New Coverage of Study Abroad
On Sunday, November 4, the New York Times featured study abroad in the Education Life section. The cover story was "The Foreign Legions" by Laura Pappano, with an interactive feature called "The World Is My Campus." A separate article on "Why Study Abroad Costs So Much, What to Do About It" by Laura Pappano included information from the Forum's Survey on Program Management in Study Abroad.
Forum survey results were also feature in the "Cost and Credit" graphic. Many Forum members were included in the articles, as was President and CEO Brian Whalen.
Thoughts, comments, responses and rebuttals are welcome here.
2 Comments:
I was interviewed by Laura Pappano more than once for the NY Times educational supplement. At the time she stated that she wanted to get at the heart of the complexities facing students and parents today as they sort through the array of program options available. She had interviewed a few students who had indicated that their programs were less challenging than they had anticipated and that they had incorrectly assumed they would be studying with host nationals instead of other Americans. She wanted to know how we advise students, how they come to select programs and how they secure credit for them.
During the interviews I went into great detail about the differences in student preparation and abilities as well as the inability of many of them to do direct enrollment in countries where host students take courses in their native language. In that context, I raised the example of the Bologna Consortial Studies Program that IU has managed for over 40 years for a set of institutional partners. BCSP involves predominantly direct-enrollment courses at the University of Bologna and, for the past 13 years, has had an active exchange component involving the seven member institutions. Our BCSP returnee who was interviewed was very disappointed that the many positive things she had told the reporter about her experience were left out of the final article.
The reporter had also asked to speak to IU faculty when I made the point that our faculty are very engaged in the process of course approvals and apply rigorous standards when it comes to granting students credit for programs. She clearly selected just a few key phrases for inclusion in the article from just one professor.
We did not focus on the issue of program costs since I had declined to get into areas related to the business practices in study abroad. She assured me that her article would not be about business practices but rather about qualitative issues. In a final phone call to me to nail down certain details, she raised detailed questions about program fees. I did my best to explain the number of services available to students on study abroad programs that are not necessarily available in all direct enrollment situations involving U.S. students. I then realized that she must have decided to focus the article on cost issues so I braced myself for the Nov 4 article.
My disappointment with the two articles, ‘The Foreign Legions’ and ‘Why Study Abroad Costs So Much,’ is that it in the end they contain the same slant we’ve seen this fall, alleging by innuendo that institutions and providers somehow gouge students. The media should instead focus on the tremendous efforts we’re expending as a field to give more and more students quality experiences in environments that require evermore attention to academic integrity, health and safety, secure living arrangements, intercultural training and value-added activities. I continue to be dismayed that the media doesn’t cover the real story of study abroad.
Yesterday marked the kick-off of the Study Abroad Global Engagement (SAGE) survey in which many Forum members are involved. I am delighted at the number of IU study abroad alumni who received the survey request and wrote to me immediately with statements about how their program abroad changed their lives and resulted in life and career changes. Likewise, yesterday’s press promoted the National Survey on Student Engagement results which underscored how study abroad leads to important changes in student development. That is the true story the press should be covering rather than trying to comprehend a cost structure that is linked to the high costs of a college education in the U.S. as compared to the rest of the world.
Kathleen Sideli
Associate Vice President for Overseas Study
Indiana University
Franklin Hall 303
Bloomington, IN 47405-1223
www.indiana.edu/~overseas
Tel: 812-855-1139 Fax: 812-855-6452
Dear New York Times,
I was recently interviewed by Laura Pappano for a few articles she wrote concerning study abroad. She informed me that the articles would specifically discuss direct enrollment programs, and that she desired to speak with me in particular due to my experience as a member of the renowned Bologna Consortial Studies Program offered by Indiana University. I was extremely candid about my experiences overseas, including but certainly not limited to, the fact that I spent more money in Italy than I had planned. However, the financial portion of the interview lasted perhaps two minutes, whereas the cultural and academic aspects of the interview lasted closer to 30, so imagine my shock when I discovered her article entitled, “Study Abroad: Why It Costs So Much and What to Do About It,” a piece dedicated solely to the financial aspects of overseas study. Not only did Ms. Pappano include erroneous and misleading details at the expense of IU/study abroad programs in general, she highlighted a quote concerning my current financial status which served her purposes, but was not true to the meaning behind my statement.
While I am concerned that one of your journalists had no problem eliminating the majority of a conversation that focused on the way I truly feel about study abroad, i.e., that it changed my life for the better, I realize that journalism, despite its unbiased reputation, is a field dedicated to promoting the perspective of the individual writing the article. However, there comes a point when the journalist in question crosses a line, and Ms. Pappano has done so here. I would love to pick apart all that is wrong with Ms. Pappano’s article, ranging from her absolute disregard concerning the difference between co-sponsored and direct enrollment programs, to her perspective that rejecting US programs in favor of enrollment as an international student is a viable option, as well as her references to only the upper-tier expense programs, such as Boston College’s Peking program (quoted at $35,150). However, if I did spend the entirety of this letter dissecting Ms. Pappano’s misleading research, I would be as far from the point as Ms. Pappano is herself where study abroad is concerned. As it stands, let me say this instead: Yes, some programs are expensive. Yes, sometimes it is confusing to know where the money goes. Yes, some programs are laughable because they barely integrate students into a real life in a host nation. Yes, some people have bad experiences overseas. And yet. As a Peer Counselor at the Office of Overseas Study at Indiana University, I get to see study abroad returnees on a daily basis. The vast majority of these people comment on how much they have grown, how much this program or that experience changed their lives, how valuable they found it to learn about themselves and the world. These people constantly refer to study abroad as an experience that set them on a different academic & life path than they had previously entertained, and promote study abroad as something every student should consider, no matter what financial or social background they may have.
The reality of the situation is this: there are thousands of study abroad programs available to interested students, and these programs can be cheap or expensive, extremely independent or absolutely sheltered. There are a myriad of national study abroad scholarships as well as scholarships offered by home institutions promoting overseas study. In short, there are as many different types of programs as there are types of people as there are countries in which to study, and a slew of ways to fund them.
At the end of the day, for those readers of the New York Times interested solely in the financial aspect of study abroad, relying on Ms. Pappano’s article to give an accurate & unbiased perspective on doing so is not recommended. I would advise each and every one of you to do what any person willing to invest a chunk of money into any endeavor should do: find out for yourselves. Research. Investigate. All knowledge is worth having, and it’s out there waiting for you. Unfortunately, due to the narrow-minded perspective of Pappano’s article, the truth cannot be found in the New York Times.
Sincerely,
Alexandria Hollett
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