Study Abroad: A 21st Century Perspective - Volume
1 - Table of Contents
Preface by Martin Tillman, Editor
Assistant Director, Office of Career Services, The John
Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies
It's a privilege to have brought together so many authoritative
voices to consider key issues in the study abroad field in this
new century. Each author brings decades of invaluable expertise
and creative professional perspective to their subject. They offer
study abroad advisors exceptionally cogent and practical ideas to
assist in planning, developing and implementing study abroad programs.
I also challenged authors to reflect on lessons learned, identify
current successful models, and make recommendations for the future
in the field. I am grateful to Bill Gertz and the AIFS Foundation
for supporting this timely new publication in their Study Abroad
Advisors Guide series.
In the midst of the Cold War, when nuclear war among superpowers
was a key foreign policy issue, scientist Lewis Thomas wrote in
the Harvard Educational Review (54, 1984): "All individuals
are surrounded by a circle of friends and they get along, sometimes
amicably, sometimes testily, but they get along, and with a lot
of cooperation. All the members of that circle of friends have their
own circles, and I think it goes on in concentric circles for everyone.
But it stops at national borders—we haven't discovered
how to make that work". This is a sentiment transcending
its political era, one which anyone currently involved in academic
study abroad or engaged in intercultural education at any age level,
takes to heart every day as they prepare to send American students
abroad. We are all eternal optimists! We want to make a difference
in the world and help "make that work"...
There is much progress to cheer as we begin the 21st century; numbers
alone (as cited in Open Doors, Institute of International Education,
1998-99) are reason for hope: over the past 12 years, the number
of U.S. students receiving academic credit for study abroad has
more than doubled, from 49,000 to 114,000 in 1997-98. And there
is the continued growth (harder to document with factual statistics)
in the educational exchange community which impacts citizens - not
only students—of a much broader age-range. At the same time,
there are numerous unfinished agendas—addressed in this volume,
including building greater (racial and socio-economic) diversity
in study abroad programs; increasing opportunities for study outside
the European Community; finding new sources of funding; and widening
support among faculty.
Perhaps the most important new development impacting the international
education community is the spate of recent partnerships between
the private sector and the higher education community. Spurred by
the global economy and the need for a workforce prepared for the
technological challenges in new global industries, business leaders
are more engaged than ever with educational institutions. In part,
this is no doubt also due to the growing recognition that international
educational activities are a major force affecting state economies.
In one such public-private sector effort, Wisconsin Governor Tommy
Thompson, in 1997, formed a statewide Taskforce on International
Education (details in February/March 2000 issue of the Clearinghouse
on State International Policies, (published by the Southern Growth
Policies Board, edited by NAFSA Board Member Carol Conway, phone
919-941-5145).
The goal was "to study our international education programs
to ensure that young people throughout Wisconsin are properly trained
and prepared to become the first truly global generation."
The Taskforce addressed the need to strengthen the study abroad
field by calling for both increased diversity and also greater direct
support from the business community.
A Wisconsin International Scholars Program was created using state
general-purpose funds to provide grants of $1,000 to, among others,
"economically disadvantaged post-secondary students."
Also proposed as an incentive to business was a $1000 tax credit
for each student they sponsored to participate in an overseas internship
program. One outcome of the report was passage of a legislative
bill allocating $1.5 million for need-based study abroad scholarships
for University of Wisconsin undergraduates.
In the 21st century, study abroad advisors, along with all international
educators, face new challenges in a world inextricably linked as
never before by new communication technologies. As John Sommer states
in his conclusion for this volume, ...the imperatives for considering
the whole world as a stage for study abroad are just that - imperative
for realizing a world of peace, justice, sustainable development,
and prosperity, and for enriching our own social and cultural lives
and those of our fellow humans.
Next article: The Contribution of International
Educational Exchange to the International Education of Americans:
My 1990 Forecasts Revisited by Barbara Burn
Back to Study Abroad: A 21st Century Perspective
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