By John Wells
Do we as education abroad professionals need to be focusing more on the benefits of education abroad in terms of student success than we are? While the intercultural awareness and adaptability outcomes of education broad are at the heart of what we all do, is the story around student success a more compelling one in these times of financial constraints in higher education?
Before considering this, let me explain what I mean by student success. One simple metric of student success in higher education is certainly persistence to graduation. How this plays out may vary by institutional profile and mission however. For some institutions, the percentage of students who graduate within 4 or 5 years may be key, while others may focus on graduate outcomes in terms of employment or graduate school entry. It’s important for education abroad professionals to understand how student success is defined at their own institutions and what metrics are important to senior administrators.
Whether one looks at time-to-graduation, retention, or professional outcomes, there’s plenty of compelling research to show the importance of education abroad on persistence to graduation and academic performance. The Glossari Project conducted by Richard Sutton and Donald Rubin; Heather Barclay Hamir’s research on time graduation; and Steve Bell’s look at the impact of socio-economic status on study abroad outcomes are just a few examples of the research that has been done and can be useful in citing to make a case on your own campus for supporting education abroad.
Even if your institution’s focus is not as much on student persistence to graduation, data on education abroad and employability presents more persuasive evidence on why investing in education abroad is worthwhile from the institutional or student perspective. IIE has assembled a useful list of research in this area.
Retention, time to graduation, and career success all provide compelling cases for increasing access to study abroad for all students. In my opinion, we as education abroad professionals need to learn how to use this data effectively to make a compelling case for our institutions to increase support for study abroad even in these times of financial constraint.