Study Abroad expanding to provide more students broader opportunities

For Provost Peter Nicholls – a man who studied in one country and works in another – developing global citizens is a major goal for the University during the next five years.

And the Study Abroad program is taking him seriously.

“This year we will send 12 percent of our undergraduate student body – about 500 people – abroad,” says Ross Lewin, director of the program.

“That’s up from 10.5 percent last year and 7.2 percent in 2002-03. But the provost has told us that he would like to have 30 percent of our students going abroad, so there is more work to be done.”

Nicholls, who is British and earned his degrees in his home country, although most of his professional life has been in the U.S., has appointed a task force to study the issue of global education.

Chaired by Veronica Makowsky, vice provost for undergraduate education and regional campus administration, the group will present a five-year plan by May 1 that will:

• identify ways to recruit at least 100 international undergraduates;
• increase the number of students studying abroad; develop an international living-learning community;
• and inventory the curriculum and suggest ways to develop clusters of courses, minors, or majors that focus on global issues.

To give U.S. residents a more global emphasis, however, they must not only learn about culture and study languages, but also travel, Lewin says.

No longer is studying abroad for the children of the rich. No longer is it focused only on study.