Campaign aims to double number of U.S. students abroad in 4 years

Millennials take constant abuse from major media outlets. They are called slobs, leeches and heartless selfie-taking, Buzzfeed-inhaling machines.

There’s one label they might want to keep — “generation study abroad.”

Millennials study abroad in higher numbers than any previous generation. Over the past two decades, according to the 2014 Open Doors report produced by the Institute for International Education, participation in study abroad programs tripled. The current number of U.S. students abroad is at a record high.

Many come from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors, a sector deemed critical for U.S. performance on the world stage and in which U.S. schools have been sorely lacking.

According to the Open Doors report, just over a fifth of U.S. students abroad in 2014 majored in one of those fields.

“This is a really new trend,” says Daniel Obst, deputy vice president for international partnerships at the IIE. “Ten years ago we said we don’t have enough STEM students abroad. There was a lot of mythology then that study abroad would delay your degree.”

Alex Fitch, a junior at Lewis & Clark College, is the first in his family to study abroad for college credit. Fitch dovetails his role as captain of the LC rugby team with his coursework in entrepreneurship, hoping to learn how to sell the sport to American sports fans.

He gravitated to Australia, a world capital of rugby. He’s not just there to join the scrum — he sees his experiences abroad through a business lens.

“As a businessman I could see how getting hired, or marketing something here would be different,” he says. “In the United States, it’s about a single person going out and achieving. In Australia, it’s all about ‘mateship’ and working as a team.”

Generation Study Abroad, a campaign organized by IIE and headed by Obst, aims to act as a catalyst to the Millennial travel bug, doubling the number of U.S. students overseas in just four years.

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In the 2013-2014 academic year -- the most recent data available -- nearly 300,000 U.S. students studied abroad. Another 15,089 travelled for non-credit work, internships or volunteer positions.

The target for 2017-2018 is 600,000 students in credit and non-credit programs.

Obst says the idea took shape when his organization surveyed U.S. students about their interest in going abroad in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“We thought people might be afraid,” he says, “but instead there was this great desire to see the world.”

Generation Study Abroad now partners with universities and governments to gather funding for scholarships and share ideas for new programs. The campaign took representatives from 12 U.S. schools to Norway to explore potential abroad programs there. It encouraged the French government to fund scholarships for U.S. students to travel to France.

Last week, the campaign partnered with the Australian government, and in February it added Ireland, for a total of 13 government partners. The details of the Australian partnership are still under discussion. Ireland has already pledged $100,000 for scholarships for U.S. students.

Each new country claims 3% of U.S. students abroad.

The dramatic increase in study abroad arguably began in the late 1980s. The first Open Doors data appeared in 1987, a year after the United States agreed to its first student exchange with the Soviet Union. As Cold War tensions eased, students benefited from a climate of renewed international cooperation.

Since then, interest in study abroad skyrocketed, as thousands more students joined overseas programs every year.

While enthusiasm for study abroad continues to grow, the trend is slowing. To achieve its target, Generation Study Abroad must accelerate the current two percent growth rate to 14.5 percent.

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Increased participation comes with a few caveats. Only 40% of students stayed abroad for at least two quarters. The majority of students were gone less than eight weeks.

That could be a positive trend — universities are offering more short-term and job skills programs to engage students who otherwise wouldn’t go abroad at all.

U.S. students also show little imagination in their choice of study abroad destinations. About half study in Europe, with a third landing in the United Kingdom, Italy or Spain. France and China round out the top five destinations for U.S. students.

Obst says destinations are slowly becoming more diverse. As students realize the impact of globalization on their career goals, they are turning to destinations such as India, Brazil and China.

Allan E. Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education, argues that globalization makes study abroad “absolutely necessary” for graduates. One in five American jobs in today’s market, he says, is tied to international trade.

For Fitch, entrepreneurship has become a global pursuit, where relying on foreign markets and employees could ensure a company’s survival.

The current smorgasbord of study abroad offerings — often tailored to coursework in fields as specific as urbanization, zoology or STEM — helps students earn more money, and takes less out of their pockets. With the proliferation of financial aid and scholarships like the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, Obst says, study abroad is no longer for the wealthy.

In fact, Millennials can’t afford to stay home.

“Study abroad is not a luxury,” Obst says, “but an essential part of education.”

Caleb Diehl is a student at Lewis & Clark College and a spring 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.