| An Interview with Goucher College's Eric Singer, Associate Dean of International Studies
Goucher College is an institution truly committed to international studies. Their website states:
"In the fall of 2006, Goucher College will become the first college in the nation to require all of its undergraduates to study abroad at least once before graduation -- and give every one of them a voucher of at least $1,200 to help cover travel expenses.
We believe that international awareness is a requirement for anybody who wants to lead a satisfying and successful life in the global community of today."
We knew after learning about Goucher's initiative that other colleges and universities would be interested in learning more about the reasons and ways in which Goucher is implementing this plan. Below is an interview designed to give you insight into this profound effort by Goucher.
Q: Why did Goucher decide to create this requirement?
A: Several years ago, Goucher embarked upon a comprehensive strategic planning process in order to both re-shape and create a curriculum that prepares student citizens to play a vital role in an open society. The study abroad requirement reflects our commitment to ensuring that a liberally educated person understands the manner in which cross-cultural and international difference shapes their values.
Q:How did you get it approved?
A: The requirement was endorsed by the Board of Trustees and approved by the faculty.
Q:What results do you expect in the first year? The first five years? What are you hoping for in the long run?
A: The first year will not produce a meaningful change in our current study abroad profile as most first year students do not study abroad. The first significant assessment point will be with the first class that graduates, and hopefully, we will have comparative data from previous years to derive a few benchmarks for subsequent years.
Q:How do you expect this to benefit you and your students?
A: This is not such an easy question to answer! The benefit to a particular student will in large measure be determined by their distinct context - not only academically, but in terms of family background, emotional temperament, and maturity. At a minimum, we hope that students return from their study abroad experience with a more nuanced and self-reflective perspective on themselves and their own society.
Q:What is involved with making this happen?
A: Implementing the requirement is conceptually complicated and bureaucratically complex. It requires the coordination of several different administrative units on campus, and academically, and calls upon every department to explore the most appropriate mechanism for incorporating study abroad programs into their curriculum.
Q:Do you think this can be used as a good marketing tactic?
A: It certainly has the potential to be an effective recruitment tool, provided we are sensitive to ensuring that we find a means to communicate with all segments of the potential student population.
Q:From where is the funding coming?
A: We will be drawing from a variety of sources including tuition fees and endowed income. As importantly, we will derive certain economies of scale that will hold costs down, which will also require innovative techniques limiting our exposure to cost factors that we cannot control.
Q:Will your students primarily participate in Goucher run study abroad programs or do many of them participate in programs with other universities or providers?
A: For the present, it will be a combination.
Q:What information would you like to share with other schools that are considering doing this? What advice would you give to fellow universities?
A: An important consideration is to tailor a program that is in keeping with the mission of the institution, and to ensure that there is political capital to approve it. Equally important, is to provide enough lead time to meet the challenge of implementing the program without stretching or draining existing resources.
Q:How many people work in your study abroad office?
A: Currently, we have three full time staff, but will be adding a fourth next year.
Q:How do you currently guide your students and how, if at all, will that change now?
A: Thanks to our Associate Director's organizational ingenuity, we have a highly effective and efficient advising system. In addition, we work closely with faculty program directors, and rely on excellent support services from financial aid, student life, and the registrar's office.
Q:How do you plan to convince students to get excited about study abroad?
A: It does not really require a lot of prodding. We have been emphasizing study abroad in our admissions literature, and returning students create a buzz when they describe their experiences.
Q:How long will it take to prepare each student to go abroad?
A: From the application process to boarding the plane, students end up spending about eight months in preparation. This includes pre-departure orientations, completing prerequisite coursework, and working with our office to arrange the logistics for departure and their return to campus.
Q:How many students are going on long-term study abroad programs (a semester or longer) and how many are going on short-term programs (less than a semester)?
A: Currently, we send about 60% on short term and 40% on semester, or longer programs. We anticipate the percentages may shift in the direction of shorter term programs, but it is too early to speculate on how much shift there will be.
Q:What do you expect to be the most popular destinations? Do you have a plan to encourage students to visit non-traditional destinations?
A: We already have many so-called non-traditional programs in place. Our aim to ensure that we have a sufficiently diverse array of program locations so that our students will not be burdened with the standard European destinations. Over the past five years our three week courses in West Africa (Ghana, Togo, and Benin), South Africa and England have been the quite popular. This summer we will be offering a dance program in Brazil for the second time, and it is proving to be equally popular with our students.
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