Oct/090
College Study Abroad Programs
Traveling far and wide in order to study in the midst of a different culture dates back to the beginning of craftsmen. Over time, students have crossed oceans to learn about art, science, math and medicine in other parts of the globe. The benefits of such travel are vast:
1. Expanded horizons lead to personal growth for college students. Meeting people with vastly different backgrounds from yours will stretch your ability to understand and tolerate differing views and beliefs. Relationships built during foreign study tend to last lifetimes and leave doors open for future experiences. Your world view will broaden, and as a result, so will your independence and maturity.
2. It is a training ground for intercultural development. Over 98% of respondents to one survey report that their time abroad helped them to see their own values and biases more clearly and evaluate them from a broader perspective. Future global leaders sometimes start their journey to understanding as students studying on foreign soil. Students represent the face of America to a generation of their peers and have the opportunity to open doors of communication everywhere they go.
3. Travel will expand your view of your career options. More often than not, college students who have studied abroad either decide to continue their education beyond what they previously planned or change their area of study to something that they feel will be more fulfilling.
In past decades students committed to year-long programs, but the current trend is toward six to ten-week sojourns to other countries. Today's short-term programs do indeed deliver benefits, but the longer a student studies abroad the greater the rewards.
Why not go to your advisor and start asking some questions? Some programs allow you to apply your financial aid to various colleges throughout the world. In many cases, credits transfer and it's a simple matter of an application to fill out. You have the rest of your life to be an adult, why not let some international travel help to mold the kind of adult you will be?
Jim Hart has been the director of academic advising at a medium-sized university for eight years. His interests include student exchange programs, online college graduate degrees, career advising, online degrees in the sciences, and CLEP examinations.