Open Doors, Open Minds

Dickinson is among top three institutions for study-abroad participation

by Christine Baksi

December 7, 2011

“My first semester was for exploring and orienting, whereas the second semester was for growing and more intensive learning and enjoying—the time to reap the rewards of the risks and hard work of integration put in during the first semester,” says Julie King ’12, pictured next to Bremen city hall, of her full year abroad in Germany.

Dickinson is again near the top of a national ranking that really matters.

In this year’s Open Doors report, just released by the Institute of International Education (IIE), Dickinson ranks third in the nation among baccalaureate institutions—and first in Pennsylvania—for the number of students participating in full-academic-year study-abroad programs. It is the sixth-consecutive year Dickinson has placed in the top five nationally in the long-term study-abroad category.

“The Dickinson community is proud of this meritorious distinction, which reflects real numbers and achievement, not perception,” says President William G. Durden ’71. “Global education is a core value at Dickinson. We believe full and sustained immersion in other countries and cultures is a distinct mark of an educated person.”

In 2009-10, the most recent academic year for which data are available, more than 28 percent of Dickinson students studied abroad for a full academic year or longer, which is seven times the national average of 4 percent. Dickinson also ranked among the top 20 baccalaureate institutions for the total number of students who study abroad. Approximately two out of every three Dickinson students study abroad at some point in their academic career.

Like Durden, Stephen DePaul, associate provost and executive director of Dickinson’s Center for Global Study and Engagement, believes the ranking reflects the college’s academic mission and values.

“When I see us high on the list, it demonstrates that we are living up to our educational promise and that the students who come here are committed to living out our motto to engage the world,” he says.

Quantity equals quality 

DePaul, who last year co-authored the book A History of U.S. Study Abroad: 1965-Present, says yearlong study-abroad participation is an increasingly rare thing, even among liberal-arts colleges.

“The focus has shifted to smaller periods abroad for various reasons, but Dickinson has been able to maintain a high level of yearlong participation, which is considered a marker of serious commitment on behalf of the student, institution and program,” he explains. 

DePaul adds that long-term study-abroad programs align well with language studies at Dickinson, which offers more than a dozen foreign-language majors. “You really come to know the people, the country, the politics and the language in ways that a short-term visitor often would not fully appreciate or understand,” he says. “The sense of the social, historical and cultural contexts—and how these contribute to the things you experience on a daily basis in the host country—is much deeper and much more refined.”

Julie King ’12, a German major from Hudson, Ohio, who spent her junior year abroad in Bremen, Germany, concurs.

“Staying for the whole year brings you to a whole new level of residency that you cannot achieve in a couple of months,” she says. “By the second half of the year, I felt like I fit in. It took a semester to find friends, to find favorite places and, most importantly, to experience as much as possible.”

Influencing decisions 

Study-abroad opportunities often influence student enrollment, as in the case of King, who decided to study abroad well before she declared a major.

“I knew there would be a fitting abroad program for almost any major,” she says. “Dickinson is so attractive. An abroad year is easy in terms of transferring credits and as affordable as a semester on campus.”

DePaul says the faculty’s commitment to global study is unmatched, and the college’s emphasis on study-abroad programs is evidenced by deep, long-standing relationships with partner institutions abroad—the oldest dating back more than 50 years. Dickinson sponsors more than 40 study-abroad programs in 24 countries on six continents.

A growing phenomenon 

The 2011 Open Doors report comes on the heels of a recently released report from the American Council on Education, which calls for institutions of higher education to establish deeper international ties.

DePaul says Dickinson is ahead of the curve, and he anticipates new partnerships in response to increasing student interest in programs outside of Western Europe. He also notes a growing phenomenon at Dickinson—students studying in multiple destinations during their academic year abroad.

This trend is reflective of the college’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity, he says. “A student may study public health in Norwich, England, then journey to Cameroon or India to do fieldwork. Academic studies abroad are a reflection of what’s happening on campus.”