What Will Study Abroad Do For Me?

You are thinking of studying abroad to enhance your business education, but it is a tough decision, as a study abroad experience can be expensive. That is true, but consider study abroad as an investment in your education as it will change you in ways you may not anticipate and perhaps even make you more marketable in the job market.

Recent research has shown that students who study abroad become more globally minded, communicate better across cultural and national boundaries, are more open to diversity, and are more interculturally proficient than students who do not study abroad (Clarke et al. 2009 Abstract, Full Text [without university access, you may only be able to read the abstract]; Wright and Clarke 2010, Abstract, Full Text).  Further, these studies show that, when structured correctly, the study abroad program (SAP) itself is responsible for the growth in these areas.  Another recent longitudinal study over several years and covering 35,000 students who studied abroad concluded that SAPs can produce better navigational skills and knowledge of cultural context, improved academic performance upon return, and higher graduation rates (Sutton and Rubin 2010; PDF). In a longitudinal study spanning 50 years and thousands of respondents, Fry (2009; PDF) found that the undergraduate study abroad experience had a direct and significant impact later in life on “global engagement” operationalized as volunteerism, philanthropy, international and domestic political and civic engagement, global leadership, and global values.

Fry’s (2009; PDF) data also show that the undergraduate study abroad experience has a stronger impact on participants’ lives than anything else they do as undergraduates (including coursework, athletics, student clubs, interaction with faculty, fraternities/sororities, etc.). Indeed, Wright and Larsen (2012) explain why student after student described the study abroad experience as “the best thing I’ve done in college,” or “the best thing I’ve done in life.” According to Wright and Larsen (forthcoming in 2012), study abroad is an extraordinary experience: an intense, positive, academically stimulating experience with high levels of emotional intensity that emerges from a dynamic interaction with program providers, foreign nationals, and other program participants. These study abroad extraordinary experiences are “life changing, self-defining episodes that are interpreted within the broader context” (Wright and Larsen 2012, p. 4) of the students’ lives. They provide additional support for Jon and Fry’s (2009) assertion that study abroad has a stronger impact on students’ lives than anything else they do as undergraduates.

But the benefits of study abroad are not limited to personal growth and fulfillment. In the future, college graduates will need specific skills in several areas, including cross-cultural human relations and people skills, to survive in the increasingly multicultural domestic environment.  Even if future graduates never work abroad, they will likely work for organizations with global or multicultural stakeholders (e.g., global customers, global suppliers, or coworkers from different nations and cultures; Ismail, Morgan, and Hayes 2006, PDF).  Employers are constantly searching for employees who are capable of high levels of human interactions across cultural boundaries in responding to the needs of these stakeholders (Carnevale 2008).  Because of this, the business graduate of the future must be able to understand and communicate effectively with people of various cultural and national backgrounds (Jones 2003; Abstract, Full Text).  In effect, they must become more proficient at navigating cultural complexities and social relationships across cultural and national contexts.  These are the very skills that the study abroad program strives to create in students.

One of the greatest challenges in business education is to prepare students for this rapidly changing environment and this is very hard to achieve in the confines of the traditional classroom.  The study abroad program provides a laboratory of learning in a real world context that transcends what can be learned in the classroom.  In a study abroad program, students interact with peoples of many different cultures and internalize skills that are usually only learned theoretically in the classroom.  They learn about doing business in different cultures and learn to interact with people from different cultural contexts.  Studies show that corporate recruiters are looking for and valuing competent employees with strong cultural diversity skills (Peacock 2005)

These (and other) benefits are a major reason for the increase in popularity of study abroad programs in business education.


References

Carnevale, Anthony P. (2008), “The Workplace Realities: In the New Global Workplace, What Exactly do Employees Need and Employers Want?” School Administrator, 65(2), 34-38.

Clarke, Irvine III, Theresa B. Flaherty, Newell D. Wright, and Robert M. McMillen (2009), “Student Intercultural Proficiency from Study Abroad Programs,” Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, 173-181.

Fry, Gerald W. (2009), “The Long Term Impact of Study Abroad on Global Engagement.”  Presentation given at the University of Wisconson-Madison on September 30, 2009.  Accessed online at http://www.cehd.umn.edu/projects/sage/SAGEPresentationU-WisconsinMadison.pdf/.

Ismail, Baraem, Mark Morgan and Kirby Hayes (2006), “Effect of Short Study Abroad Course on Student Openness to Diversity,” Journal of Food Science Education, 1(1), 15-18.

Jones, Wesley H. (2003), “Over the Wall:  Experiences with Multicultural Literacy,” Journal of Marketing Education, 25 (3), 231-240.

Peacock, Jessica Ivy (2005), “Corporate Recruiters’ Perceived Value of Study Abroad and International Travel Experiences,” unpublished thesis, North Carolina State University.  Available online at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04282005-132601/.  Accessed on October 30, 2008.

Sutton, Richard C. and Donald L. Rubin (2010), “Documenting the Academic Impact of Study Abroad:  Final Report of the Glossari Project.”  Presentation at the Association of International Education Administrators annual conference, Washington, DC, 16 February, 2010. See http://glossari.uga.edu.

Wright, Newell D. and Irvine Clarke III (2010), “Preparing Marketing Students for a Global and Multicultural Work Environment:  The Value of a Semester-Long Study Abroad Program,” Marketing Education Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, 149-161.

Wright, Newell D. and Val Larsen (2012), “Every Brick Tells a Story: Study Abroad as an Extraordinary Experience.” Forthcoming in the August, 2012 volume of Marketing Education Review.