Contact: Debbie Gardner/Heidi Reinholdt,
For a.m. release December 6, 1999 [email protected], 212/734-2190
or Sharon Witherell, IIE/Public Affairs [email protected], 212/984-5380
AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE STUDYING ABROAD IN RECORD NUMBERS
Increasing numbers of campuses sending nearly 10% of their students abroad
NEW YORK, NY, December 6, 1999 -- The number of U.S. students receiving credit for study abroad jumped nearly 15% from the previous year, reaching a record total of 113,959, according to Open Doors 1998/99, the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with sponsorship from the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. This increase follows an 11% rise from the year before and continues a decade-long period of growth.
"This is very impressive growth, and we're quite pleased with the direction in which these numbers are going," said IIE president Allan E. Goodman. "However, the total number of students who have had a study abroad experience during the course of their undergraduate years is still estimated at less than 10% of the four-year undergraduate population. And community college students lag substantially behind those in baccalaureate programs in terms of study abroad participation. The Institute of International Education is committed to helping to increase the opportunities to study overseas for all American students."
"To be truly engaged in a global society we are going to have to become more internationally focused in our higher education. The increasing numbers of students studying abroad reflect a growing understanding that international educational experience will be a professional advantage in their careers. Business leaders need to demonstrate loud and clear that they value this kind of international competence in their hiring and promoting of recent graduates," said Dr. Goodman.
Keith Geiger, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs at the U.S. Department of State which funds the Open Doors study, stated: "We are gratified by the great increase in the number of U.S. students studying abroad. We especially applaud their home institutions for opening up opportunities for study in increasingly varied destinations and engaging their students in the affairs of the world beyond our borders. The trends documented in the Open Doors data demonstrate that students are thinking about their futures from a global perspective."
This year's Open Doors report provides a new breakdown on those baccalaureate-granting institutions that send the largest number and highest percentage of students abroad during their 4-year degree program, with St. Olaf College topping the list at 94%. Dr. Todd Davis, Director of IIE's Research Division and editor of Open Doors, explained that "this new analysis focuses this year on four-year institutions, since community colleges (which enroll about a third of all higher education students) do not report significant numbers of students studying abroad. We hope to expand the analysis in coming years to all tertiary institutions, as their reporting of data on study abroad expands."
The 1998/99 Open Doors study also finds that U.S. students are going in greater numbers to more diverse destinations. While Europe continues to be the most popular region for U.S. students pursuing education abroad, many are choosing to go elsewhere. Open Doors reports that in 1997/98 (the most recent year for which study abroad statistics are available) 64% of U.S. students who received credit for study abroad earned those credits in Europe. This is a substantial decline from the 80% figure in 1985/86, the first year this data was collected. The percentage of students going to Latin America has doubled since 1985, from 7% the first year of the survey to 16% this year. Other regions that are attracting an increasing number of students include Africa (an increase of 20% this year), South America (up 25%), Asia (up 13%), Oceania (up 13%), North America (up 41%), the Middle East (up 19%) and the Caribbean (up 31%). Individual host countries with some of the largest increases in the Open Doors 1998/99 reports that the leading fields of study for Americans abroad were social sciences and humanities (35%), business and management (16%), and foreign languages (8%), followed by fine or applied arts (8%), physical sciences (7%) education (5%), health sciences (3%), engineering (3%) and math or computer science (2%). Since 1990 the proportion of U.S. students who study abroad and major in business, as well as in scientific and technical fields, has been increasing.
Most American students (54%) who studied abroad did so for one semester or less, and 32% studied abroad only for the summer term. Less than 10% of students spent the entire academic year in the host country.
The Open Doors report is published by the Institute of International Education, the leading not-for-profit educational and cultural exchange organization in the United States. IIE has conducted the annual statistical survey of the foreign students in the United States since 1949, and has been collecting study abroad figures since 1986. A grant from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs supports the research and report. Separate surveys are conducted to generate statistics on foreign scholars, U.S. study abroad, and foreign students enrolled in pre-academic Intensive English Programs.
Open Doors 1998/99 is available from IIE Books for $42.95. The new book provides approximately 96 pages of data and graphics highlighting key facts and trends in international student and faculty flows. Additional statistics are available on IIE's website at http://www.opendoorsweb.org
Custom research reports based on the most currently available international student data are available for a fee from IIE Research at 212-984-5348. Open Doors 1998/99 can be ordered from IIE Books at 800-445-0443 toll free in U.S., or by e-mail: [email protected]. The new edition may be purchased at the IIE Online Bookstore: http://www.iiebooks.org.
A limited number of review copies of the report are available to the press from IIE's media relations counsel, Halstead Communications/College Connections. Call Deborah Gardner/Heidi Reinholdt at 212-734-2190, or e-mail: [email protected].
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