Reminds me of the tradition of a Grand Tour for young men in the 17th-18th century - exposure to foreign culture (European) was considered a capstone of an elite education. An aristocratic practice, but even on a smaller scale there’s a tradition of sending young men abroad as a rite of passage.
In civil engineering, I don’t recall there being many study abroad opportunities, but maybe I wasn’t looking. Which is a shame, because the engineering of the rest of the world is much, much different than America’s. I wish I was exposed earlier
What is the breakdown of people studying abroad in STEM vs the humanities? I wonder if that might explain it - at my university, it tended to be people getting business degrees or degrees in the humanities that went abroad, and not those from the engineering school.
Because interestingly, among expatriate and digital nomad circles, I’d gather it’s probably 95% male. There’s an odd way that living internationally is male-coded and traveling internationally is female-coded, perhaps?
I thought the STEM thing could help explain it, but the numbers show STEM majors are the highest % of study abroad, and growing over the past few years (I can’t attached the photo here but the graph is in the article, via IIE).
Yes, exactly. The digital nomad thing is certainly a male trend so far. This, to me, shows an interest and willingness to move abroad, but it is disconnected from study abroad for some reason.
I almost studied abroad. I had applied for two scholarships to pay for a semester (or year) in Istanbul, but they didn’t come through. My grandma and dad offered to finance it, but I had too much pride, and I didn’t want a large handout from family.
I eventually did get to Istanbul, with my own money, after college.
My daughter viewed the ability to study abroad as one of the most important aspects in her decision making process for what university in the US to attend. I support her efforts I visited the major universities in Switzerland last year.
I never had this opportunity growing up and being just above the poverty line.
Reminds me of the tradition of a Grand Tour for young men in the 17th-18th century - exposure to foreign culture (European) was considered a capstone of an elite education. An aristocratic practice, but even on a smaller scale there’s a tradition of sending young men abroad as a rite of passage.
Yes! I can see that. Things have sort of flipped in that regard.
In civil engineering, I don’t recall there being many study abroad opportunities, but maybe I wasn’t looking. Which is a shame, because the engineering of the rest of the world is much, much different than America’s. I wish I was exposed earlier
That’s too bad to hear! We definitely need better messaging out there as institutions.
What is the breakdown of people studying abroad in STEM vs the humanities? I wonder if that might explain it - at my university, it tended to be people getting business degrees or degrees in the humanities that went abroad, and not those from the engineering school.
Because interestingly, among expatriate and digital nomad circles, I’d gather it’s probably 95% male. There’s an odd way that living internationally is male-coded and traveling internationally is female-coded, perhaps?
I thought the STEM thing could help explain it, but the numbers show STEM majors are the highest % of study abroad, and growing over the past few years (I can’t attached the photo here but the graph is in the article, via IIE).
Yes, exactly. The digital nomad thing is certainly a male trend so far. This, to me, shows an interest and willingness to move abroad, but it is disconnected from study abroad for some reason.
I think it may be the perception that STEM schooling is not as good over there. It’s completely false.
I almost studied abroad. I had applied for two scholarships to pay for a semester (or year) in Istanbul, but they didn’t come through. My grandma and dad offered to finance it, but I had too much pride, and I didn’t want a large handout from family.
I eventually did get to Istanbul, with my own money, after college.
Glad you got to make it eventually. I think far too many stories like yours stops people from doing it.
My daughter viewed the ability to study abroad as one of the most important aspects in her decision making process for what university in the US to attend. I support her efforts I visited the major universities in Switzerland last year.
I never had this opportunity growing up and being just above the poverty line.
Thanks for the information