Since the year 2000 and in response to globalization, the U.S. government and higher education institutions have pressed for more internationalization of campuses (Lincoln Commission, 2005; Stroud, 2010). As Cabrera and Unruh (2012) stated in their book Being Global: How to Think, Act, and Lead in a Transformed World, “… it is clear how much more connected, interdependent, and multidirectional our global world is today than at any time in the past” (p. 2). Our communities expect that higher education institutions are taking steps necessary to prepare graduating students for the “…inclusive, multidirectional, interlinked, and hugely complex” (Cabrera & Unruh, 2012, p. 2) global workforce. However, issues still need to be addressed in order for campuses to be successful at the internationalization campuses – the process of integrating international dimension into institutions (Ward, 2013) – and preparing students for a globalized world.
In The Landscape of International Experiences: 2014 Research Report, the Graduate Learning Experiences and Outcomes (GLEO) project team stated that “As the world becomes an increasingly interconnected global community, it is essential that today’s graduate students develop international perspectives and the ability to work with others in diverse settings” (GLEO, 2014). Institutions recognize that short-term study abroad programs – less than eight weeks long – can be significant tools for developing students’ global views and abilities (Dwyer, 2004), but a scant amount of research on the learning graduate students achieve as a result of study abroad programs exists today (GLEO, 2014).
RECOMMENDATIONS: Institutions will have to conduct more research to understand graduate-level experiences and outcomes necessary to develop programs that graduate students will not only want to participate in, but from which the students will also gain demonstrable, measurable, personal and/or professional benefits. Recommendations for determining what graduate students learn from studying abroad, methods for assessing the new knowledge, and methods for finding out how students incorporate the learning into their degree programs and personal lives follow:
> Faculty trip leaders should incorporate into syllabi class presentations that have family, friends, and colleagues as audiences. Examples include scheduling a capstone assignment to be presented to a local panel of experts in the discipline or arranging for a friends/family course presentation day where class pairs or groups record or conduct live video call presentations on what they learned during the trip. For smaller groups of 10-15 students, these might be done in the hotel lobbies or restaurants where the groups are already staying at no extra expense.
> Researchers can study how to deepen learning within the experiences (GLEO, 2014) by requiring reflection journals of all participating students. Travel program leaders can include starter questions related to prior travel experiences, cultural awareness, and career goals as part of pre-departure materials. This will require faculty review the journals periodically during the trip, midway through the course during a guest lecturer or on a longer train or bus ride to a destination. Upon return to campuses, campuses could schedule a dedicated “Reading Day” for study abroad faculty to spend a morning or afternoon reading journals at the same time while snacks and coffee are provided.
> Conduct more research on graduate students’ post-abroad experiences to determine the learning achieved during the course after they have had time for reflection on the experiences. Incorporate graduate-level poster presentation sessions into study abroad information events on campuses for students who have returned from a short-term study abroad and open the sessions to faculty, staff, and graduate students who will study abroad in the future.
> Develop a methodology for the study and assessment of relevant outcomes associated with short-term faculty-led study abroad experiences for graduate students (GLEO, 2014); institutions can begin by focusing on one country or region and having graduate students develop their own assessments as a starting point. Over the course of several years faculty can revisit and refine the methods and results used as the faculty plan future trips.
CONCLUSION: Despite their growing popularity, short-term study abroad program managers and educators still lack information on how to design and implement such programs (Sachau et. al, 2009). Institutions will have to focus on outcomes tailored toward graduate students to make short-term study abroad programs more appealing and for the students to feel such programs are worthwhile as part of their educational programs.
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