Student Learning Abroad: What Our Students Are Learning, What They’re Not, and What We Can Do About It

April 20th, 2015 in Study Abroad

The forthcoming book, Student Learning Abroad: What Students Are Learning, What They Are Not, and What We Can Do About It, addresses this ongoing shift. The book’s editors, Michael Vande Berg, R. Michael Paige, and Kris Hemming Lou, offer a framework that describes ongoing paradigmatic shifts in our thinking about student learning abroad. The book’s authors review recent research assessing student learning and development abroad; discuss insights from a wide range of disciplines—psychology, education, anthropology, experiential learning theory, developmental theory, intercultural relations, and neuroscience—that together converge around the emerging experiential-constructivist view of human learning; and describe six exemplar study abroad programs that, grounded in this emerging view, are helping students learn and develop in ways that educators have long hoped that they will.

Strategic Planning for Study Abroad Financing

April 20th, 2015 in Study Abroad

Higher education is focusing intently on financing as a critical element of its strategic planning for the future. Study abroad leaders, as part of this process, are also evaluating their program goals and models, seeking close alignment with institutional purposes, a critical element of this analysis determination of financing the continued expansion needed in the field.

In the changing landscape that now prevails in higher education, what do you need to know to plan for a healthy future for your education abroad efforts? In this webinar, we will discuss how to integrate education abroad into strategic planning on campus, matching the long-term goals and strategies of an institution to the models and priorities of education abroad. We will describe methods of analyzing cost efficiency and effectiveness of ongoing operations, assessing funding options, and models for expanding or initiating programs. As your institution’s education abroad financial strategist, it is imperative to plan proactively, both in reaction to—and in preparation for—financial hardships facing higher education and education abroad programming.