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Is it that American students aren’t interested in studying abroad or that they encounter too many obstacles–including financial challenges–that prevent them from doing so?
Whatever the reason, US Congress took a big step toward improving study abroad opportunities for American students yesterday when it introduced the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act as part of the House Foreign Relations Authorization Act.
The purpose of the act is to establish public-private partnerships that will achieve four broad goals:
1. Increase American students’ participation in quality study abroad programs;
2. Encourage diversity in student participation in study abroad;
3. Diversify study abroad sites, especially in developing countries;
4. Make study abroad an integral part of the American higher education experience.
The bill was actually introduced last year and enjoyed bipartisan support in the House and Senate, but the Congressional session expired before the bill could be passed.
Full information about the bill can be found here.
If you’d like to support the bill, you can join the Movement for Study Abroad on Facebook.
Community Connection:
Do you know about Matador’s study and live abroad blog, Matador Abroad? Whether you live in the US or elsewhere, you can find a rich archive of articles on study abroad subjects there!
Julie Schwietert
Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator currently in New York, formerly of Mexico City and San Juan.
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I am a sophomore, who had every intention on studying abroad for a full year (spending a semester in Australia followed by a semester in Galway, Ireland) Unfortunately, being a nursing major makes it near impossible to do so.
If anyone is aware of a Summer program that offers Microbiology for nurses, please let me know, it is a course that I must take over the summer, I have yet to find a program abroad that fits this criteria. if not I will have to take it in the states.
Pertaining to this article, I don’t think a lot of college students are aware of how the available the opportunity is and how great of an experience it could be!
As a couple have mentioned, transferability of credits can be a major issue, making foreign study potentially very risky. I had to get individual professors involved in order to get mine approved (before I went). Universities, I’m sure, hate to lose the tuition revenue, and therefore don’t really have an incentive to make it easier.
A great option for students wanted to spend at least some time abroad is to check out XploreU . The company has brands pay for students to travel across the globe for 1-4 weeks volunteering and exploring the culture in return for being a brand ambassador on campus when they return. Students only have to pay the airfare from their home state to the departure city (Miami, NY, etc). It’s a great concept for students and lets them give back to the community as well.
study abroad really doesnt seem worth the money unless its for a foriegn language. Im sure its an awsome experiance but unless its for language. then you should just take a long vacation
For those who didn’t have the chance to study abroad and now are in the work force, the way to see the world living abroad as a local is to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). If you speak English fluently, go through a short term TEFL certification course, you can get paid to teach in over 80 countries worldwide. Check out International TEFL Academy http://www.InterationalTEFLAcademy.com as they train over 1,200 new students a year and help them find work abroad every year.