Transitions Abroad Magazine March/April 2004 Vol. XXXVII, NO. 5

From the Editor

With international education and educational travel at its core, Transitions Abroad has always had a central interest in study abroad because of its impact on the young. Our magazine is found on many newsstands, but it also has an essential place in the majority of university study abroad offices nationwide. As the Institute for International Education (IIE) President Allan E. Goodman recently said: “Having our successor generation learn more about countries and societies — while serving as cultural ambassadors to their peers — enables young Americans to contribute directly to creating a more peaceful world.”

Every year the IIE publishes Open Doors, an annual report on international educational exchange (www.opendoors.iienetwork.org). This year’s report shows a 4.4 percent increase in U.S. university-level students receiving credit for study abroad in the 2001-2002 academic year, bringing the total to 160,920. Although this increase is not as impressive as the double-digit growth years of the late 1990s, it is nevertheless heartening given the weak economy and global instability.

Most study abroad alumni value their overseas experience and welcome any opportunity to recall the long-term benefits. Not until this year, though, has there been substantiation of the common assumption that study abroad makes a positive and indelible impact on a person’s life. For the first time, the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) surveyed alumni from all of its study abroad programs from 1950 to 1999. In their article discussing the results of this survey, Mary M. Dwyer and Courtney K. Peters write, “Regardless of where students studied and for how long…the data from more than 3,400 respondents…shows that studying abroad is usually a defining moment in a young person’s life.” The difference it makes in a student’s worldview, relationships, personal growth, academic commitment, and career development is positive and profound. The IES survey confirms what most of us have long known: study abroad is much more than “a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

While the U.K. is still the leading study abroad destination, the number of students going to less traditional destinations like South Africa and Brazil continues to grow, according to Open Doors. The changes in destinations are not the only ones occurring in study abroad. Increasingly, according to the IES survey and in accord with national statistics, students are studying abroad for shorter durations. While more time must pass before we understand the full impact of this change from full-year to semester or even 6- and 4-week programs, the results of the IES survey do suggest that these programs are still “enormously successful.”

Regardless of how long you can spend in another country, findings from the IES survey point toward the effectiveness of travel where you really connect with locals. This is the type of travel Transitions Abroad has long promoted — for all ages — and it is perhaps best summed up with the words of our new Community-Based Travel columnist, Jim Kane: “Go deeper, not farther; participate, don’t just observe; find a need and help fill it.”