Kenneth Wong plans to become a doctor who specializes in tropical diseases that disproportionately affect children in developing countries. At the University of California at San Diego, where he is a senior, he studied malaria under a microscope. But before embarking on medical school, he wanted the opportunity to see the disease’s effects on the ground.
It was only natural, he says, that his destination of choice for a semester spent studying abroad should be in Africa.
“Going to Ghana was the first time I had ever been overseas,” he says of the semester he spent last fall at the University of Ghana. “So I sort of skipped over Western Europe and went straight to Africa.”
That path is an increasingly common one, according to the latest data from the Institute of International Education. A record 262,416 American students spent time abroad in 2007-8, up 8.5 percent from the previous year. And a growing percentage of those students chose to go to countries beyond the traditional destinations in Europe.
Mr. Wong’s experience embodies another trend as well. More students from outside of the social sciences and business—two study-abroad strongholds—are spending time abroad. Mr. Wong is a double major: third-world studies and microbiology.
Broadening Interest
Trends in study abroad tend to develop slowly. And the new figures from the institute show a continuation of certain shifts in interest that have developed during the past decade. One is the growing interest in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Another is a rise in the percentage of students going on very-short-term programs. And a third is a broadening of interest among students in a variety of majors.
Among regions of study, Britain remains the most popular destination, but the number of students studying there grew by only 2 percent. By contrast, the number of students heading to China grew 19 percent, making it the fifth-most-popular destination. The number of students heading to India, while significantly smaller than that of those going to China, grew nearly 20 percent. The numbers going to Ghana and most other African nations are smaller still, but the number of students choosing that continent rose by nearly 18 percent.
Emerging nations hold increasing appeal for a variety of reasons. In some cases it’s the draw of a booming economy. Countries like India “have amazing engineering, telecommunications, and business programs,” says Lynn C. Anderson, dean of international education and director of the International Center at the University of California at San Diego. “In some ways, some of the developing countries are ahead of us in the area of technology and its uses.”
Many of these nontraditional destinations are also less costly than Europe. The global economic crisis may accelerate that trend, as students looks for cheaper ways to gain study-abroad experiences.
Top 2007-8 Destinations for U.S. Students
| Number of international students | 1-year change |
1 | Britain | 33,333 | 1.9% |
2 | Italy | 30,670 | 10.2% |
3 | Spain | 25,212 | 5.0% |
4 | France | 17,336 | 0.6% |
5 | China | 13,165 | 19.0% |
6 | Australia | 11,042 | 2.7% |
7 | Mexico | 9,928 | 4.9% |
8 | Germany | 8,253 | 12.2% |
9 | Ireland | 6,881 | 18.9% |
10 | Costa Rica | 6,096 | 13.2% |
11 | Japan | 5,710 | 13.9% |
12 | Argentina | 4,109 | 13.6% |
13 | Greece | 3,847 | 12.6% |
14 | South Africa | 3,700 | 15.0% |
15 | Czech Republic | 3,417 | 8.6% |
16 | Austria | 3,356 | 19.4% |
17 | India | 3,146 | 19.8% |
18 | Ecuador | 2,814 | 0.0% |
19 | Chile | 2,739 | -3.0% |
20 | Brazil | 2,723 | 7.9% |
Source: Institute of International Education |
As for Africa, it presents some of the world’s greatest developmental challenges in areas such as health and agriculture, making it the preferred destination for students like Mr. Wong, who want to be at the center of the action.
In Ghana he supplemented his university course work with two internships. One was with the World Health Organization, with which he learned about national and international efforts to control malaria. The other was at a local health clinic, where he studied the ways in which families responded to the disease. One of the most challenging problems in treating malaria, Mr. Wong says, is that families often wait too long to bring their children in to see a doctor.
“There are just so many cases of malaria that often parents can’t afford to bring them in every time they come down with a fever,” he says.
Global Interests
Participation in study abroad in 2007-8 rose sharply among certain students who don’t normally take advantage of such opportunities. That includes a 17-percent increase among math and computer-science majors, a rise of nearly 10 percent among engineering majors, and 19-percent growth among those in the health sciences.
Eileen O’Keefe, director of the Program in Health Sciences at Boston University, says that nearly 30 percent of juniors there spend time abroad. She attributes the increase in study abroad among students in the health sciences to at least two factors: More undergraduates have the opportunity to take courses in health-related topics, piquing their interest in pursuing a more global understanding of those issues. And the number of undergraduates studying public health—which by its nature tends to be internationally focused—is rising.
Colleges and independent study-abroad providers are also creating more opportunities for students. Mr. Wong, at San Diego, had some help in finding his clinical internships in Ghana through the University of California system’s Education Abroad Program. Boston University offers several options for health majors abroad, in which they combine course work with an eight-week internship, Dr. O’Keefe says. And some independent providers, like the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, have added courses specifically for pre-med and health-sciences students, says Ms. Anderson.
As for Mr. Wong, he hasn’t ruled out a trip to Europe in his future. He interviewed for Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships just last week. If he’s successful, he’ll head to Britain this fall to earn a master’s degree in public health.