More Study Abroad in Summer, Fall

For many students, the summer is a chance to head home, unwind and spend time with family. But instead of returning home, an increasing number of Georgetown students will be spending their summers studying overseas, according to statistics provided by the Office of International Programs.

According to Sylvia Mitterndorfer, director of overseas studies and technology for the OIP, more summer program options have been offered to students, causing the number of student participants to increase almost 25 percent from last year after it jumped nearly 40 percent from the year before. In the upcoming summer, approximately 310 undergrads will be traveling abroad, although numbers are still being altered as some programs’ acceptance deadlines have not yet been met.

Fall semester programs have also become more popular, with the number of participants jumping by 25 percent, from 172 to 215 students.

Typically, universities around the world, especially colleges in Europe, follow a different semester system than the United States. As a result, the fall semester option is often not made available by Georgetown.

“There have been new program developments in the last few years,” she said. “Offerings always change, but certainly the number of study programs has grown in the last few years.”

As summer and fall program participation increases, interest in full-year study abroad has decreased by nine percent, Mitterndorfer said. While 92 students spent the entire year abroad during the 2006-2007 academic year, 84 students did so in the 2007-2008 academic year. Mitterndorfer said this decrease is consistent with national trends.

She said part of the reason was the increasing appeal of summer programs.

“Students are coupling summer study abroad with a semester,” she said.

Participation in spring programs has also dropped from 366 last year to 347 for spring 2008, a drop of nearly 5 percent.
Overall participation in OIP programs did increase slightly from the 2007-2008 academic year; 646 students studied abroad this year, up about 2.5 percent from the 630 students who were abroad last year

Of these students, the vast majority were juniors, according to Mitterndorfer.

Mitterndorfer attributed this heightened interest to newly available study options offered by the Office of International Programs.

The Office of International Programs is offering for the first time this year a six-week program in Lisbon, Portugal at Universidade Católica de Portuguesa focused on politics, law and security policies in the European Union.

Mitterndorfer also noted that the OIP has been surveying students to see which summer programs in particular are most beneficial and popular.

Shannon Goggin (MSB ’10) will be spending the upcoming summer in Hong Kong. “I picked Asia because that’s not a place I would otherwise have a chance to go,” she said. “I wanted to go in the summer because Asia’s not a place I would want to live for more than six weeks. It’s just too far away.”

Mark Greenfield (MSB ’10) will be partaking in this summer’s six-week undergraduate business program at Oxford’s Trinity College. He chose this program because of its marked advantages over semester options.

“I preferred a summer program because I have such a good time during my semesters here at Georgetown that I'd rather not go away during any part of the school year,” he said.

“Going abroad during the summer and staying on campus the full year is the best of both worlds as I don’t miss any of the basketball season either,” Greenfield said. “Also, it’s advantageous to be around during my junior year in terms of job interviews and such, so the summer abroad works perfectly for me.”

According to Mitterndorfer, the United Kingdom, Spain and France were the most popular regions and countries of study over the past few years. She noted that there has been a recent marked interest in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Mitterndorfer said that nearly 50 percent of all students graduating from Georgetown will have studied abroad during some year of their tenure in either a full-year, semester or summer program.

Compared to other universities, this percentage remains quite high. Although ranking numbers have not been completed, “Georgetown is always up there in the top 10 for universities,” she said. “Historically, this has been quite consistent.”

- Daniel Hind

Source: The Hoya

April 25, 2008