The Sojourner's Return

Author(s):  
Dzifa A. Attah ◽  
Susan Boafo-Arthur ◽  
Ama Boafo-Arthur

Thousands of students are participating in study abroad programs, which is a major decision that could alter the life of a student and shape his/her future. It is important, therefore, to carefully weigh the options that come with being an international student. This chapter explores the history of study abroad, students' study abroad experiences, and the benefits of these programs. Study abroad benefits include personal growth, intercultural development, and career attainment. Educators consistently assert that a significant part of the studying abroad experience is training future global leaders to be more effective and efficient, respecting the diversities of people and cultures, including political and economic systems, and the willingness to take a stand for the world's welfare. Following this, the re-entry experiences of students who return to their home countries at the end of their studies are examined with respect to the physical, social, and psychological risks that student returnees are faced with.

Author(s):  
Annie Yan-Ni Cheng

Short-term study abroad programs have been increasingly emphasized in expanding university curricula since the beginning of the 21st Century. This chapter aims to understand students' perceptions of short-term study abroad programs in the context of Hong Kong Higher Education (HE). Its objectives are to examine students' perceived benefits, concerns and the issues facing them when deciding on their participation in these programs. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, a case study was conducted in the eight universities of Hong Kong. Results show that the students strongly believed that the greatest benefits of taking part in these programs included enhancing their personal growth and intercultural development. The significance of this chapter is to contribute new knowledge to the understanding of students' perceptions and values of outbound short-term study abroad in an Asian/Chinese context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Di Pietro

Using data on a large sample of recent Italian graduates, this paper investigates the extent to which participation in study abroad programs during university studies impacts subsequent employment likelihood. To address the problem of endogeneity related to participation in study abroad programs, I use a combination of fixed effects and instrumental variable estimation where the instrumental variable is exposure to international student exchange schemes. My estimates show that studying abroad has a relatively large and statistically meaningful effect on the probability of being in employment three years after graduation. This effect is mainly driven by the impact that study abroad programs have on the employment prospects of graduates from disadvantaged (but not very disadvantaged) backgrounds, though positive but imprecise effects are also found for graduates from advantaged backgrounds.


2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip H. Anderson ◽  
Leigh Lawton

This article presents a study based on a semester-long study abroad program in an English-speaking country. Some researchers have called for improved assessment of study abroad programs, while others suggest establishing a minimum standard for every program, including qualitative and quantitative measures. Therefore, if the goal is to assess whether improved intercultural development occurred as a result of students studying abroad, then this study’s results offer support that both the GPI and the IDI can fulfill this role.


2020 ◽  
pp. 102831532090615
Author(s):  
Melissa Whatley ◽  
Adam C. Landon ◽  
Michael A. Tarrant ◽  
Donald Rubin

This study explores connections between design features of faculty-led short-term study abroad programs and resulting changes in students’ global perspectives. Over 2,000 students provided data for this study, completing the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) before and after studying abroad. Results indicated that program features such as participation in an internship and opportunities for reflection are positively associated with global perspective development while abroad, whereas features such as number of students traveling together and coursework in English are negatively associated with such development. Given the increasing numbers of students who participate in faculty-led short-term abroad programs, research that provides evidence-based recommendations concerning program design is essential to enhancing global perspectives through study abroad.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette M. Racicot ◽  
Diane L. Ferry

<p>The current study used a time-lagged design to examine the effects of Metacognitive and Motivational Cultural Intelligence (CQ) prior to studying abroad on the experiential behavior of students during their study abroad trip and their future interest in work and study abroad opportunities. Using Hayes’ conditional process analysis, results indicated that Motivational CQ predicted Metacognitive CQ which predicted cultural experiences pursued while studying abroad which in turn predicted future interest in working/studying abroad. Implications for improving the study abroad experience and training of students for study abroad programs are discussed.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Spenader ◽  
Peggy Retka

This study investigates the intercultural development in several semester-long study abroad programs at the undergraduate level, using the Intercultural Development Inventory, or IDI. Our faculty-led cohort model utilizes a study abroad seminar incorporating an experiential learning project to provide pedagogical supports and cultural interventions to students during their sojourn. Our study compares mean IDI scores of various cohorts across multiple personal, contextual and pedagogical variables.  While no correlation was found between English vs. foreign language contexts, housing types or academic program types, we did find differences between programs based on the type of experiential learning project used in the course. Our findings indicate that service-learning projects are associated with greater intercultural gains than other types of experiential learning projects.


1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jurasek ◽  
Howard Lamson ◽  
Patricia O’Maley

This article outlines the theories and applications of ethnography on study abroad programs in an exploration of student learning processes throughout the experience. The first section presents an overview of ethnographic approaches and discusses ethnography as a learning and teaching tool on study abroad. The second section analyzes three student ethnographic projects carried out over a ten-week period in Mexico and in Austria. Finally, the last section emphasizes the importance of ethnographic projects as an intensified experience by which students develop insights through an ongoing reflective and interactive process. 


Author(s):  
Eric Canny

This chapter discusses the positive correlations between study abroad and student success broadly, as well as the ways in which study abroad programs operate from a student success model. Both may help influence home-campus practitioners in working with all students. First, this chapter will first focus on the history of study abroad within higher education to contextualize it specifically relating to retention and student success. Second, the chapter will focus on the positive, and not often discussed, positive relationship between student retention and graduation rates correlated to study abroad. Third will be a section devoted to exploring the research findings of the high-impact nature of study abroad linked to learning outcomes, as data shows deep student learning, including self-reflection, which could be indicators of student success. Finally, the chapter will draw correlations between these topics and international on-site models of student success to support this transformational and challenging experience for students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Brad Deacon ◽  
Kevin Ottoson

Recent government initiatives have helped increase the number of Japanese students studying abroad. However, our understanding of study abroad and intercultural development is largely informed by research in Western contexts. The purpose of this study was to uncover the key areas that students attribute to their intercultural competence growth and development during a short-term study-abroad program in Thailand. This paper offers findings from open-ended questionnaires that were given to 15 Japanese 2nd-year female university students before and after they participated in a three-week study abroad. Qualitative analysis of the pre-sojourn results primarily revealed health and safety concerns. These concerns were later shown to be mostly unrealized in post-sojourn findings analysis that instead emphasized the importance of students’ psychological and self-fulfillment needs. The implications this research has for language teachers, program coordinators, and other stakeholders who aim to support students’ intercultural development in short-term study-abroad programs are provided. 昨今の政府の取り組みにより、留学へ行く日本の学生数は増加傾向にある。しかし、留学や異文化教育についての私たちの理解は、西洋の文脈における研究から主に情報を得ていると言える。本研究の目的は、タイにおける3週間の留学プログラムの間に、学生の異文化理解やその発達が主に何によってもたらされたのかを明らかにすることだった。参加した15名の女子学生たち(大学2年生)に対して、留学の事前と事後に自由回答式の質問を与え、その調査結果をもとに明らかになったことをここでは論じていく。事前調査における質的分析では、主に健康や安全面での懸念が明らかになった。これらの懸念は事後調査での分析ではほとんど認められず、代わりに心理的な自己実現欲求が重要な側面であることがわかった。この研究における示唆は、語学教員、留学コーディネーター、そしてその他、短期留学プログラムにおける学生の異文化教育を支援する関係者に向けられる。


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document