Study abroad can be the fulfillment of a dream or the road toward a better job–or both.
Nearly 120,000 college and university students this year will spend time studying overseas. The number of U.S. students studying abroad has surged at a double-digit rate in recent years, partly because a strong U.S. dollar makes doing so more affordable, said Mary Dwyer, president of the Chicago-based Institute for the International Education of Students.
IES, 33 N. La Salle St., provides study-abroad programs for more than 130 top-tier colleges and universities, including Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The institute has worked with universities to send students overseas since 1950. Growing cross-border business also accounts for the increasing interest in overseas study, as students realize that such experience could give them an edge in a job hunt.
“Being more competitive is a prime reason for the increase,” Dwyer said. “This doesn’t mean students necessarily expect they will be working in England or France or Japan, but that they will be working in a multinational organization. They’re going to need foreign language facility and at least some overseas knowledge. CEOs feel it is value-added.”
Academic Programs International, a Texas company that operates 10 programs in France, Italy and Spain, saw enrollment in its summer program jump 30 percent this year. Program Director Jennifer Allen said the company expects to send about 650 students overseas over the coming year, about 30 percent more than last year. Enrollment for the current semester was up more than 30 percent.
The New York-based Institute of International Education, which tracks study abroad nationally, estimates enrollment was up 10 percent from fall 1998 through summer 1999. During the 1997-98 school year, the last year for which firm numbers are available, 114,000 U.S. students studied abroad, up 14.2 percent from the year before, said spokesman Todd Davis.
At Northwestern University, the number of students studying abroad in recent years has climbed from about 150 to 450 annually, said William Anthony, NU’s director of the study-abroad office. Some of those who go abroad do so for an entire academic year, others for part of the year or during the summer.
“Part of the increase has to do with the fact that we opened a new study-abroad office three years ago,” Anthony said.
In that time, the university has gone from 11 affiliated study-abroad programs to 80. These are not Northwestern’s own programs, but programs run by organizations such as IES. Most are in European countries, with smaller numbers in Asia, Africa and Australia.
About two-thirds of students who study abroad are women. Anthony is not sure why.
“I think it’s partly because it was tradition to send women abroad to get that continental polish,” he said. “Another cliche is that it’s because men tend to see it as something that’s less career-oriented or doesn’t fit their field of study. Our response was to join with University of Minnesota to see how we could send more engineering students abroad. We recently had a student who studied engineering in Germany.”
To do so, of course, he had to be fluent in German.
Studies show that 40 percent of those who study overseas regularly speak the language of the region. Nearly as many continue to live or work abroad after graduation, said IES’ Dwyer.
In another trend, students are staying abroad for relatively short amounts of time. Summer study is becoming quite popular. At IES, which this year will help about 2,000 U.S. students study abroad, 277 of them enrolled in summer study programs, a 32 percent increase from the previous year, Dwyer said.
“We notice students studying abroad for shorter times to control costs,” she said. “Students from public universities do more summer study than private university students, because they’re more price-sensitive. Also, students with majors in disciplines like pre-med or engineering or business have many required courses, which reduces their flexibility. It’s easier for them to go abroad during the summer.”
At UIC, the study-abroad program is about five years old. Participation has doubled in the past two years to about 200 students annually, said Diane Pecknold, interim director of the study-abroad office.
“We try to pool resources with other institutions to give the broadest access to programs and the lowest cost,” she said. “Consortia like IES help.”
She cited the London summer study program, which IES subsidizes. It cost UIC students $2,790 for tuition, health insurance, airfare, housing and meals.
Each of three Chicago campus programs focuses on aspects of urban studies, in keeping with the campus mission, Pecknold said.
“There’s a lot of public policy, health policy and education policy in London,” she said. “Another program in Berlin focuses on architecture and public space. Next summer we’re going to start a program in Beijing that focuses on the global economy and business development. We’re trying to make sure the overseas programs are well-integrated with the campus curricula.”
Pecknold said UIC students “tend to be pragmatic. They want to develop intercultural skills, language skills. They tend to know exactly what they want to get from it.”
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For more information on the Institute for the International Education, call 312-944-1750.
STUDENTS FIND TRAVELS FRUITFUL
Studying in France this school year is Northwestern University junior and Manhattan native Kate Doherty.
“I chose to study abroad mainly because it has always been a dream of mine,” said Doherty. “I love to travel.”
She spent September with a family in Tours to bone up on her French and adjust to the culture before moving to Paris, where she is studying at Universite de Paris. She will remain there through May 2001.
“This is an opportunity too amazing to pass by. I will never have another chance to spend a year in another country with such an organized program.”
At Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., Skokie native Margaret Anthony recently finished a year of study in Freiburg, Germany.
“Courses there meet once a week and for two to four hours. I did a lot more work there,” said Anthony, who is in her senior year at Knox College.”
Anthony’s major is international studies. She found Germany to be an ideal place to study for such a major.
“I got such different perspectives on things,” she said “I took a class on political parties in Germany, where they have many of them, not just two like here. It was very interesting.”
WHAT IT COSTS
The Chicago-based Institute for the International Education of Students provides study-abroad programs for more than 130 top-tier colleges and universities, including Northwestern University, Evanston.
Here is a comparison of costs for the 2000-’01 academic-year between NU and selected cities where the institute has study programs.
Northwestern University
Annual tuition: $24,648
Quarterly tuition: $8,216
Annual room/board: $7,320.
Quarterly room/board: $2,440
If a student goes abroad, NU does not charge tuition or room and board, but does charge a study-abroad fee:
Summer: $520
Less than a year: $1,560
Full-year: $2,600
Institute for the International Education of Students
London summer: $5,740
London semester: $15,400
London full-year: $27,780
Madrid summer: $4,950
Madrid semester: $13,270
Madrid full-year: $24,025
Paris summer: $5,310
Paris semester: $13,858
Paris full-year: $25,468
Tokyo summer: $6,125
Tokyo semester: $14,425
Tokyo full-year: $28,510
These costs include housing, tuition, meals not included in room and board, textbooks, certain personal expenses and round-trip airfare arranged through the institute. The program fees do not reflect scholarships, financial aid or guaranteed grants that could lower students’ costs.
SOURCES: Northwestern University, Institute for the International Education of Students.
