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MSU plans on boosting study abroad participation

June 28, 2014

In the 2011-12 academic year, 283,332 American college students studied abroad, according to the Open Doors 2013 Report on International Educational Exchange.

This sounds impressive until compared to the 2.6 million students graduating with an associate or bachelor’s degrees each year. Only 9 percent of U.S. undergraduates studied abroad before graduating in the 2011-12 year.

Though these numbers still mark an all-time high for study abroad, the Institute of International Education, or IIE, launched Generation Study Abroad in an attempt to double U.S. students’ participation by the end of the decade. The goal is to expand from the 300,000 students currently studying abroad per year, to 600,000 by 2020.

At MSU, 27 percent of graduates have traveled overseas at least once during their undergraduate career, Cheryl Benner, communications manager for the Office of Study Abroad, said.

The IIE approached President Lou Anna K. Simon looking for MSU’s participation in the Generation Study Abroad initiative, Executive Director for the Office of Study Abroad Brett Berquist said. MSU joined the initiative and is committed to the national strategy for the next five years.

“MSU has been a leader in international study,” he said. “We already offer what might be the largest catalogue of programs in the nation.”

Benner said MSU currently has 300 programs in more than 60 countries on all seven continents.

While MSU may not necessarily increase the number of programs offered to support the initiative, Berquist said the Office of Study Abroad hopes to increase its outreach to first generation, underprivileged and underrepresented minority students.

“We plan to focus on goals for particular types of programs and demographics,” Berquist said.

He said such programs include overseas internships, community engagement, seminars, research among others.

Graduate student Eileen Stefansky participated in MSU’s Internships in Argentina program. Stefansky said because of the internship, she is now more experienced in small animal surgery than some of her classmates.

“The purpose was to find an internship appropriate to the individual. I want to be a vet, so I spent three months with two veterinarians at their clinic working with dogs and cats, as well as cart horses,” Stefansky said. “With the legislation being less strict over there I was able to scrub in and even perform some surgeries on my own. That I would never have been allowed to do here in the states.”

Stefansky said she was offered loans toward her trip and won several MSU scholarships she applied studiously for. As part of the Generation Study Abroad initiative, MSU hopes to double its endowments for study abroad scholarships.

“I am still $7,000 in debt for the trip, but it was so worth it,” Stefansky said.

She said without studying abroad, she would not be the person she is today. By studying abroad, she realized her dream of being a part of the international community via animal agriculture.

“More students should study abroad because immersion into a new culture will disorient you enough so that you discover new things about yourself, learn lessons you’ve never thought about and find friends that will impart (to) you memories everlasting,” Stefansky said.

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