EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF STUDY ABROAD

Magdalena Chica-Garzón Office of International Programs

Georgetown UniversityWashington, DC

“Like a religion, a political ideology, or a scientific theory, a culture is a sort of paradigm. Living in another culture for an extended period of time forces a critical examination on one’s own assumptions about the world. Just as a crisis of religious faith or political beliefs often reopens the door to an extremely creative period in the life of an adolescent or young adult- regardless of whether the final outcome is rejection or reaffirmation of the original paradigm-so, too, with culture. In this sense, study abroad is often liberal education at its best.”

Taken from: Foreign Study Roundtable: “Culture Shock as a Learning Experience” Chip Peterson and Frank Miller, Transitions Abroad, Fall 1985

ALUMNI SURVEY

Survey Content

• Personal Demographics– Program/country abroad– Term abroad– Year abroad– Gender– Current career– Continued international

experience

• Georgetown experience– School– Major/minor– Latin American Certificate

program participation

• Impact of Study Abroad on:- Enduring relationships with

friends/host family from time abroad

- Language proficiency - Graduate school- Career choices and opportunities- Marketability in the work force- Life decisions (i.e. marriage, children's language etc.)- Political/religious beliefs and personal values- Community service activities and charitable contributions

Demographics

Participants 1996-2005

Term Abroad

41%

46%

13%

Fall

Spring

Full Year

Gender

58%

42%Female

Male

Gender

65%

35% Female

Male

Latin America Spain

Term Abroad

30%

2%

68%

Fall

Spring

Full Year

Survey Demographics

Response rate

Latin America

Spain

156 (44%) 131 (20%)

M = 52 (35%)

F = 104 (51%)

M = 35 (16%)

F = 96 (22%)

F = 64 (42%)

S = 62 (39%)

FY = 28 (68%)

F = 3 (25%)

S = 62 (13%)

FY = 66 (34%)

Latin America

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Costa Rica

Dom. Repub.

Ecuador

Mexico

SurveyRespondents

Total Participants

Programs

32%

11%

6%5% 5%

30%

1%2%2%2%4%

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Santiago, Chile

San Jose, Costa Rica

Monterrey, Mexico

Valparaíso, Chile

São Paulo

Mexico City, Mexico

Bahia, Brazil

Quito, Ecuador

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Guadalajara, Mexico

Impact of Study AbroadPreliminary Analysis

Overall Impact

1% 15%

84%

Noinfluence

Somewhatpositive

Stronglypositive

13%

84%

1%1%1%Strongly

negative

Somewhatnegative

No influence

Somewhatpositive

Stronglypositive

Latin America Spain

Mean = 4.79Mean = 4.82

Relationships

Latin America

Spain Average

Host Family

82%

4.04

70%

3.90 3.98

Residence or other

18%

3.70

30%

3.90 3.82

Extremely poor Poor Below Average Above Average Excellent

What best characterizes your personal relationship with your host family or with the other students at the residiencia?

Self Assessed Language Proficiency

Oral Proficiency

Declined

Greatly

Declined

Somewhat

Remained

the same

Increased

Somewhat

Increased

Greatly

Average

Score

Latin America

0% 1% 2% 23% 74% 4.71

Spain 0% 1% 4% 24% 71% 4.67

Written Proficiency

Latin America

0% 1% 7% 45% 47% 4.39

Spain 0% 1% 9% 48% 42% 4.32

Self-Assessed Language Proficiency

• Students feel they make gains in their language skills while abroad

• Oral communication skills are perceived to improve more than written skills by the Georgetown students

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

declinedsomewhat

remained same increasedsomewhat

increasedgreatly

Ove

rall

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Oral proficiency

Written proficiency

Overal Average of Reported Increase

4.69

4.36

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

oral written

oral written

Self-Assessed Language Proficiency

Latin America

58%24%

18%

IncreasedInteraction withLocals

Used Spanish MoreFrequently withLocals/OtherForeign Students

Stayed Longer

Spain

18%

82%

Not Lived with aHost Family

IncreasedInteraction withLocals

Looking back on your experience, is there anything you wish you had taken

advantage of to further improve your language skills?

Graduate Education

Latin America

• Law (23%)• Education (18%)• Business (17%)• Regional Studies (11%)• Other (31%)

Spain

• Law (30%)• Political Science (16%)• Business (14%)• Communication (9%)• Health (9%)• Other (22%)

Latin America

21%

53%

26%

Yes, completed a degree

Currrently pursuing a degree

No, did not pursue graduatedegree

Spain

29%

33%38%Yes, completed a degree

Currrently pursuing a degree

No, did not pursue graduate degree

Graduate Education

Comparative Influences on Decisions

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

to pursue the degree the field of study the graduate schoolattended

Avera

ge

Latin America

Spain

None Little Somewhat Much A great deal

Graduate Education

To pursue the degree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Female

Male

Percentage of respondents

A great deal

Somewhat

Not at all

The field of study

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Female

Male

Percentage of respondents

A great deal

Somewhat

Not at all

The graduate school attended

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Female

Male

Percentage of respondents

A great deal

Somewhat

Not at all

Males who participated in Latin American programs showed a trend to be more strongly influenced by

study abroad in their educational choices than females

Career: Skills Acquired Abroad

Latin America Spain P value

Foreign Language proficiency 3.75 3.31 .003

Cultural knowledge 3.44 2.30 .000

Major/minor/certificate at Georgetown 3.42 2.93 .007

Familiarity with host country 3.01 2.46 .001

Community service abroad 2.25 1.33 .000

Internship abroad 2.06 1.45 .002

How much influence has each of the following factors had on your career?

None Little Somewhat Much A great deal

Career: Choices and Preparation

Latin America Spain P value

Your qualifications 3.67 3.47 .107

Competitiveness in the job market 3.62 3.37 .056

Type of organization you have worked for 3.36 2.80 .000

Type of work you do 3.25 2.71 .001

Your work-related travel destinations 2.83 2.50 .110

How much influence do you feel your overseas studies experience has had on the following aspects of your career?

None Little Somewhat Much A great deal

Current Occupation

Latin America

57

33

26

21

17

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Other

Education

Business

Graduate Study

Non-profit/Volunteer

Pro

fes

sio

ns

Spain

53

25

22

18

13

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Other

Law/Law School

Graduate Study

Business

Management

Pro

fes

sio

ns

Life decisions

Latin America Spain P value

Foreign language of your children 3.79 3.54 .136

Determining your core values 3.17 2.76 .007

Determining your political position 3.04 2.08 .000

Guiding your community service 2.85 1.84 .000

Choosing a place to live 2.76 2.30 .009

Choosing your partner/spouse 2.49 1.91 .004

Selecting charitable contributions 2.48 1.43 .000

Guiding your religious/spiritual beliefs 2.03 1.47 .000

Most Difficult

What Would You Consider the Most Difficult Aspect of Your Time Abroad?

63%

9%

8%

20%Personal

Linguistic

Cultural

Academic

Latin America

What Would You Consider the Most Difficult Aspect of Your Time Abroad?

58%

12%

11%

19% Personal

Linguistic

Cultural

Academic

Spain

Personal• Homesickness /Being away from family and friends• Loneliness• Making local friends/ of similar age• Finding the right host family• Being sick in a foreign country• Leaving

Linguistic• The language barrier

Cultural• Trying to immerse oneself in a foreign culture• Machismo

Academic• Taking regular university classes in Spanish• Meeting home university requirements

Most RewardingPersonal

• Meeting people with a different cultural background

• Living with a host family• Traveling (Spain: 5.3%, LA: 5.5%)• Changes of attitude and personal growth• Volunteer Opportunities (only LA)

Linguistic• Language Improvement/Proficiency

Cultural• Experiencing a foreign culture• Renewing ties with Latin America

Academic /Professional• Experiencing a different educational

system• Internship opportunities

What Would You Consider the Most Rewarding Aspect of Your Overseas Studies

Experience in Latin America?

16%

29%

6%

49%

Personal

Linguistic

Cultural

Academic

Latin America

Spain

What Would You Consider the Most Rewarding Aspect of Your Overseas Studies Experience in

Spain?

60%14%

22%

4%

Personal

Linguistic

Cultural

Academic

Application for OS professionals

At Home UniversityMarketing to students, academic departments and

university officials• Impact

– Overall: strong positive of 84%– Professional education and career choices– Job opportunities – Personal decisions– Personal growth

• Language improvement

Advising:• Goal setting - most satisfactory and most difficult

– Personal relationship with locals (host family and others)– Long term low importance of travel

Application for OS professionals

• On site• Writing courses or tutorials• Choice of quality housing (host family or

residencia)• Increase program provided opportunities to

interact with locals (lang. exchange, mentors, comm. Service, internships, etc.)

• Controlling size of programs or creating mechanisms to help students “avoid Americans”

"After studying in Chile, and graduating from GU, I went to live in Brazil to work with street children.  I met my wife there (she's Brazilian).  We've been married for almost two years now. I also teach Spanish and global studies in a high school.

Thank you! I can't explain enough how the program changed my life, for the better!”

“ I just wanted to let you that the weekend before last I married the Spaniard I met almost 10 years ago in my dorm in Madrid. Dozens of people from our old dorm on the Gran Via were at our wedding in Mexico. I still have many close personal friends in Spain – including the two pen pals Georgetown arranged for me before I arrived ! (I have recently been to both of their weddings in Spain).

Studying abroad in Madrid was an amazing, life-altering experience for me.”

Contact Information

Magdalena Chica-GarzonAssistant Director of Overseas Studies

Office of International Programs

Georgetown University

chicagam@georgetown.edu