When our daughter first told her mother and me that she was planning to take her junior year in Egypt we were not at all pleased. Why would she want to do such a bizarre thing in such a strange place?”
One challenge you have as a study abroad adviser is to make the choice of studying in a nontraditional destination as natural as studying in Western Europe.
Here are 10 suggestions to help you to de-mystify the nontraditional study site and broaden the geographical base of where your students study:
1. Deal with your own prejudices and fears: Why wouldn’t you visit a developing country? Are your reasons justifiable? Are they based on current and factual information?
2. Spend some time educating yourself about the cultures and histories of developing countries. Many are the sites of ancient centers of civilization whose art and ideas have been absorbed into western cultures. This information gathering may help you to overcome some of your prejudices and fears.
3. Work with faculty and administrators to develop an institutional policy that makes it a priority to encourage study in nontraditional countries. Having become better informed, you will be able to provide a convincing justification of the importance of study in these destinations.
4. Seek out faculty and local residents who have done research in, worked in, or are from nontraditional countries. Use their experience as a resource. Make your administration aware of the fact that the demography of the U.S. is changing as more immigrants come from nonwestern countries. These families will produce the college students of tomorrow. If you have developed programs in nontraditional countries, your study abroad programs will be attractive to them.
5. Create a library of information on nontraditional study sites in your office that gets equal display with that of the traditional study sites. Supplement traditional study guides with information obtained from embassies, tourist boards, and international organizations working with and invested in nontraditional countries.
6. Heighten campus awareness of nonwestern countries through film festivals, food festivals, visiting writers and lecturers, musical events, publicizing of other national holidays, publicizing web sites, and providing interesting information on the Internet.
7. Work with your campus curriculum committee (or faculty on that committee) to develop or increase the number of courses that focus on the economic, social, cultural, literary, and linguistic knowledge of nontraditional countries.
8. When presenting information to students and parents about study abroad, always include opportunities for study in nontraditional countries. This information should be presented in a manner that makes study there as natural as study anywhere.
9. Point out the differences between our culture and the cultures of nontraditional countries in a positive manner. This will be a challenging experience from which the student should emerge with a broader understanding of their aspirations, values, and place in our society.
10. Point out the common factors different cultures share. Studying in a nontraditional country should help your students reaffirm that they are a part of the human race and thus are connected with all who share the earth.
