Why Study Abroad?

The Chronicle recently reported on a new American Council on Education report (“Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses: 2008 Edition”) on the status of the internationalization of American campuses. The report concludes that some progress has been made — the percentage of schools offering education abroad has grown from 65 percent in 2001 to 91 percent in 2006, more funding is available for faculty to lead study programs abroad and for hosting international faculty.

But the report also cites declines in general education requirements to take international courses and notes that most campuses do not have a full-time person to coordinate internationalization, and that a large number of campuses had no students studying abroad.