Studies say more college students are choosing to spend time abroad during their college years, and Boston University is no exception, according to officials at the Institute of International Education.
BU ranks among the top-10 schools nationally when it comes to sending students abroad, according to a press release from Open Doors, a branch of the institute. Open Doors publishes a yearly report on U.S. students studying abroad. BU sent 1,330 students abroad during the 2001-02 school year, according to the study.
“We feel that international experience should form a fundamental part of a student’s preparation for additional schooling, career and life after college,” said Joseph Finkhouse, the Division of International Programs’s director of student affairs.
According to Finkhouse, the number of students going abroad has increased in recent years, with most students opting to spend their spring semester abroad. About half of the students who study abroad through BU come from other colleges and universities around the country, he said.
Continuing to add new locations to the 20-year old study abroad program is BU’s goal, and this is the first semester students could study in Auckland, New Zealand, Finkhouse said. Programs in Geneva, Switzerland and Burgos, Spain will also be introduced later this spring, he said.
For students who are apprehensive about being that far from home, BU offers programs in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. But for students who choose to go farther from home, the initial shock of living in a new country and culture can be overwhelming, several students said.
“I’ve traveled in Europe before with my family,” said Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Alex Mendonca, who said she plans to study abroad. “But I think it will be much different to live there for months at a time. I’m sure it will take a lot longer to adjust.”
BU’s programs are designed to make the transition easier, Finkhouse said.
“We work hard to help the process of cultural assimilation for all students through home-stays with local families, internships in local businesses and organizations and many excursions and cultural activities, in addition to courses which focus on local history, society and culture,” he said.
For the most part, students are taught about countries’ cultures straight from the source, he added.
“The majority of our professors [teaching abroad] are local professors who work for us on a part-time of full-time basis,” Finkhouse said.
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