Guest writer

Missed opportunity

International study overlooked

The United States of America has one of the best educational systems in the world. We pride ourselves as being international leaders, world travelers, and entrepreneurs in the land of opportunity. However, our academic structure is lacking.

In the past 20 years, the world has become incredibly small. With more and more international flights, as well as the expansion of the Internet, the world is quite literally at our fingertips. Unfortunately, this innovation isn't transferring to our educational system. International study from universities within the United States has nearly doubled in the last decade, yet this growth is one of the lowest in the world. Europe and Asia have surpassed the U.S. substantially and the deficit is growing every day.

Why does this matter? In a study that the University of California recently conducted, they found that, on average, students who studied abroad made 25 percent more in their starting salaries than students who did not study abroad. If this pattern continued for the rest of their lives, students who studied abroad would make $567,500 more throughout their career than students who did not study abroad.

So, in essence, studying abroad could mean making more than half a million dollars over someone who did not study abroad.

While the difference in pay is obviously enticing, the problem that students in the U.S. are now facing is unemployment. Our students are receiving degrees from higher education while being faced with the fact that the endless nights of studying and hard work don't always pay off. Rising college expenses, harder college exams, more hours and credits to get a degree, and then students can't even count on a job immediately after college.

In the study by the University of California, benefits of gaining employment after studying abroad were also addressed. They found that 97 percent of students who studied abroad had a job within 12 months of graduating. This is compared with 49 percent of students who received a job within 12 months of graduating and did not study abroad.

Studying abroad gave students nearly double the chance of getting a job within one year after their college graduation.

The question arises: Why aren't more American university students taking advantage of this opportunity, especially with these incredible benefits? I took it upon myself to bring this question to university students who did not study abroad. I asked 100 college students or recent college graduates several questions about studying abroad with the biggest question being why they didn't.

The answers I received weren't all that surprising. I felt the highest response for not studying abroad likely would be because of the cost, and it was; 41 percent of students didn't study abroad because of financial reasons, and their college or university didn't provide financial support. This wasn't surprising because most study-abroad programs are significantly more expensive than the universities' tuition. This obviously causes the majority of students to not even consider the option.

The second-highest reason, at 25 percent, was because the student felt that studying abroad did not pertain to his or her area of study. This is problematic. The fact that 25 percent didn't think that it would be relevant reveals that students seem to be learning very little about the world in the classroom. If they were, they would know that many European and Asian countries have excelled--some would say even passed American standards--in math, science, environmental engineering, and the arts. Studying abroad can not only broaden students' horizons, it also can enhance their education, provide them with worldwide experiences, break down cultural barriers, and ultimately set them apart from their peers.

The United States has the opportunity and responsibility to monopolize on international study for their university students; that can only support the claim that our nation is full of world leaders.

Studying abroad provides culturally educated students who will bring ideas and innovation to our boardrooms, doctors' offices, laboratories, and classrooms. Experiencing the world and how it works will give our "melting pot" of a nation the opportunity to be the best that it can be through our future generations and beyond.

Carly Shelby earned a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Arkansas, and is a graduate student from Richmond, The American International University in London.

Editorial on 08/10/2015

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