I recently participated in a meeting at which a group of student leaders was asked whether the University should build a more robust study abroad program for undergraduate students. The discussion resonated with me because it highlighted a critical challenge which a state university must address: How does a university which draws a significant portion of its undergraduate students from in-state ensure its undergraduates have an opportunity to be exposed to other cultures and environments? Simply admitting more foreign students is not enough. At the University, students must have structured opportunities to study and live overseas.
Certainly, a number of our peer institutions have extensive and well-established study abroad programs. For example, Dartmouth College has a very successful program which has allowed a majority of its third-year students - or, junior year in Dartmouth parlance - to study overseas for at least one of their quarters. While I've already made my support for the quarter system clear, I am confident the University could structure a significantly expanded and flexible study abroad program within its semester-based framework.
The University could create a window from the summer after the second year and the summer after the third year where it functionally mirrors the Dartmouth model. Basically, the University could allow students to go abroad during one of four roughly equal "semesters" where a summer session counts as a semester. During this period, students could study abroad for a minimum of one semester and, if they were so inclined, a maximum of four semesters. Importantly, like Dartmouth, the University could strongly encourage students to do so. Students could benefit from in-depth exposure to a foreign culture while retaining the advantages of a University education and the unique University culture. I believe such a framework provides tremendous flexibility for students as well as the University.
Clearly, careful student planning and proactive, pragmatic administrative action will be required to maximize the benefits of studying abroad while retaining the academic and extracurricular features of a University education. But this is nothing new. The University has a tradition of innovation and flexibility. The institution and its students can meet the challenge.
Obviously there are a number of hurdles. Desire to stay engaged with one's coursework and other commitments - student organizations, etc. - can be strong arguments to stay in the States. Additionally, financial constraints are often a factor in preventing students from going abroad. If the University were to do as I suggest, however, and create an institutional focus on studying abroad, a number of these concerns would dissipate.
True, no matter what, students would need to carefully plan and structure their academic programs to meet various degree, major and pre-professional requirements. Yet with an institutional emphasis on studying abroad, the administration will have to be equally flexible and creative in transferring credits, recognizing grade equivalents and accommodating pass/fail options. Financial aid programs will also have to incorporate expanded study abroad options - again, similar to Dartmouth.
Further, student organizations can play their part in facilitating overseas study. For instance, The Cavalier Daily could have a few columnists who are studying abroad, and it could run articles on study abroad experiences or articles on news events written by the University students who are overseas. And certainly, peer institutions of the University are far from strangers to having candidates for student government run for office while abroad.
Additionally, by breaking up the times when virtually all students go abroad into four equivalent periods, the University would practically assure that its students go abroad with a stronger support network. I suspect one of the most intimidating things about going abroad is that one has to leave behind the support networks developed at college for a leap into a highly different community and culture. One of the more attractive features of something like the Dartmouth model is that since virtually all students participate one can easily choose to go abroad with a group of his friends.
I have to acknowledge a twinge of regret. I did not study abroad. While I had the urge to spend time abroad in a new and exciting setting, the simple truth is that I was too engrossed in my school work and so deeply committed to my extracurricular activities - and otherwise having too much fun - at Cornell to take advantage of the study abroad option.
In a globalized world, University students must learn to transcend the insularity of purely domestic experience. As a world class institution of higher education, the University has an obligation to provide its undergraduates the opportunity to study and live abroad. To study abroad will not be everyone's cup of tea. But it should be an option on everyone's plate.
Sanjiv Tata's column usually appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at s.tata@cavalierdaily.com.
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