The Foreign Service Journal, June 2006

In late 2005, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution designating 2006 the “Year of Study Abroad.” “Whereas ensuring that the citizens of the United States are glob- ally literate is the responsibility of the educational system … “Whereas a National Geographic global literacy survey found that 87 percent of students in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 24 cannot locate Iraq on a world map … “Whereas according to a 2002 American Council on Education poll, 79 percent of people in the U.S. agree that students should have a study abroad experience sometime during college, but only 1 per- cent of students from the U.S. currently study abroad each year … “Whereas study abroad programs not only open doors to foreign language learning, but also empower students to better understand themselves and others through a comparison of cultural values and ways of life … the Senate designates 2006 as the ‘Year of Study Abroad’ and encourages the people of the U.S. to support initiatives to promote and expand study abroad opportunities.” It is, by all accounts, an idea whose time has come. The number of students studying abroad for academic credit rose by 9.6 percent in 2004, following an 8.5 percent increase the year before, according to Open Doors 2005 , the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education with funding fromn the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In March 2004, there were 191,321 American students studying abroad, up from about 75,000 just a decade ago. Significantly, study abroad in nontraditional destinations — such as China and India, where American students see potential career opportunities — is expanding rapidly. The Open Doors report also shows that increasing numbers are involved in shorter-duration programs. “U.S. students now have lit- erally thousands of short-term programs available to them,” Janet Hulstrand writes in the May-June issue of International Educator. “Obviously this number includes a variety of program types, dura- tions and qualities, so there is something for every student. It’s per- sonalization of education abroad in shorter timeframes than a tradi- tional semester or academic year abroad.” But, as Transitions Abroad founder Clay Hubbs observes in the magazine’s March-April issue, the most important change of all in international education may be “the increasing numbers of students (and nonstudent adults) who are going abroad to learn in ways out- side formal study programs” — such as internships and volunteer- ing. Clay states that statistics on visits to the publication’s Web site, which contains an archive of resources on work, study, living and educational travel, indicate that undergraduate study abroad has become a gateway to longer-term work abroad. Former students go abroad either to find employment or to sharpen their skills for work in the globalized U.S. economy. Participants in the international experience are also younger in age and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. “More and more visitors to our Web site are senior and high school students,” Hubbs notes. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor J U N E 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT 2006: The Year of Study Abroad