WASHINGTON D.C., November 13, 2006 - Recognizing international study as an essential part of preparing for a successful career in a globally interdependent

WASHINGTON D.C., November 13, 2006 - Recognizing international study as an essential part of preparing for a successful career in a globally interdependent world, American students continued to study abroad in record numbers, according to Open Doors 2006, reaching 205,983 students -- an increase of 8% over the prior year's report. This latest surge builds on steady increases over the past few decades, and is buoyed in part by growing interest in destinations in Asia and South America, according to Open Doors, the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education with funding from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Findings from the 2006 report will be discussed at a press briefing on November 13th at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the nationwide observance of International Education Week. (See www.opendoors.iienetwork.org for additional statistics and analysis from Open Doors 2006).

With 20 years of sustained and marked growth in U.S. international education, the study abroad experience has moved well beyond the typical "junior year abroad," with students seeking educational experiences of various durations, at different points - and sometimes more than once -- in their academic careers. Students are increasingly going to study in non-traditional destinations, and increasingly to non English-speaking countries. U.S. study abroad has been rising steadily in recent years, with an increase of 144% in the last decade, up from only 84,403 in 1994/95.

U.S. STUDENTS ABROAD TOP 200,000, INCREASE BY 8 PERCENT

Growing interest in study abroad to China, India, South America

Using Study Abroad to Improve Both Recruiting and Retention

Mark Shay, StudyAbroad.com

Peter Tomassi, GoalQuest

About EDU / GoalQuest

• StudyAbroad.com is the leading online resource for students exploring an educational experience abroad. With exceptional content and a comprehensive directory of programs, StudyAbroad.com guides students, parents and academic advisors through the proces, helping them find the best match. Now in its twelfth year, StudyAbroad.com is a member of Halyard Education Partners’ EDU division which also produces GradSchools.com, IIEPassport.org, EducationForAdults.com and StudentProspector

• GoalQuest provides the most comprehensive web-based programs to help colleges and universities recruit, enroll, retain and communicate with its critical audiences, including current and prospective students, alumni and parents during the critical admissions and enrollment process. GoalQuest is the ‘silver bullet’ that colleges and universities are looking for in their recruitment, enrollment and retention practices. It’s the one-stop-shop for web-based communications and engagement programs that reach prospective and existing students, parents and alumni.

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Students Want to Study Abroad

The majority of incoming freshmen have some international experience prior to entering college.

– Over 77 percent of respondents indicated that they had some type of direct international experience prior to attending college, whether they hosted an international student in their home, traveled abroad, or had immediate family members move to another country.

– Nearly all the respondents (98 percent) indicated that they studied a foreign language.

http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Activities&CONTENTID=6047&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm


The majority of incoming freshmen plan on studying international topics and having international experiences while in college.

– Over half of the respondents (57 percent) indicated that they plan on studying a foreign language. Half of incoming freshmen said that they expect to take courses focusing on another country’s history or culture.

– Almost half (48 percent) of respondents indicated that they expected to study abroad during their college or university years.



Incoming students believe it is important that colleges and universities offer international experiences and opportunities.

– Over 80 percent of students said it was very or somewhat important that colleges and universities offer opportunities to interact with students from other countries.

– Almost three out of four students said that they believe it is important that their college offer courses on international topics.

– Over 70 percent of respondents said it is important that their college offer study abroad programs.



Those who did not indicate an intention to study abroad cited a variety of reasons:

– More than one in three said they did not want to leave the United States.

– Just over 10 percent said they were concerned about cost.

– About 13 percent said that study abroad would distract or take too much time away from their career goals.



Students are interested in international education to gain exposure to another culture and learn language skills.

– Almost nine in ten students said they were interested in gaining exposure to another culture.

– Almost two-thirds of respondents said they were interested in learning another language.

– Just over 60 percent said they were interested in international education to acquire career-related experiences.


More Students

ARE Studying Abroad



http://opendoors.iienetwork.org

55%Study in

Six Leading Destinations




Wide Variety of Disciplines




From Schools Everywhere




Leading ParticipantsInstitution City State # 2005 Participation CC2000Austin College Sherman TX 348 110.0 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Elon University Elon College NC 915 102.9 Master's Colleges and Universities I Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo MI 283 99.3 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Centre College Danville KY 252 97.7 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Wofford College Spartanburg SC 240 97.2 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Colby College Waterville ME 456 93.8 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Saint Olaf College Northfield MN 657 92.2 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Lewis & Clark College Portland OR 332 89.5 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Lee University Cleveland TN 555 86.4 Baccalaureate Colleges—General Eckerd College St. Petersburg FL 261 85.7 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Dickinson College Carlisle PA 421 82.2 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts University of Dallas Irving TX 204 81.5 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts DePauw University Greencastle IN 424 81.2 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Davidson College Davidson NC 345 81.0 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Hamline University St. Paul MN 327 79.5 Master's Colleges and Universities I Concordia College - Moorhead Moorhead MN 461 79.1 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Taylor University Upland IN 321 78.7 Baccalaureate Colleges—General Cornell College Mount Vernon IA 160 78.4 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Luther College Decorah IA 430 77.5 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Colorado College Colorado Springs CO 403 77.1 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Yeshiva University New York NY 637 76.7 Doctoral/Research Universities—ExtensiveEarlham College Richmond IN 190 76.3 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Wartburg College Waverly IA 262 75.7 Baccalaureate Colleges—General Carleton College Northfield MN 343 75.4 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts Goshen College Goshen IN 168 75.3 Baccalaureate Colleges—Liberal Arts


Trend: Shorter Duration



http://www.iienetwork.org/file_depot/0-10000000/0-10000/1710/folder/62450/IIE+Study+Abroad+White+Paper+I.pdf

House of Representatives Passes Bill to Create National Study Abroad Program

June 6, 2007 - WASHINGTON - In a historic move to support the international education of America ﾕ s college students, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 1469, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act.

The Paul Simon Study Abroad Act, introduced by Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), calls for the creation of an innovative public-private partnership to administer a national study abroad program with an ambitious mandate: to ensure that at least 1 million American college students will study abroad annually in 10 years time. The legislation gives particular attention to making participation in study abroad available to the widest possible spectrum of students and to expanding study abroad opportunities in less-common destinations, especially in the developing world.

The idea for a national study abroad program had its start with the vision of the late Senator Paul Simon who, before his death in 2003, worked to raise awareness of the need to ensure that the next generation of Americans is prepared with global knowledge and skills. A ﾊ bipartisan federal commission subsequently recommended a national effort to dramatically increase study abroad by Americans.

The Senate is expected to take up the legislation soon. The Senate version of the bill, S.991, was introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and has garnered 37 cosponsors.

http://www.nafsa.org/press_releases.sec/press_releases.pg/housebillpassed

Ways to Utilize Study Abroad

• Draw new demographics to campus

• Avoid student transfer to other (urban) schools

• Entice students to improve their academic performance

• Manage capacity (overflow)

Using Study Abroad in Recruiting

• High achieving, global thinking, adventurous students want study abroad

• Almost exclusively children of collegiate parents• High proportion of out of state students will study

abroad• Study Abroad alumni often show more affinity

with their study abroad program than their matriculated school

• First Year Abroad programs expanding

”Perhaps the greatest power of educational exchange is the power to convert nations into peoples and to translate ideologies into human aspirations” - Senator J. William Fulbright, author of the Fulbright exchange program,

From http://international.fsu.edu

• FSU International Programs offers a number of opportunities for High School Students to study overseas while receiving college credit. There is a new State of Florida initiative providing a degree in three years and two degrees in four years.

• First Year Abroad: An international program for the global-

thinking, adventurous student Florida State University’s new First Year Abroad (FYA) Program allows students to complete the first twelve months of their FSU careers studying abroad with our International Programs. The incentives for taking advantage of this opportunity are extraordinary and compelling



http://international.fsu.edu/









Goucher College to Require Study Abroad

At Goucher College, foreign exchange is no longer an option - it's an order.

As of this fall, all students starting their first year of study at the small, liberal-arts college in Towson, Md., must earn at least some academic credit abroad before they graduate.

This year's freshman class - at 450 the largest in Goucher's history - can choose from a wide array of programs: three weeks of Italian opera in Rome, perhaps. Or a semester of service learning in Guayaquil, Ecuador, or a year at the University of Ghana, in Accra.

Sanford J. Ungar, president of the college, says the requirement makes Goucher distinctive. He wanted to give prospective students a reason to apply to his institution, he says, "other than getting to 'G' in the alphabet when you're looking at liberal-arts colleges."

"The idea is not that we want to turn everyone into a little international-studies major or minor," he says, "but we want everyone to apply international awareness to whatever he or she may be studying."

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“A Policy Change on Study Abroad Pays Off”

"The change appears to have been a draw for students. As of Friday, 467 students had joined the class of 2010, an increase of more than a third over last year's freshman class of 340 and 15 percent higher than the previous peak of 400 in 2004. The new students were chosen from among about 3,200 applicants, up from slightly under 3,000 last year, and nearly 22 percent of those offered admission agreed to enroll, up from about 17 percent in 2005 and the previous high of 20 percent in 2004. The academic credentials of the class of 2006 parallel those of previous classes, Noya says, and the new freshmen include slightly greater numbers of low-income and minority students than prior years did.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/05/09/goucher

Using Study Abroad to Slow Transfers

• One of the main attractions to Study Abroad is the excitement of an intercultural experience, frequently an urban one

• Rural or small market schools can use this to extend their campus environs into a more cosmopolitan setting

• Once a student returns it is more likely they will complete their degree rather than transfer due to the proximity of graduation

• Requires student life staff to embrace the study abroad message and direct restless students to programs

• Study abroad experience can add depth and richness to a student’s chosen area of study (e.g., History > European History)



Improving Student Performance

• Most Study Abroad programs require a minimum GPA of 3.0 or better

• Using this as an incentive to coach students who have shown an interest in study abroad may improve classroom results

• Requires active counseling and provisional acceptance to study abroad programs

Increasing Measures of Outcomes

University Georgia is conducting systemwide research of study abroad outcomes, the Georgia Learning Outcomes of Students Studying Abroad Research Initiative (or GLOSSARI).

Among some of the potentially surprising results of the Georgia study, at least within the study abroad world where longer is typically perceived as better: Students who studied abroad in short-term programs of eight weeks or less had higher four-year graduation rates, regardless of SAT score, than did students who studied abroad for longer periods of time.

http://www.frontiersjournal.com/issues/vol10/vol10-04_SuttonRubin.pdf

Managing/Extending Capacity

• Study Abroad is traditionally more popular in spring semesters

• Campus enrollment peaks in fall semesters• Creative programming, incentives can be offered to

push students from spring to fall when housing and facility issues are greatest

Myths about Study Abroad

• Disruptive to degree path• Difficult to afford• Difficult to manage• Undue burden on administrative processes• Only for elite students at elite schools



Build or Buy?

Study Abroad programs can be developed internally by faculty through curriculum integration, can be sponsored/contracted through an abundance of third-party providers, facilitators and consortium partnerships or can be open through the wide variety of direct-to-student third party providers.

Curriculum Integration

Increasingly schools are integrating study abroad into curriculum, one leading example is University of Minnesota. Some data show that study abroad improves graduation rates, especially for minority students:•http://www.umabroad.umn.edu/ci/evaluation/index.html

“Since the late 1990's, University of Minnesota education abroad professionals have partnered with faculty and academic units to identify study abroad programs that would allow undergraduates to fulfill degree requirements while remaining "on-track" to timely graduation.

Advising services within the Learning Abroad Center have been transformed since the late 1990's to focus more on academic planning and partnerships with academic advising across the campus. Study abroad program selection is focused on discipline AND destination. Students are encouraged to set academic and personal goals for study abroad.”

http://www.umabroad.umn.edu/ci/evaluation/index.html

Resources

AIEA - Association of International Education Administrators (AIEAworld.org) - Chief International OfficersForum on Education Abroad (ForumEA.org) - Standards, assessment, program developmentNAFSA - Association of International Educators (NAFSA.org) - Inbound and outboundConsortia Providers:

IES (iesabroad.org), CIEE (ciee.org), CCIS (ccisabroad.org/), USAC (usac.unr.edu)Leading Third-Party Providers:

CEA (gowithcea.com), AIFS (aifsabroad.com), ISA (studiesabroad.com), API (academicintl.com)

StudyAbroad.com, IIEPassport.org for students

Embracing Study Abroad is Beneficial

• Students are curious, adventurous• Parents are supportive• Employers increasingly use it as a

differentiator• Legislators and policy makers view it as

important• University trustees, benefactors, and top

leadership are identifying it as strategic• Faculty?



Study Abroad a Necessity?

International education is now commonly regarded as a professional necessity, and many educators believe that students who leave college without having had a significant “globalizing” experience will increasingly be considered less than fully educated. In the 21st Century, the proverbially well-rounded education requires living and learning through direct experience in a culture beyond one’s own. Today, the value of international education is no longer up for debate.

http://www.utexas.edu/student/abroad/about/whystudyabroad.html

Publicity Opportunities

• US News• NAFSA’s Simon Awards• IIE’s Open Doors & Awards

http://www.iienetwork.org/?p=BestPractices

• New Program Development Announcements• University Strategic Planning• Bandwagon with Simon Act





http://www.nafsa.org/about.sec/leadership_recognition/senator_simon_award_for_2

Thank you!

Mark Shay

+1-484-766-2901

[email protected]

Peter Tomassi

+1-212-868-3500 x110

[email protected]



Documents

WASHINGTON D.C., November 13, 2006 - Recognizing international study as an essential part of preparing for a successful career in a globally interdependent