New Information from NAFSA: International Student Economic Value Tool

From NAFSA.org:

NAFSA International Student Economic Value Tool

NAFSA’s latest analysis finds that the 974,926 international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities contributed $30.5 billion and supported more than 373,000 jobs to the U.S. economy during the 2014-2015 academic year.

NAFSA conducts an annual state-by-state and congressional district analysis of the economic contributions of international students and their families to the U.S. economy.

The economic contributions of international students are in addition to the immeasurable academic and cultural value these students bring to our campuses and local communities.

Click here to learn more about this new tool from NAFSA.

New Article from NYT about New Study Abroad Program

A new article, “Extreme Study Abroad: The World Is Their Campus” by Claire Cain Miller, featured online at The New York Times, investigates a new study abroad program which allows students to study at several universities while earning their undergraduate degree. From the article:

Consider one emerging approach, wherein students hop from campus to campus across continents, earning an undergraduate degree in the process. In these programs, they spend the majority of their college years outside the United States and immerse themselves in diverse cultures. Foreign cities are their classrooms.

“More and more students, especially at the elite end, are realizing, ‘I can get my basic learning on the Internet and then have this collection of experiences around the globe that enhances who I am as a person,’” said Michael B. Horn, a co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute.

The article features interviews with students who are earning their degrees while also traveling and becoming global citizens.

Click hear to read the full article and learn about this new global undergraduate experience.

New Report on Language Proficiency

A new report on the language proficiency of America students in study abroad programs has been released according to an article by Leah Mason, Christopher Powers, and Seamus Donnelly on iie.org (Institute of International Education). From the article:

The Boren Awards: A Report of Oral Language Proficiency Gains during Academic Study Abroad explores the language gains made by U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who received Boren Scholarships and Fellowships for language study overseas between 1996 and 2011. To the authors’ knowledge, this report is, in size, the largest presentation of data on oral language proficiency development by U.S. college and university students during study abroad, and, in scope, it represents the greatest number of host countries and languages studied to date.

The Boren Awards provide scholarships to students who wish to pursue international study. From the iie.org website:

The Boren Awards provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Click here to read the full article, “The Boren Awards: A Report of Oral Language Proficiency Gains During Academic Study Abroad” by Leah Mason, Christopher Powers, and Seamus Donnelly.