Conventional wisdom in the study abroad field has held that more is better; that is, the longer students study abroad the more significant the academic, cultural development and personal growth benefits that accrue. The standard assumption is that meaningful advancement in language learning and other academic disciplines using a culture-specific…

In recognizing the need for internationalization, many universities and colleges in the United States are making great efforts to internationalize their institutions in order to prepare their students to live and work in the global society of the twenty-first century. This study examines different institutional responses to the need for…

Purpose: To present the School for Field Studies-Centre for Coastal Studies (SFS-CCS) study abroad Mexico program, and consider its relative success as a sustainable development education program. Design/methodology/approach: The SFS-CCS academic model and results of its implementation are presented. Program success is discussed by applying…

For years student scholarship programs to promote knowledge or international cooperation have functioned without question in Mexico. Economics of education literature has questioned the validity of similar programs, and the paradigm is shifting from scholarship support to loan schemes and from merit- to need-based grants. This article, based on…

"Open Doors" is a long-standing, comprehensive information resource on the 582,984 international students in the United States in 2006/07 and on the 223,534 U.S. students who studied abroad for academic credit in 2005/06. The Institute of International Education, one of the largest and most experienced U.S. higher education exchange…

This qualitative study investigated contextual influences involved in college student identity development. It examined events, experiences, and relationships that alumni suggest either nourished or thwarted their perceptions of multiple dimensions of their identity during college. Findings suggest that self-perceptions of identity often change as…

Study abroad professionals have attempted in recent years to bring a statistical objectivity to the evaluation of the American study abroad experience. The complexity of international education is such that it is far from easy to move towards significant, objectively measurable, and comparable outcomes. This article presents a preliminary…

In this study, the authors explore the impact of the study abroad experience, in general, and the impact of a curriculum intervention, in particular, on students' intercultural development, second language acquisition, and culture and language learning strategies of 86 study abroad participants from seven Minnesota colleges and universities. They…

This research compares the study-abroad perceptions and preferences of business and non-business majors. The results suggest that the two groups have somewhat different motivations for studying abroad. On balance, business students appear more pragmatic than their non-business counterparts, expressing greater concern for financial issues, and the…

The increasing trend for the globalisation of business has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the factors that influence levels of intercultural awareness within organisations. Within the higher education sector, one initiative that aims to address this issue is student study abroad programs. This paper reports on a study that…

Findings are presented from a questionnaire-based survey addressing issues in internationalisation and international collaboration of European higher education institutions within Library and Information Science (LIS). Seventy-five percent of the 30 schools in the survey population responded to the questionnaire. Many schools are making special…

China entered a new historical era after the conclusion of the Cultural Revolution. Reform and opening up to the outside have become basic national policies. Acting on the need to reform and open up, a directive on increasing the number of students sent for studies abroad was issued in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping. These policies became an integral part…

Based on a 20-month qualitative study in a Canadian university, the present paper reflects on how issues of empowerment emerged for Chinese students, who following study in English for Academic Purposes, registered for a Master of Business Administration program. These issues are addressed in relation to: (a) the literacy demands and socialization…

Higher education in general and study abroad programming in particular are hardly strangers to stringent demands for accountability. What is new to higher education and to study abroad is the demand for accountability in terms of measurable student learning outcomes. This article is a first report from a system-wide initiative to document learning…

In this article, the authors describe the Georgetown University Consortium Project (GCP), a three-year assessment study designed to document the learning abroad of students from Georgetown University, The University of Minnesota, Rice University, and Dickinson College. Funded by two Department of Education Title VI grants, this ongoing three-year…