Greetings from the Study Abroad and National Student Exchange Office!

 As I write this, the fall semester is winding down.  One would think there would also be a slowdown of student activity in The International Center.  Actually, it is quite the opposite.  I am putting the final organizational touches on the Pre-Departure Workshop, held every semester on the last Friday of classes.  This mandatory workshop helps prepare students academically, logistically and psychologically for their semester overseas.  Parents sometimes attend and are always welcome.

 Approximately 50 Winthrop students will be studying abroad next semester in 14 different countries.  Another 200 are in the initial stages of preparation for going overseas with faculty on short-term study abroad courses, study trips of eight weeks or less.  Some will last only a week and are embedded in a spring or fall semester courses.

 Because of the mid-January 2008 start date, one of the Spring ’08 short-term courses will begin January 1^st in Costa Rica.  The upper-level course, Women and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica, will be taught by two Political Science professors.  Initial field work will take place working with a women’s cooperative on Chira Island in the Gulf of Nicoya.  The coop runs a commercial oyster farm as well as provides health and educational services to the community.  After learning from the women, the Winthrop group will return to their classroom in Bancroft Hall to complete the academic work during the spring semester.

 This innovative approach to study abroad is making overseas study more attractive and affordable to students who would otherwise not consider it an option.  You may have read or heard recently in the news that study abroad is becoming more of a given than an add-on when students go off to college.  Numbers continue to grow, having increased at universities and colleges nationwide 8.5 % last year.  This year at Winthrop, there is a 20% increase in students participating in semester programs.    

 Much of the expansion taking place is in the area of combing learning with service and happening in nontraditional destinations such as China, Ecuador and Argentina.  Yes, Winthrop has students in all three countries as well as less traveled places such as India, Japan and Bolivia, to name a few. 

 According to the Institute of International Education, which tracks study abroad figures in its annual Open Doors report, Western Europe has been and remains the most popular destination for students enrolled in American colleges.  The top four choices reported were Britain, Italy, Spain and France.  Winthrop students appear to agree.  Over the past five years, they chose were England, France, Italy and Australia.  Okay, so Australia is not in Western Europe, but it was colonized by Brits.

 Though numbers continue to rise, the percentage of college students who study abroad remains low.  The national average is just over two percent, while Winthrop’s is closer to four percent.  For obvious reasons, such as globalization and the need for the next generation of Americans to be more culturally aware than previous generations, university educators and administrators have a broad desire that more students spend a portion of their college careers outside of the U.S. 

 While students state finances, time away from jobs or friends and degree requirements as the main obstacles for not participating in study abroad, colleges are looking for ways to alleviate these issues.  At Winthrop, we have developed a Taking Students Abroad Series for faculty to encourage them to develop short-term courses that satisfy degree requirements, be completed in less time and place a smaller financial burden on students.  This year we have seen another happy result.  Faculty members are becoming more engaged in international program design, through sister school relationships and fitting semester programs into the four-year plan.  Study abroad is no longer interpreted as a pause in students’ academic careers, but as a bonus to the student’s intellectual and cultural development.

 

For more information on The International Center of Winthrop University, check out the website at www.winthrop.edu/internationalcenter or come visit the center in 206 Tillman Hall.

 

This article was written by Susan Kress, Study Abroad/NSE Coordinator.  She can be reached at kresss@winthrop.edu.

 

 

---

 

Are you interested in contributing to the

Parents' Post?

Email parentprograms@winthrop.edu