AAC&U News | November 2005

Goucher College Internationalizes the Undergraduate Experience

The ability to engage with different cultures and to understand social, civic, and economic issues in a global context is often cited as an essential outcome of a liberal education. A number of colleges and universities have incorporated such learning expectations into their mission statements in recent years, and many are now intentionally fostering global learning through distinctive general education programs.

One ambitious approach to global education is today being developed by Goucher College, a private liberal arts institution located just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Goucher has long supported study abroad as a way of combining academic and experiential learning. Beginning next fall, the college will expand this commitment by requiring every student to study abroad for at least three weeks prior to graduation.

The new requirement is a centerpiece of Goucher's 2002 strategic plan, which aims in part to foreground the "global dimensions" of the curriculum, according to the college's Web site. Although the requirement presents some practical difficulties, administrators hope that it will help Goucher achieve its strategic vision of "transcending boundaries."

International Opportunities

Like many schools, Goucher offers short-term study abroad experiences--three-week intensive courses abroad (ICAs) that are run by Goucher faculty and are often paired with prerequisite courses--as well as semester-long or yearlong opportunities at partner institutions. According to Eric Singer, the college's associate dean of international studies, about 30 percent of Goucher graduates currently study abroad at some point during their undergraduate career. About 60 percent of these participate in the three-week programs--a figure that mirrors a national trend, noted by the Institute of International Education, toward shorter-term study abroad.

Although short-term courses do not allow for the kind of cultural immersion that is the hallmark of longer trips, they do make study abroad accessible to a wider range of students. ICAs are less expensive than longer trips, and with time abroad scheduled for January, May, and summer terms, they can fit into the busiest of course schedules. For all of these reasons, ICAs are likely to figure prominently in Goucher's new study abroad requirement.

The intensive courses themselves can enrich learning in the major field or provide opportunities for pursuing other academic interests. For one ICA, China: Past, Present, and Future, students take a course in Chinese intellectual and social history in the spring and then spend three weeks exploring China's cities and countryside; in another, Tropical Marine Biology in Honduras, students learn about endangered Caribbean reef ecosystems firsthand through field experiments and dives; and in ICAs like French 130 in Avignon and German 130 in Berlin, students hone their language skills while also learning about history and culture.

Goucher's semester-long and yearlong study abroad opportunities follow more traditional models for study abroad. These programs involve academic work and language immersion at any of a number of partner foreign institutions, from Paris's Sorbonne to the University of Ghana.

Supporting International Scholars

As part of its plan to support global learning, this year Goucher launched the International Scholars Program, an optional academic track that is separate from the next fall's study abroad requirement. Already, interest in the program has exceeded Goucher's expectations, Eric Singer says, with fifty-four students enrolling in the first year.

Students who opt to become "international scholars" complete a number of special requirements and are formally recognized upon graduation. In their first and second years, these students take seminars on Atlantic and American cultures and local and global connections. They then study abroad for a semester or year--or, in special cases, for two three-week sessions. In their last semester, they participate in an "International Scholars Roundtable" in which they explore their undergraduate experiences at Goucher in the context of what they learned abroad.

Singer expects the International Scholars Program to complement the general study abroad requirement. Like the new requirement, the program recognizes that all students--regardless of major--can benefit from study abroad; it purposefully does not tie global learning to a "specialized program or major, which only a small percentage of students may be interested in pursuing," Singer says.

Both the International Scholars Program and the study abroad requirement also serve similar educational goals. Students who study abroad learn about global problems and different cultures, but they end up "learning more about their own culture" as well, says Singer. As an example, he cites an intensive course abroad that he codirects, Inequality and Social Policy in South Africa. Students in that course "go to South Africa expecting to see how a society is coping with a history of racial oppression," he says, and they often "come back questioning the nature of race relations here in the U.S."

The Path Ahead

As it prepares for next year's entering class, Goucher is addressing practical concerns associated with the study abroad requirement. The college will likely need additional short-term opportunities to accommodate the increased number of students studying abroad, and faculty currently are "exploring new programs as they fit the academic and curricular needs" of departments, Singer says. Financing study abroad presents another challenge: each student is slated to receive $1,200 to support study abroad under the new plan, but since that amount covers only part of the expenses for even intensive courses, some students will need scholarships or financial aid. Additionally, Singer says, some students may need to be exempted from the requirement for medical or behavioral reasons.

Assessing what students learn abroad is another concern. All of Goucher's study abroad opportunities involve graded coursework, but the college currently does not have a comprehensive plan to use surveys, journaling, portfolios, or other tools to assess learning gains or measure the success of individual programs. The International Scholars Roundtable, if expanded into a requirement for all students, could offer one promising model for facilitating reflection on global learning.

Globalizing the core curriculum could further enhance learning by helping students contextualize their experience of global interdependence, including their experience abroad. Indeed, at larger institutions, too--where study abroad requirements such as Goucher's are not possible--general education reform can provide a vital foundation for global learning to all students. According to Kevin Hovland, director of AAC&U's Shared Futures: General Education for Global Learning project, "developing global frameworks to guide the entire general education reform agenda will produce deeper student knowledge about the world, while also revitalizing general education."

Despite the challenges Goucher still faces, its new requirement represents an important step toward internationalizing the undergraduate experience. If successful, the study abroad program will likely transform Goucher's campus culture as well as the lives of the college's graduates.

To learn more about Goucher's study abroad programs, visit the college's Office of International Studies online. The Institute of International Education Web site offers statistics on study abroad as well as more general information on international education. For information about AAC&U's efforts to promote learning for a world lived in common, visit our global learning resources page.