Breaking the Barriers to Overseas Study for Students of Color and Minorities

Why don’t students of color and minority students study abroad? Certainly there are very practical reasons including lack of finances and fear of not graduating on time. Donald Washington in his 1998 dissertation on African American student’s perceptions and attitudes toward study abroad found that lack of awareness was the greatest contributor to the lack of African American participation in study abroad programs (Washington, 1998, p. 125.) I propose that two of the main reasons for this lack of awareness are historical exclusion from and media images of study abroad programs.

In regards to historical exclusion, due to numerous economic and socio-political reasons, minority families do not have a history of sending young people abroad for the purposes of education. In contrast, among many upper-middle class, predominately white families there is a long established tradition of sending young people, especially women to Europe for “finishing”. Back in the 1800’s in some circles the travel abroad experience was preferable to college for marriage preparation. (Solomon, 1985) Traveling abroad for privileged women is considered a rite of passage and a long established tradition in many families. Even in this day and age it is relatively unlikely that a minority student will have had a family member or peer who has studied abroad. Even the people who traditionally mentor minority students may not have studied abroad and don’t see the value in it. (Monaghan, 1994) So for an average minority student there is very little “word of mouth” information about the program from the sources close to them.

Media has a huge influence on all of us and can influence what we wear, which politician we support and which cola we drink. There are plenty of media images out there that depict study abroad or travel abroad experiences. There is practically a whole genre of light-hearted “fish out of water” movies that have entertained generations of young people from Sabrina (1954) and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) through the Mary-Kate and Ashley movies (they go to Paris, London, Australia), the new Lizzie McGuire (2003) movie and the more infamous Eurotrip (2004). Movies that depict minority students and students of color in similar situations are almost impossible to find. So in addition to having few real life role models who have studied abroad, students of color don’t have many virtual role models either. The combination of these factors leads to what I like to call the “not for people like me” syndrome. People don’t think that study abroad is right for them and then filter out or ignore information about study abroad.

Changing people’s minds about study abroad is not easy, but there are a few things that study abroad advisors can do to try to raise the awareness of study abroad among students of color and minorities. Many of them do not take a lot of time and money.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere for All Students
If your office is a shrine to the European location where you studied abroad, change the decorations to reflect a plethora of cultures. If possible, consider diversifying your staff and your student assistant or volunteer pool.

Create Visuals
A photo board of all students who have studied abroad displayed prominently in the library or student center is a start, hopefully in time people will see “people like me” in the pictures.

Create Materials
Make sure you have booklets, handouts and information that addresses the needs of minority populations and cover a variety of topics from hair care to racism to heritage travel issues. This information can be in the form of student reports or articles about students of color studying abroad or preferably both. Create a lending library with books about the travel abroad experiences of minorities. (ex. Elaine Lee’s (Ed.) Go Girl, Maya Angelou’s All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes)

Develop Role Models
Of course, it would be best to work with alumni of study abroad programs, but even applicants to study abroad programs can serve as role models. They are going through the application process and can help guide others. Sometimes just having a student of color passing out flyers will help others become aware of the information or at least see that it might be something to look into. Ask your student alumni to make class presentations and serve as peer mentors. Ask them if they can act as “spokes models” and see you can put their picture and a statement about their study abroad experience on your website.

Create Virtual Roles Models by looking at History
Create a display during Black History Month (or sooner, why wait!) honoring these people and linking them to the concept of study abroad. Again be sure your display is somewhere where students go, like the library or the student center. For example: Many famous African Americans studied or lived abroad including:
– W.E.B. DuBois – James Baldwin – Angela Davis – Maya Angelou

Create Support System
Advise in groups during a general “Information Meeting” not on a one-on-one basis. Ask an alumnus to speak at the information meetings. Ask all interested students to bring a friend to the meetings. Don’t be afraid to talk to established groups of students in the student center. Ask to speak at the meetings of as many student groups as possible.

Create Mentor Programs
Start a club for incoming exchange students, outgoing domestic students and returning study abroad alumni. This creates a social outlet for students to get to know each other and it also provides you with a group you can mobilize to get the word out about study abroad. It takes a while to get it off the ground, but once it gets going the students really run with it. Over the years International Education Exchange Council at San Francisco State has done a tremendous job to increase the awareness of study abroad on campus and bring U.S. and international students together. Both international students and domestic students have expressed that participating in club activities was a high point of their campus experience.

Some may ask, why is it important to increase minority student participation in study abroad. There is an abundance of literature that speaks to the benefits of study abroad for minority students. (Anderson [1996], Carew, [1993], Craig, [1998], and others.) Mattai and Ohiwerei’s (1989) state that a returning study abroad student will benefit his/her African American community. Widening the circle of benefit, Talburt & Stewart (1999) state that having an African American student on program to Spain benefited the white students, because through listening to her experiences with racism in Spain they were confronted with the significance of racial differences, racism and outsider status. The white students were able to think about this reality outside their own culture in neutral territory” and it had special meaning because in Spain they were also themselves experiencing feelings of being “different” and “outsider”. This experience may make them more sensitive to issues of cultural difference and outsider status when they return home.

One can even argue, as my San Francisco State University (SFSU) colleague, Study Abroad Coordinator, My Yarabinec does, that having minority students on a study abroad program benefits the host country because these students bring with them a unique American perspective that is often ignored or portrayed very negatively in the media.

Thus the student, the minority home community, the non-minority program participants and the inhabitants of the host country all benefit. While all these are positive results of diversifying exchange programs, Carter (1991) makes a much bolder and more compelling argument. She states that the goals of international education, i.e. helping students understand another country’s history, geographic environment, values and traditions in order to foster better cultural understanding and world peace, will never be met if cultural diversity in these programs is ignored.

Carter (1991) states that internationalism and domestic cultural diversity are concepts that should be compatible. Yet there is no realization of the “international” element in cultural diversity. Many minority communities speculate that Americans are more comfortable looking outside its borders for international cultural understanding rather than deal with the “international” cultural diversity represented by ethnic communities in our own hometowns. (p.11) Carter (1991) warns that if there is a true commitment to the concept of internationalism, it must be linked to a commitment to acknowledge, respect and teach the benefits of cultural diversity in our society. There must be an acceptance of the inter-relatedness of cultural diversity and internationalism. The loftier goals of international education (world peace, etc.) cannot be achieved if cultural diversity is not a part of the picture. Carter (1991) believes that if international educators do their jobs properly, every student will have the skills, perspective and understanding necessary to be a global citizen. If they don’t, they achieve the opposite of their stated goals: increased tendencies toward parochialism, protectionism, racism, aggressive competition and in the end continued international conflict and strife. (p.19)

If we as international educations wish to achieve the loftier goals of international education, we need to take the diversification of these programs very seriously.

Marilyn Jackson is the Coordinator of International Grants & Protocol for the Office of International Programs at San Francisco State University.

Published previously in the print version of the Fall 2005 IIENetworker Magazine.

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The Impact of Study Abroad

Educational Travel as a Model for Responsible Tourism

My semester abroad experience in a small village on the island of Sumatra prompted me to begin research on the impacts of tourism in host communities. My classmates and I spent four of the most amazing, eye-opening months of our lives living, working, and studying alongside the Minangkabau people of Western Sumatra. While we benefitted greatly from the exchange, I wondered about the village after we left. Did the community also gain from the experience?

Tourism has been promoted as a possible answer to environmental, economic, and cultural losses. But tourism has also been shown to create its own profound problems. Educational travel, in the form of study abroad programs, appears to offer a model for responsible tourism, tourism that has the potential to avoid the problems inherent in traditional or “mass” tourism by providing real benefits to the hosts as well as to the participants in the programs.

Negative Effects of Tourism

Tourism, generally defined as temporary stays of people traveling primarily for leisure or recreational purposes, is often said to hold benefits for the destination communities–as an economic boost or even for environmental conservation. All too often, no such positive effects occur. Morever, both the local communities and the visitors are often disappointed with the outcome. For the visitors, the search for authenticity produces an unattainable paradox: As soon as tourists enter the scene the local people have to put on a show to satisfy tourists’ expectations; the tourists are then disappointed by the staged version of culture produced for them.

As Transitions Abroad contributing editor Deborah McLaren points out in her recent book, Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel: The Paving of Paradise and What You Can Do to Stop It (Kumarian Press, 1998), the unequal power relations between tourists and locals emerge in both economic exchanges and the exchange of knowledge. Because tourists are paying customers, they have “rights” in the host community. One result of this unequal power dynamic is that the tourists never get to know the locals in any meaningful manner; likewise, the locals’ view of the tourists is a very superficial one. One problem that stems from this lack of “real” contact between hosts and guests is the stereotyping and idealizing of cultures.

Benefits of Alternative Tourism

Alternative tourism can be characterized as a form of tourism consistent with natural, social, and community values which allow both hosts and guests to enjoy positive and worthwhile interaction and shared experiences. This implies contact between local communities and tourists in an equal exchange, with both sides benefitting. The interactions between visitors and locals should help develop a respect for other cultures, rather than romanticizing them. Student travelers can be seen as at least potentially responsible travelers because they are in the country for a longer period of time than tourists, either to attend university with host country nationals or to live with a family or both. In all of their interactions–with other students, professors, family members, and members of the community–the study abroad participants have the time and opportunity to develop meaningful relationships and to learn about the culture of the other.

Study Abroad as Alternative Tourism

Study abroad programs can be categorized into two broad types. The first is traditional study abroad, often with a language focus, in which the students spend a year or a semester at a foreign university living in a dorm or apartment or sometimes with a host family. The second type is experiential, field-based study abroad in which the emphasis is on non-classroom-based learning. Most such programs have a substantial homestay period. Many experiential programs have a focus on social justice. Study topics include: gender and development, the environment, social change and the arts, multicultural societies, and Indigenous studies.

For a profile of one such successful program and a description of the steps in developing an experiential program, see “ICADS in Central America,” an interview with Sandra Kinghorn, and “Experiential Education: Enriching Study Abroad Through Immersion Learning Programs” by Heather Ford in the November/December 1998 issue of Transitions Abroad. Other examples of experiential programs include the School for International Training College Semester Abroad’s “Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation and Development.” The semester is spent studying the history and politics of both Nicaragua and Cuba, economics and development, culture and identity, and social movements and civil society. The program consists of a seven-week homestay in Managua, a week-long visit to a rural village, and a field trip to Cuba. The Center for Global Education offers an experiential semester program called “Multicultural Societies in Transition: Southern African Perspectives” based in Windhoek, Namibia with homestays with rural and urban Namibian families, regional travel in Namibia, and a two-week seminar in South Africa. Courses are offered in political and social change, the development process, history, and religion. These and programs like them focus on more than just learning a language; they attempt to foster a deepened understanding of a country and its people that goes far beyond what a tourist or even a student on a traditional program would ever learn. For descriptions of experiential programs look under “Directed Field Study” in the new editions of Academic Year Abroad and Vacation Study Abroad (Institute of International Education).

Impacts of Educational Travel

To determine whether study abroad really constitutes a form of alternative tourism, I looked for studies on the impacts of educational travel. Not surprisingly, there is little data: the study abroad literature looks mostly at the effects on the students, while the anthropology of tourism literature emphasizes effects on the hosts.

Students who study abroad report that the programs helped them make career and life choices, attain skills in intercultural communication, improve problem solving skills and field research techniques, and gain respect for cultural differences. Students are introduced to new ways of seeing and thinking which challenge old assumptions and beliefs. Third World travel especially leads to a greater understanding of self and a confronting of U.S. values concerning consumerism, individualism, and race-based identity. Students return with a greater global-mindedness. In general, the most commonly observed impacts on students who studied abroad are better foreign language proficiency, more knowledge about the culture, politics, and society of the host country, and altered stereotypes.

The results are not so clear, however, when one takes into account the self-selection of students. Many students who go abroad, as compared to ones who stay at home, may be inclined to a broader world view. One study showed no increase in international understanding because the students who went were already previously concerned about international issues.

An unpublished study by Skye Stephenson for the CIEE on its semester abroad program in Santiago, Chile includes host families. The main focus of the study was to examine all parties involved with the exchange program, not only the students but the professors and host families as well. “The premise of this study is that not only exchange students but members of the host society who come into contact with them are impacted by the cross-cultural experience,” Stephenson writes. By surveying the students upon arrival and again at departure the author found that it was difficult for the students to adjust to cultural and value differences and that their experience was more stressful than anticipated. The strongest impact on the host families was a “reaffirming [of] their own sense of being Chilean and in gaining a deeper appreciation of their own culture.”

Planning and Preparation

The limited studies available point to the conclusion that study abroad can be a form of responsible travel when there is an equal exchange between students and hosts. This can happen only when an effort is made on the part of program organizers and students to understand the deeper issues in the cross-cultural experience. Design, preparation, curriculum, orientation, and a homestay period are key elements in a program that can make for a positive experience for all.

If students live in an apartment or dorm with other Americans, their contact with the local people is limited. Economic or social class is also an issue: If privileged U.S. students go to a foreign university with privileged foreign students, as Chip Peterson points out in a 1997 column in this magazine, they may never really experience the broad cultural differences of their new environment.

Works Cited (Study Abroad and Tourism) Study Abroad: Bachner, David and Ulrich, Zeutschel. 1994. Utilizing the Effects of Youth Exchange: A Study of the Subsequent Lives of German and American High School Exchange Participants. New York: Council on International Education Exchange Bates, Judy. 1997. The Effects of Study Abroad on Undergraduates in an Honors International Program. Dissertation Abstracts International. Vol. 58-11A:4162, Univ. of South Carolina. Carlson, Jerry S., Barbara Burn, John Useem and David Yachimowicz. Study Abroad: The Experience of American Undergraduates. Westport: CT: Greenwood Press. Kauffmann, Norman L., Judith N. Martin, Henry D. Weaver and Judy Weaver. 1992. Students Abroad: Strangers at Home. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Opper, Susan, Ulrich Teichler and Jerry Carlson. 1990. Impacts of Study Abroad Programs on Students and Graduates. London: Jessica Kinglsey Publishers. Peterson, Chip. 1997. “Class and Study Abroad: Combining Concern and Compassion with Critical Analysis.” Transitions Abroad. July/August. Sommer, John. 1997. “Creditable Study Abroad: Experiential Learning and Academic Rigor.” Transitions Abroad. November/December. Stangor, Charles, Klaus Jonas, Stroebe, Wolfgang and Hewstone, Miles. 1996. “Influence of Student Exchange on National Stereotpyes, Attitudes and Perceived Group Variability.” European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 26:663-675. Stephenson, Skye. 1998. “Two Cultures Under One Roof: The Exchange Experience as a Transformational Phenomenon: A Study of its Impact Upon Exchange Students, Host Families and University Professors.” Council Study Center-Chile. Unpublished paper. Vande Berg, Michael. 1997. “Challenging Value Primacies: Educational Awakening Beyond the Comfort Zones.” Transitions Abroad. May/June. Churchill, R. 1958. “The Student Abroad.” Antioch Review, 18:447-454. Tourism: Abram, Simone, MacLeod, Donald V.L., Waldren, Jacqueline. 1997. Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places. New York: Berg. Butler, Richard, 1992. “Alternative Tourism: The Thin Edge of the Wedge.” In Smith, eds. 1992. Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems in the Development of Tourism. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. Cohen, Erik. 1993. “The Study of Touristic Images of Native Peoples: Mitigating the Stereotype of a Stereotype.” In Pearce eds. 1993. Tourism Research: Critiques and Challenges. New York: Routledge. deKadt, Emanuel. 1992. “Making the Alternative Sustainable: Lessons from Development for Tourism.” In Smith, eds. 1992. Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems in the Development of Tourism. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. MacCannell. 1976. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Schochken Books. 1992. Empty Meeting Grounds: The Tourist Papers. New York: Routledge. McLaren, Deborah. 1998. Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel: The Paving of Paradise and What You Can Do To Stop It. W. Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press. Pearce, Douglas. 1995. Tourism Today: A Geographical Analysis. 2nd edition. Essex: Longman Group, Ltd. Pearce, Douglas and Butler, Richard W., eds. 1993. Tourism Research: Critiques and Challenges. New York: Routledge. Smith, Valene L. and Eadington, William R., eds. 92. Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems in the Development of Tourism. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennysvania Press. van den Berghe, Pierre L. and Keys, Charles F. 1984. Tourism and Re-created Ethnicity.” Annals of Tourism Research, 11:343-352.

SHOSHANNA SUMKA is a graduate student in applied anthropology at the Univ. of Maryland. She is a past participant in the School for International Training’s semester in Sumatra, Indonesia and a former leader for the Experiment in International Living’s summer program in Ecuador.

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IAEC Consultants – Overseas Educational Consultants

IAEC Consultants Pvt. Ltd. is an organization dedicated towards providing services to Indian students in making educational avenues abroad accessible to them.

IAEC Consultants is a premier esteemed and highly professional consultancy organisation engaged in career counseling and providing authentic guidance to Indian students seeking higher education overseas.

Established since 2000, the organisation is recognised by various overseas educational institutions and a large number of students who have been successfully placed in different institutions at Universities all over the globe.

Our Vision

To develop close ties between the cultures of India & U.S, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland.

To promote the overseas educational faculties in India, with the help of prestigious and recognised educational institutes of USA, Australia, UK, Canada and Ireland.

To provide information to the student-society in India, about the various educational institutes of USA, Australia, UK, Canada and Ireland.

Study USA

Bachelor’s level education in USA normally starts after the completion of 12 years of primary and secondary education. Hence, education beyond class XII is also known as ‘post-secondary’ education, in USA.

Bachelor’s programs are of four years duration, and are offered by different types of colleges.

Liberal Arts colleges offer a general education in Arts and Sciences that develop general knowledge and reasoning ability. Most of these types of colleges are privately owned and have limited number of programs.

Upper-Division colleges are those that offer the last two years of undergraduate programs, which are specialized.

Study UK

UK qualifications are recognized and respected throughout the world. Your UK qualification will be a solid foundation for building your future, boosting your career and prospects for a higher salary. UK universities, colleges and schools will provide a vibrant, creative and challenging environment in which to develop your potential. Quality standards for UK institutions are among the best in the world. Universities, colleges and schools continually have to prove that their courses meet strict criteria. Many other countries are now trying to follow the example of the UK.

Study Australia

Study in Australia – Vocational courses, Bachelor’s Master’s and Doctoral programs

Australia is the next ‘hot‘ destination after the USA, in terms of numbers, quality and living conditions. Every year, several thousand students from India (around 20,000 in 2004) and throughout the world go to Australia, for world-class education, which is recognized globally and that has top-class and highly ranked universities. Australian universities and training institutions offer a wide range of courses to met most aspirations and requirements. The curriculum and infrastructure are the latest while the faculty is up-to-date and progressive in outlook and result-oriented.

Study in Canada

Studying in Canada would be a beautiful experience for anyone, literally, since Canada is ranked as the BEST PLACE in the world to LIVE. Because of its access to education, high life expectancy and low crime rates, Canada is a very attractive destination for students throughout the world.

Of more attraction to Indian students is the fact that Canada welcomes immigrants with open arms. Thus, those who complete their education can decide upon staying back and complete the immigration process to enjoy the best life in the world! As a country of immigrants, Canada places a high-demand on multicultural diversity.

Study in Ireland

Ireland is the land of scholars and saints. When we consider greats like Jonathan Swift, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Yeats etc., we know for a fact why this ‘Celtic Tiger’ is called so!

As far as education for International students is concerned, Ireland is an emerging country, which is now spreading its wings.

With students seeking new frontiers for higher education, Ireland has emerged as a very promising country because of two strengths – the medium of instruction and cheaper costs.

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