subject: Building Study Abroad Acceptance among Hispanic Students: The Value of Talking to the Hispanic Family [print this page] Building Study Abroad Acceptance among Hispanic Students: The Value of Talking to the Hispanic Family
With a 4800-student-body of primarily minority students with significant financial need, how does a university build a successful study abroad program for those very students?
University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is the fifth largest private university and the largest Catholic university in Texas, and its student population reflects the ethnic diversity of the South Texas community it serves.study us Sixty-one percent of its students are minority; about half of its total enrollment is Hispanic.
Seventy percent of students are the first family member to attend college. Sixty-six percent come from households at or below the poverty level, and 76% of all students rely on institutional financial aid to attend college. One hundred percent of first-year students who show need receive some form of financial aid, and 97% of all financial aid awarded at UIW is need-based.
Until about three years ago, UIW had sent very few students to study abroad. Those few who had studied abroad had participated via international exchange agreements with specific university partners, and did so under specific details agreed upon in advance. The formal agreements were, and still are, designed to allow UIW students to register on the home campus while studying at the exchange university for a semester or year, a period during which the students remain technically enrolled at UIW for purposes of maintaining eligibility for institutional financial assistance.
When the author was appointed Vice President for International Programs, the responsibility for building a program, then-yet-to-be-identified, that would be much more inclusive for UIW's minority student body was assumed. As a part of the planning, an interview process was initiated with students, particularly Hispanic students, who had not expressed interest in study abroad, and who, the author believed, had never traveled outside the U.S.
The students who were interviewed described study abroad programs as "something for other students, but not for me." They did not see themselves as socially empowered or financially prepared for any kind of international travel. They saw study abroad as something elitist and available only for high-income students. They were not negative in this view; they simply described a study-abroad-world to which they did not see themselves belonging.
They also were certain that their parents would not allow them to participate in any kind of study abroad program. This was equally true for seniors, as well as for first-year students. Perceiving the parents' endorsement to be a key to students' participation in study abroad, the author simultaneously interviewed a sample of parents of Hispanic students, asking the parents, "Under what circumstances would you allow your student to study out of the country?" The parents, most of whom had never completed high school and many of whom did not speak English fluently, described their terms: the students should travel with a class, not alone; they should travel with a faculty member who would be with the group at all times; and they had to find financial assistance above and beyond what they were already receiving on campus or earning in their part time jobs.
With the purpose of building a modified program to include much larger numbers of students, UIW, in response, designed several courses with hand-picked faculty members. Those faculty members taught in an international area or in a field in which an international component to the course was an obvious value-added.
In the first year of implementation of study-abroad travel, the experimental classes were taught during Spring semester, and the study abroad period was designated as about two weeks after close of the semester. Students were assigned an "incomplete" grade to allow an extra time period for completion of assigned work to be turned in upon conclusion of the international travel. At that completion point, the faculty member recorded the permanent grade for each student. Because of that "incomplete" grade, the students were technically still enrolled at UIW during the travel component of the class.
Since this course-based, faculty-led study abroad program included required international travel, the travel cost became eligible for institutional financial assistance, much as a required textbook would. This held true because the students were enrolled in an academic for-credit university course that had a travel component. Students estimated the travel budget in their financial assistance applications, and the International Office administrators met with the Financial Assistance administrators on a regular basis to clarify issues of cost for the students and to document their financial assistance institutional records.
Shortly after May graduation, the group travel began. Initial estimates suggested that about 20 to 25 students would participate. In fact, about 85 participated, and all chose the first year to study in England, France and Scotland.
The program success resulted from at least a year-long planning effort, and key administrators on campus used the time to develop forms and processes associated with the program. Newly-secured health and accident insurance,study us international student ID cards, hold harmless agreements, student assurance forms to be signed indicating promises of good conduct, and various other documents became a part of the program. (The UIW process and forms are identified at http://www.uiw.edu/studyabroad.)
In Spring 2005, the third year of the program, the author participated in a four-nation European Union Program with one other faculty member and 24 students over a fifteen-day period. The group included students who had never been on an airplane, who had never held a passport, and even students who had never stayed in a hotel. Graduate and undergraduate students participated after having spent the Spring semester studying EU issues in respective International Business classes, and after participating in an extensive orientation.
More than 100 students participated across campus in a variety of classes in the third year, and each faculty leader chose a unique destination that met the objectives of their respective classes.
This format of connecting travel to a for-credit university class provides the option of short-term study abroad under the conditions important to the parents, and the timing and format allows the students to return home in time to begin much-needed summer jobs. The for-credit format that extends the eligibility of financial assistance is the pivotal point of difference that has allowed UIW's diverse student body the financial capability to participate in a study abroad program that they never imagined would include them. As one student said upon return, "I am a different person now. I have met people who see the world differently, and I have seen things that give me my own new thoughts. I can never be the same person that I was only months ago when I was sitting in the classroom preparing for this study abroad program.study us"
