Meaningful Experiences Can Happen Anywhere

​Europe has long been the most prevalent study abroad destination for U.S. students, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased that trend. The most recent Open Doors report states that in the 2021-22 academic year, over 73% of U.S. students participated in a program in Europe. This marks an increase of 6.8% from the previous academic year (2020-21) and a 17.4% increase from pre-pandemic levels (2018-19).(1) There is also a desire to diversify the locations students can study abroad in, as well as news of the more traditional European locations seeing anti-tourist sentiments rise, even to implementing ways to deter tourism. Larger number of students in a particular location also can lead to the establishment of an “American bubble” raising the question of how much are students really experiencing the local culture, or are they just living in an American culture satellite? This trend has sparked ever growing conversations around study abroad in non-traditional, non-European, locations and how best to manage the influx of students looking to study abroad in Europe. In response, education abroad (EA) offices and program providers are facing critical questions about how best to proceed. For education abroad offices at colleges and university, these questions may be:

1) What is our marketing plan around destinations – do we stop actively promoting
experiences in more traditional locations and focus only on non-traditional? Do
we focus on programs in smaller cities near to these larger, more frequented,
European destinations?
2) Do we examine our current portfolios and disaffiliate with some of the options in
traditional locations while increase our non-traditional locations?
3) Do we cap the number of students who can study abroad at a particular location?

For program providers, the questions often revolve around administration and capacity of being able to support students while on-site and through the programs they offer. What additional staff is needed, housing, courses, financial support. In addition, also looking at the cultural activities that are offered and whether to try to combat the bubble effect, or not. While no one right answer exists for any of these questions, the fact that our field is having this discussion is positive and helps us as EA professionals to provide the support and care that our students need, and in many cases, expect.

There has been an understandable movement to simply move away from talking about study abroad in Europe. As a field, we might want to encourage rather a shift in thinking away from viewing study abroad in European destinations as annoying and cumbersome given the number of students or seeing these destinations as not as meaningful experiences given the higher tendency toward an American bubble.  There may be a desire to push against the Eurocentric view of study abroad and/or also increase the number of students who consider, and ultimately participate on, programs in other regions. Perhaps we as field want to address ways that we can take both paths, supporting students’ choice to have meaningful experiences while studying in Europe, and increasing awareness of all the great opportunities around the globe. To not only enhance, encourage, and promote students to “take the road less travelled”, but help all students, regardless of their host destination, to:
- approach education abroad with cultural humility and awareness
- push themselves out of their comfort zone
- break away from the American bubble and engage with the local community
- approach their host culture with curiosity and respect and learn more about their
own culture in process
- take ownership of their own learning and experiences

Our office, Northwestern’s Global Learning Office, recently incorporated a mandatory session centering around the conversation of cultural humility in our pre-departure orientation. The moderator, Associate Director for Global Engagement Programs, Sara McGuinn, addressed topics such as ethical photography, setting boundaries, local engagement, and more. This session had attendees studying in a wide variety of destinations and on either an Exchange or a Northwestern-run program (akin to a Faculty-Led). While only one-hour in length and just the tip of the iceberg, this session was an important first step for all students to start their own reflection on what affect their study abroad will have on themselves and their host communities. As experienced travelers and EA professionals, one primary goal for our field should be, not to discourage students from study abroad in particular location, but to help provide them with resources about all opportunities and prepare them to be ethical, mindful, and respectful travelers. We want to encourage them to engage, experience the wonder, and learn about their local culture while understanding the effects of their program has on the community. To put themselves in another’s shoes and walk a mile. Lastly, to encourage them to approach discomfort as a growth opportunity while facing them head on, instead of simply retreating to what is comfortable and familiar right away.

Life changing growth happens each day for our students, no matter where they have chosen to study abroad. The work of our field has been and will continue to be vital to helping our student communities grow in an ever more connected world. The presentation Northwestern did at our pre-departure is only the start of this conversation with students. There are many ways that we, as EA professionals, can approach this discussion. Idea sharing and supporting each other is a great place to start. This can allow us to help all students, regardless of their study abroad destination, to engage with our world in meaningful ways. Please share any ideas you have, initiatives your office is doing, or ways you think of to help students follow their path while remaining culturally engaged and humble.
​
1 M. Martel et al., “Open Doors 2023 Report on International Education Exchange” (Institute of
International Education), accessed March 8/26/ 2024,
https://report.opendoorsdata.org/opendoors/library/document/open_doors_2023/.

Jacob Schoofs

Education Abroad Representative