Study Abroad: Persepectives and Experiences From Business Schools PDF
Preview Study Abroad: Persepectives and Experiences From Business Schools
PREFACE This special volume of Advances in International Marketing is guest-edited by Professors G. Tomas M. Hult and Elvin C. Lashbrooke, Jr. of Michigan State University.Theentirevolumeaddressesavarietyoftopicsrelatingtostudyabroad programs in business schools. This volume grew out of the Third Roundtable on Internationalizing Business Education hosted by the Center for International Business Education and Research at Michigan State University (MSU-CIBER). Serving as co-sponsors for this event were CIBERs at Duke University, Purdue University, San Diego State University, Texas A&M University, University of Memphis,UniversityofConnecticut,UniversityofKansas,UniversityofIllinois, University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina, University of Texas at Austin,andtheUniversityofWisconsin.Thecontributionsselectedforthisvolume represent some of the best thinking and empirical findings on business-focused studyabroadconcepts. Wearegratefultotheauthorsoftheseselectionsformakingtheirworkavailable toalargeraudienceofscholarsandpractitionersaroundtheworld.ProfessorsHult and Lashbrooke are owed full credit for selecting the contributions and guiding theauthorsintherevisionprocess.Ithasbeenapleasuretoworkwiththem. AtMichiganStateUniversity,IremKiyak,BeverlyWilkins,andKathyWaldieof theMSU-CIBERperformedfinaleditingandpreparedthevolumeforpublication. Finally,IappreciatetheableassistanceofDebbieRavenatElsevierSciencefor producingthisvolume. S.TamerCavusgil SeriesEditor xi FOREWORD TheInternationalEducationandGraduateProgramsOfficeoftheU.S.Department ofEducation(IEGPS)ispleasedtobringyouthispublicationproducedfromthe Roundtable on Study Abroad Programs in Business Schools that took place in EastLansing,Michigan,September2001.Thispublicationreportsontheresults of a three-day, invitational conference of national and international experts on studyabroad.TheconferencewashostedbytheCenterforInternationalBusiness Education and Research in The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at MichiganStateUniversity(MSU-CIBER),whichisfundedunderTitleVIofthe HigherEducationAct. TheconferencewastheresultofcollaborativeeffortsofanumberoftheTitle VICIBERsaswellasmanyotherscholarsintheU.S.andabroad.WeatIEGPS are always pleased to see such collaboration with a number of federally funded projects pooling their resources and talents. Serving as co-sponsors for this event were CIBERs at Duke University, Purdue University, San Diego State University, Texas A&M University, University of Memphis, University of Connecticut,UniversityofKansas,UniversityofIllinois,UniversityofPittsburgh, UniversityofSouthCarolina,UniversityofTexasatAustin,andtheUniversityof Wisconsin. Whileliberalartsprogramsatournation’scollegesanduniversitieshavealong traditionoffosteringstudyabroadprograms,suchprogramsarerelativenewcom- erstoourschoolsofbusinesses.Wewerethereforeparticularlygratifiedtolearn that a network of Study Abroad Administrators in Business Schools has been established and will hold annual meetings in conjunction with one of the major national associations that focus on study abroad. This network should serve to focus discussions on issues of particular relevance to business schools and their students. The conference at Michigan State University focused on fourteen thematic topicsrelatingtocurricularaswellasadministrativeaspectsofstudyabroad.The papers commissioned in preparation for the conference and the resulting peer review comments are presented in this publication. We look forward to further xiii xiv discussions and presentations by CIBERs as well as other business schools on thistimelyandimportanttopic. SarahBeaton BranchChief SusannaEaston SeniorProgramSpecialist IEGPS,U.S.DepartmentofEducation,Washington,D.C. INTRODUCTION Withtheadventoftheglobaleconomyandmarketplace,culturalsensitivityand languageproficiencyhaveassumednew,higherlevelsofimportanceinbusiness education.Consequently,businessschoolsneedtoacclimatebothfacultyandstu- dentstotheglobalenvironment.Studyabroadisaneffectivewaytoaccomplish internationalization of faculty and students; however, there are many challenges relatingtostudyabroadthatneedtoberesolved.Theunderlyingrationaleforstudy abroadisevolving,asaretheanticipatedoutcomesforstudentsstudyingabroad. Moreover,thereisnosinglesourceofinformationaboutstudyabroadandbestprac- ticesrelatingtostudyabroad.Formalassessmentofstudyabroadprogramsisrarely undertakeninthebeliefthatthevalueofstudyabroadisself-evident;therefore,as- sessmentisnotcritical.Consequently,studyabroadisatopiconwhichmuchmore researchisneeded.Therearegreatopportunitiesforscholarsandpractitionersin thefieldofstudyabroadtodoresearchinthedifferentaspectsofstudyabroadand disseminate and publish the results. The educational opportunities are virtually unlimited,astheimportanceofstudyabroadasaresponsetotrainingbusinessand otherstudentstobeabletofunctioneffectivelyintheglobaleconomyincreases. As a response to these challenges, the Center for International Business Edu- cationandResearch(CIBER)inTheEliBroadGraduateSchoolofManagement atMichiganStateUniversityinEastLansing,Michigan,USAhostedathree-day conference of national and international experts on study abroad activities from theUnitedStates,Europe,andAsia.ThisRoundtableofStudyAbroadPrograms inBusinessSchools,heldSeptember22–24,2001,wascosponsoredbyAACSB– TheAssociationforInternationalEducationandtheCIBERsatDukeUniversity, Purdue University, San Diego State University, Texas A&M University, Univer- sity of Connecticut, University of Illinois, University of Kansas, University of Memphis,UniversityofPittsburgh,UniversityofSouthCarolina,TheUniversity ofTexasatAustin,andtheUniversityofWisconsin.Morethansixtyfacultyandad- ministratorsfrombusinessandotherdisciplinesgatheredinEastLansingtoshare theirperspectivesandexperiencesandbrainstormforsolutionstoissuessurround- ingstudyabroad.Theseeminentlyqualifiededucatorsservedasresourcepersons. Each brought a unique perspective to study abroad issues from their leadership positions in business schools, other disciplines, and the U.S. national resource centersforinternationalbusinesseducationandresearch(CIBERs). xv xvi The roundtable experts met in small discussion groups organized into 14 thematictopicsthatcorrespondtochallengessurroundingstudyabroad.Authors preparedandsubmittedpapersthatservedasthefocusofthediscussionsinmost ofthesmallgroups.Thesepapersservedtofocusthediscussionsandformthetext ofthisbook. Therearemanykindsofstudyabroadprograms,eachwithdifferentanticipated outcomes.Sothereisnobeststudyabroadprogramforanyindividualstudent.Each businessschoolshouldhaveanarrayofdifferentkindsofstudyabroadprograms in a diverse set of locations to satisfy student needs and demands. What is that optimalmix?Studyabroadprogramsalsomustdelivertheanticipatedoutcomes to be meaningful. Assessment is a necessary part of the program; however, at present,thereisnoacceptedstandardforevaluatingstudyabroadprogram. Study abroad requires faculty participation in curricular issues and in study abroaditself.Facultyareimportantinallaspectsofstudyabroad,frombeingthe championofaparticularprogramtorecruitingstudents.Thereareimpedimentsto facultyparticipationinstudyabroad,particularlyparticipationbyjuniorfaculty. Thepromotionandtenureprocessandtheannualreviewandsalaryprocessesdo not place much value on study abroad in many business schools. Faculty incen- tivesmustbeputinplacetoinsureparticipation,butwhatarethemosteffective incentives? Studentrecruitmentisimperative.Facultyandstudyabroadadministratorsneed to stress the importance of study abroad and tout the benefits of study abroad to students. Students are best recruited by their peers who have studied abroad. Parents need to be informed about the benefits of study abroad. Efforts need to be made to recruit minority students. We need marketing research to be able to identify the most efficient and cost effective ways of recruiting. Costs of study abroadmaybeadetrimenttostudyabroadformanystudentswithlimitedfinancial resources. Research needs to be undertaken to determine the effects of costs on student enrollment. Where is the breaking point? Efforts must be made to keep thecostsdownwhilestillmaintainingqualityprograms.Morescholarshipfunds are needed. Fundraising efforts need to be planned and implemented to create endowmentsforstudyabroadscholarships. Alloftheseissuesandothersneedfurtherdiscussionandresearch.TheMichigan StateUniversityCenterforInternationalBusinessEducationandResearch2001 RoundtableonStudyAbroadProgramsinBusinessSchoolswasanimportantstep in bringing participants together to share research and discuss the major issues surrounding study abroad. The undertaking and planning of this roundtable was aformidableundertaking,particularlyinthelightoftheeventsofSeptember11, 2001,whichoccurredjustpriortotheroundtableonSeptember22–24,2001.Most importantlyaretheoutcomesoftheroundtablethatwillcarrythediscussionsand xvii researchfurther.TheNetworkofStudyAbroadAdministratorsinBusinessSchools hasbeenestablished.ItsorganizationalmeetingwasheldinSanAntonio,Texas,in May2002.Subsequentmeetingshavebeenplannedandanorganizationalstructure created.Thenetwork’smissionistoprovideaforumforthecontinuationofthe roundtablediscussionsandforthesharingofbestpracticesandresearchonstudy abroadinbusinessschools.Thisbookisanotheroutcomeoftheroundtablethat willstimulatediscussionandfurtherresearchonstudyabroad.Theseedsplanted attheRoundtableindeedhavebeguntosprout. G.TomasM.Hult ElvinC.Lashbrooke,Jr. MichiganStateUniversity EastLansing,Michigan DOCUMENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF STUDY ABROAD Edward C. Ingraham INTRODUCTION Thepurposeofthispaperistodescribethestudyabroadimpactassessmentproject that has been undertaken during the past year by Michigan State University and topresentsomepreliminary(andtentative)conclusions.Itshouldbeemphasized thatthisisaprogressreport,vulnerabletotheuncertaintiesthattimewillremove astheprojectmatures. PeterMcPherson,PresidentofMichiganStateUniversity,isdeeplycommitted totheideathatstudyabroadisbeneficialforundergraduates.Recognizinghow- ever that systematically gathered qualitative and quantitative information which assesses the impact of study abroad is scarce if existent at all, he instructed the DeanofInternationalStudiesandPrograms,JohnHudzik,inthelatesummerof 2000todesignandputinplacemechanismsforcontinuouslyassessingtheimpact of study abroad on students, on faculty, and on MSU as a whole.1 A high-level assessmentcommitteewasestablished,chairedbytheDeanofInternationalStud- iesandPrograms,withrepresentativesfromtheOfficeoftheProvost,theOffice ofStudyAbroad,theOfficeofPlanningandBudgets,thePlacementInstitute,and InternationalStudiesandPrograms.Afterafewmeetingsofthegroup,itbecame apparentthatthelevelofworkinvolvedtogettheprojectgoingwassosubstan- tialastorequiretemporarilyaprojectdirector.Thegroupwasfortunateinbeing abletopersuadearecentlyretiredfacultymemberwithextensiveadministrative experiencetotakeonthistaskforsixmonths,duringwhichtimethebasicformof StudyAbroad:PerspectivesandExperiencesfromBusinessSchools AdvancesinInternationalMarketing,Volume13,1–21. ©2003PublishedbyElsevierScienceLtd. ISSN:1474-7979/PII:S147479790213002X 1 2 EDWARDC.INGRAHAM thestudytookshape.Thisinitialperiodofintenseplanningandstudynowbeing completed, there will be a transition during this coming year that will establish theseassessmentactivitiesasanintegralpartofthecontinuingresponsibilitiesof thevariousunitsoncampusinvolvedinstudyabroad. As most of the components of the study did not focus on the distinct disci- plines within the University, few of the results below are specific to colleges of business. However, we believe that the approach we have taken and the general results we have obtained will be of interest to the participants in this roundtable. SourcesofInformation Sofaroursourcesofinformationhavebeen: (1) studentparticipantsbefore,during,uponreturn,andsometimeaftertheirstudy abroadexperiences; (2) thecentralMSUstudentdatabase; (3) a bibliography of publications related to assessment of the impact of study abroad. HowWeAreGatheringInformation 1. FromStudents The heart of our project thus far has been the information gathered directly fromstudentsandthereforefocusesonstudentsatisfaction.2 Wewilladdress issuesofstudentlearninglater. (a) Studentquestionnaires: (i) Becausetherehasbeensomeurgencyinthisproject,wedecidedtoget reactionsfromstudentswhohadstudiedabroadrecently(“post-only”), even though we could not compare their attitudes to those they had priortodeparture.Thisinvolvedsendingoutquestionnairestomany participantswhohadrecentlyreturnedfromstudyabroadexperiences, aswellasconductingfocusgroupswithsuchstudents. (ii) Wealsoundertooktodesignandtoadministerpairedquestionnaires (“pre-post”)designedtosamplepre-departureandpost-returnopinion from students, allowing us to see what they felt were the changes in attitudes and expectations their study abroad experiences had produced. DocumentationandAssessmentoftheImpactofStudyAbroad 3 (b) Studentjournals:Wehaverequestedsubmissionofjournalsthatstudents havewrittenwhilestudyingabroad. (c) In-depthstudies:Twofacultyleadersofstudyabroadprograms(inNepal andBrazil)havevolunteeredtoprovidethecommitteewithin-depthstudies oftheirprograms,whichinvolvecasestudiesandon-siteobservation.The committee also is undertaking program studies that involve on-site staff visits to programs that are in progress, with the opportunity to interview all participants of a program. (One of the methodological difficulties in the approach in (a) and (b) above is that one gets responses only from thosestudentswhochoosetoturninthequestionnaireorattendthefocus group, which may tend to attract only those students who feel strongly eitherpositivelyornegativelyabouttheexperience,leavingoutthosefor whichitwasaho-humhappening.) (d) Alumnistudies:Oneofthecommitteemembershasdesigned,andisad- ministeringageneralquestionnairetobegiventoagroupofalumniofthe BroadCollegeofBusinesswhichcontainsstudyabroadimpactquestions. 2. TheCentralMSUDatabase We were able to have access to much data concerning MSU’s student body through the committee’s representative from the Office of Planning and Budgets. 3. Bibliography Two of the members of the committee have extensive experience with the literature in the field of study abroad and they have compiled an extensive bibliographyforcommitteeuse. CategoriesofStudyAbroadImpactonIndividualStudents For the purposes of its study, the group has identified five general categories of impact: (1) academicprogressandintellectualdevelopment; (2) attitudes,e.g.tolerancetowardsothers,self-confidence,culturalattitudes; (3) skills, e.g. foreign language proficiency, coping with ambiguity, critical thinking; (4) understandingandappreciationoftheworldandone’splaceinit,e.g.reflection on other and one’s own cultures, perspectives on the role played by politics andtheartsinthehumancondition; (5) effectonone’splaceinsociety,e.g.employmentopportunities,abilitytodo job. 4 EDWARDC.INGRAHAM Inaddition,suchitemsaseffectonhealth,finances,andfamilyweregroupedunder the ubiquitous designation of “miscellaneous.” By defining these categories, we haveconstructedaframeworkintowhichtoplacethevariousdataandcomments wereceive. QUANTITATIVERESULTS StudentOpinion Asthefirststepinourgatheringofstudentopinion,wesentasurveycontaining 33 statements to 1,475 students who had studied abroad during some portion of the1999–2000academicyear(“post-only”).Studentsweregivenfiveresponses fromwhichtochoose: 1=notatall; 2=verylittle; 3=some; 4=quiteabit; 5=verymuch. Fourhundredandthirty-sevensurveyswerereturnedandanalyzed,withtheresults groupedaccordingtothefivegeneralcategorieslistedabove.Someofthestate- mentshadapositiveslant(“Studyingabroadhascontributedtomyunderstanding of my host country”), others a negative cast (“Studying abroad has delayed my graduation”). Theresponsesheldveryfewsurprisesforthoseofusconvincedofthebenefits ofstudyabroad.Certainlythebiggest(andperhapstheonly)onewasthefactthat ofthe437respondents,84%hadtraveledabroad(notcountingtripstoCanada) for some reason other than study abroad. The statement with the highest mean score (4.68) was “I will recommend (have recommended) study abroad to my friends” and the statement with the lowest mean (1.08) was “Studying abroad was a waste of time for me.” Of the statements with a positive slant, the one withthelowestmean(2.46)was“Asaresultofmystudyabroadexperiencemy ability to speak a foreign language has improved” and of those with a negative tone, “I could have accomplished a lot more academically if I had stayed on campusratherthanstudyingabroad”hadameanof1.42.Forthefullresults,see AppendixA. Wealsodesignedpairedsurveys(“pre-post”)tobegivenfirstasapilottostu- dentswhostudiedabroadduringWinterBreak2000–2001andthensubsequently
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