing critical, disruptive skills such as curiosity, adaptability, self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and tolerance for ambiguity.
With all these benefits and so many opportunities to study abroad, why aren’t more American students taking advantage of them?
Through IIE’s Center for Access and Equity, we’re working with colleagues across the international education field to answer this pressing question and take action to close the gaps in awareness and opportunity. The Center’s new resource guide, Supporting First-Generation College Students in International Education, offers recommendations for doing just that.
First, we need to understand what “study abroad” means to young people. Semester-long experiences for academic credit remain the traditional model. But we believe that emphasising different types and lengths of study abroad has the potential to attract more first-generation college students according to their unique interests and identities.
Service learning, faculty-led, language immersion, internships, short-term and non-credit are just a few examples of the variety of experiences that first-generation students should consider.
Students should also learn about study abroad early and often through touch points such as early education and secondary schools, community colleges, campus financial aid offices, first-year orientation, parent associations, and student affinity and alumni groups.
Students need to be aware of programmes such as Rutgers University’s Access the World programme, which received an honourable mention in the IIE’s Andrew Heiskell Award earlier this year. By shifting funding from traditional scholarships to grants, Rutgers’ innovative initiative offers semesters of study abroad at or below the cost of a semester on the home campus.
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