Europe is Out, the Americas Are In: Surprising New Trends in U.S. Study Abroad Data
DEVELOPMENTS
There is no question that American college students are studying abroad in increasing numbers. According to the Institute of International Education, (IIE) in a study funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This recent growth seems to be particularly benefiting other countries in the Western Hemisphere, many of which have received unprecedented attention from American students seeking to study abroad over the past decade. If sustained, the unexpected rise in U.S. student exchanges and language programs focusing on Latin America may serve to substantially increase exposure and understanding of the region among the current generation of American college students.
The potential implications that this shift may have on American perceptions of Latin America may prove comparable to the change of American perceptions of Europe with the rise of student exchange and travel in that continent following World War II. As this new generation of college-educated Americans comes of age politically and begins to assert greater influence on U.S. foreign policy, this greater understanding may ultimately result in significant changes in U.S. policy towards Latin America in the future.
BACKGROUND
Since the first American study abroad program was initiated in 1925 by a University of Delaware professor to enable students to study in France in aftermath of World War I, study abroad programs have historically been mainly limited to study in Europe. However, recent trends during the past fifteen years point to a significant rise in intra-hemispheric exchanges. Since 1993, the total number of U.S. students studying abroad in Latin America has more than doubled and now accounts for 15% of the entire U.S. study abroad population, making the region the second most-frequented destination after Europe.
Moreover, the number of students traveling to so-called “emerging economies” of economically fast-growing developing nations has increased even more rapidly in the past several years, further boosting the trend towards Latin America. The number of students who selected China, Argentina, South Africa, Ecuador, and India each increased by more than 20% in 2008 in comparison with data collected the previous year. In fact, of the six nations among the world’s top twenty study abroad destinations to experience double-digit growth in the past year, only Italy was located in Western Europe. The main justifications behind the shift are two-fold: students are becoming more aware of the potential benefits of studying abroad in rapidly emerging yet “non-traditional” locations, as well as calculating the cost-benefits of studying in Euro-driven markets as opposed to more affordable locations.
Of particular interest for those interested in inter-Hemispheric relations is the recent dramatic shift between students studying Spanish and Portuguese in the Iberian Peninsular to Latin America, and South America in particular. Between the 2005 and 2007, the number of students electing Portugal dropped nearly 22%, with Brazil rising 8.4%. Among the world’s Spanish-speaking countries, South America continues to take in ever increasing numbers of American students, with Argentina rising by 26%, Colombia 38%, and Ecuador 30%.
Also worth noting was the increase of American students in Cuba by an amazing 57% between 2005-2007. This rise seems initially surprising given the Bush administration’s well-publicized preoccupation with limiting American travel to Cuba during the same time period, which also witnessed intensified restrictions and enforcement of the four-decade U.S. embargo of the island nation.
In an increasingly globalized world, universities and students alike recognize the importance of pursuing the acquisition of foreign languages. Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association (MLA), notes that students are increasingly seeing “their futures taking place in a multilingual world, and they want language preparation that will help them function in that world. Students recognize that having the ability to function across cultures and languages is an enormous advantage.”
This increase is motivated to some extent by an increase in new program opportunities and accords between higher education institutions in the United States and abroad. The 2003 inauguration of the Portuguese Language School at Vermont’s Middlebury College marked the newest language to be added to the university’s highly esteemed foreign language immersion offerings since the establishment of Arabic in 1982, bypassing other popular languages such as Hebrew, Hindi, and Korean. Portuguese, the fifth most commonly spoken language in the world and official language of eight countries, is the most widely spoken language in South America, with typical estimates ranging between 200 and 240 million total global speakers. Carmen Tesser, the former director of the Middlebury Portuguese Language School, noted the historic relative disinterest of U.S. universities in the language to underscore how American universities giving their “stamp of approval” through increased Portuguese language offerings has important implications for changing American attitudes towards both the language and its speakers, since it “shows people this is an important language, there are a lot of people that speak it.”
ANALYSIS
While the Latin American countries experiencing this growth clearly stand to gain from the increased international academic cooperation that accompanies the presence of U.S. exchange students, as well the tourist dollars spent during their stay, perhaps the most significant and lasting benefit of the rising number is less tangible or immediate benefit. The rise of American students studying abroad in Europe after World War II served to help demystify European cultures and languages for multiple generations of college-educated Americans. Likewise, the rise of academic exchanges in Latin America stands to demystify an important growing region that has long been often poorly understood and largely ignored in the U.S., even by college educated Americans, which is all too often is reflected in U.S. foreign policy in the region. The rise of a new generation of Americans with greater understanding and exposure to with the other countries of the Western Hemisphere could serve to help improve U.S. policy in the region.
Such exposure and understanding has the potential to reap as many benefits for the host country as it does for the hosted American students. As Magdalena Chica-Garzon, Assistant Director for Overseas Studies in the Office of International Programs at Georgetown University, observed, courses of study relating to development, human rights, social justice, and environmental issues have flourished in recent years. The increasing numbers of college-educated Americans learning to see these issues at least partially through a Latin American context can only help to swell the potential number of influential global allies Latin American nations can turn to for assistance as they seek to confront deeply rooted social and environmental problems in their countries. Ultimately, greater understanding can contribute to better cooperation throughout the Americas, from which every nation in the hemisphere stands to benefit.
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Patricia A. Soler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American and Iberian Studies at the University of Richmond, Virginia. She recently co-chaired the exhibit Screening Prints: Cuban Cinema Posters at Georgetown University (1959-2009) at the Georgetown University Library.