The Globalization of College Students

There are dozens of ways that I could write about the relationship between education and globalization. Today, I'm going to focus on the globalization of a unique segment of education: the college student. The value of study abroad has been whirling around my mind lately as I happily plan and prepare to spend a semester abroad in Denmark. 


For United States students, spending a semester or summer in another country is a huge, and extremely hyped, opportunity. American colleges woo prospective students by touting their highly ranked or affordable study abroad programs. Juniors and seniors see a lot of advertisements like this one:

Once we pick our college or university, we see a lot of advertisements like these on our campuses:

If you had the chance to read last week's great blogpost on Nowa Huta, you probably noticed that Nell, one of the members of this research project on globalization, studied abroad last semester. She is one of approximately 260,000 American students who study abroad every year, according to the Institute of International Education. 


Outside of the United States, studying abroad takes on a different flavor; while U.S. students are the most likely to spend a semester studying in a different country and graduate from an American school, students in non-North American countries are most likely to spend four years studying abroad and receive a degree from a completely different state than they grew up in. 


We've come to the conclusion that hundreds of thousands of college students every year choose to globalize their education, and that universities take pride in offering this opportunity. But why?


Traveling to a foreign nation to receive high quality education is an idea  that goes back centuries into human history. Studying abroad for the sake of the cultural experience, however, is something relatively new. The Institute of International Education was created in 1919, and the University of Delaware established the first semester-long study abroad program in 1920. You may notice that these dates line up with the end of the first world war. This is no coincidence. There is a noble hope that by sending their young, bright students to interact with citizens of other places and understand other cultures, these individuals will build up the global community and promote peace. In the words of the IIE, "Peace and prosperity around the world depend on increasing the capacity of people to think and work on a global and intercultural basis." Spending a semester living and learning in a foreign land, by no doubt, facilitates this.