Alternatives to Study Abroad

Abstract

This presentation was delivered at the annual Association for the Study of Higher Education conference. Colleges and universities are increasingly internationalizing their curricular and co-curricular efforts on campuses; subsequently, it is important to compare whether participation in study abroad or on-campus global/international activities may be associated with students’ self-reported development of global, international, and intercultural (GII) competencies. This study examined undergraduate students’ participation in study abroad and on-campus global/international activities within nine large, public research universities in the United States (n = 15,807). Framed within contact theory and person-environment-interaction theory, the results of this study suggested that students’ participation in activities related to internationalization at home—participation in on-campus global/international activities such as enrollment in global/international coursework, interactions with international students, and participation in global/international co-curricular activities—may yield greater benefits than study abroad for students’ development of GII competencies.