The study abroad program at the University is successful and extremely renowned. In 2015, the University was ranked among the top 25 colleges sending students on study-abroad programs in the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange for the first time in the University’s history, with 1,617 undergraduate students and 645 graduate students participating in 38 international programs in 28 countries.
Faculty in the International Studies Office believe their programs are a significant part of the higher education sought after at the University.
The office states in its mission “education abroad plays an important role in advancing the University of Virginia’s pedagogic mission, enriching students both academically and personally, and is crucial in preparing students for the challenges of the global world.”
While professor salaries vary based on their personal contract with the University, all professors participating in study-abroad do so through the University with no personal expense. Dana Elzey, associate professor of Materials Science & Engineering, currently leads trips to Germany.
“There is no expectation on the part of the University or the School of Engineering & Applied Science that faculty will incur any personal cost for creating and directing study abroad,” Elzey said. “Faculty expenses, including travel, are paid for by the University, provided the expenses are legitimate and meet all University policy requirements.”
The cost of sending professors abroad is calculated and included in the expense of the trip for students, and the University reimburses any expenses not provided for in the initial budget to the individual professor.
“The ISO works closely with program directors to estimate the cost of programs and to set program fees and minimum number of participants to cover anticipated costs,” Elzey said. “Reasonable expenses incurred on the part of faculty, which were not included in the program budget, will likely be reimbursed if the faculty person has otherwise abided by all policies for travel and reimbursement.”
Whether a professor’s individual income is affected is based on their individual teaching contract with the University.
“For nine-month faculty, directing a summer study abroad program may represent an opportunity for additional income, but is also an opportunity to provide additional service to a department or program in the University,” Elzey said. “Teaching and program direction abroad often forms a component of a faculty person’s expected teaching, research or service load. In such cases, the faculty program director’s salary is not affected by study abroad.”
However, while concrete costs can be excluded for professors, they face the same opportunity costs their students face when traveling internationally instead of teaching in Charlottesville.
“There is always a balance, just as when students take such opportunities to go to other countries; you give something up, but you also get much in return,” Elzey said. “I have also learned that leaving what you know for a while gives new insight and perspective and helps you to better appreciate many of the things in your life.”
One difficult cost professors may face is leaving their families while traveling abroad. However, the University can defray this cost as well.
The University’s policy states “the University of Virginia permits, under certain circumstances, minor children, family members, and other individuals to accompany Program Staff abroad.”
Elzey is one of the many professors who has taken advantage of this policy.
“When I joined a summer voyage of the Semester at Sea program in 2008, I took my family with me. My three kids were at a near-perfect age to enjoy traveling and to form great memories of the experience,” Elzey said.
However, the University does not cover the personal expenses of children or spouses as they do for program staff.
Third-year Commerce student Morgan Gronbeck studied abroad for a semester at Oxford last year and plans on participating in another study abroad trip this summer. While the courses were taught by Oxford professors, she said she believes the University professors who accompanied her on the trip were absolutely essential.
“U.Va. professors were there to oversee the program and do day-to-day administrative work. They were there to check up on us and make sure we were getting places on time, as well as handle emergency situations and help us adjust to Oxford,” Gronbeck said. “They are definitely a necessary part of the program, and I definitely think our tuition costs should cover it."
Many professors, though traveling for free, put their lives on hold to direct study abroad trips because they believe in the immense positive impact international education has on their students’ studies, as well as their own.
“The opportunity, as a teacher, to travel with one’s students, to live with them and to share experiences and insights along the way, and to experience firsthand the things you are trying to communicate, is for me the most effective and rich learning experience available,” Elzey said.
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