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Go Places: Examining the Academic Returns to Study Abroad

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Rethinking Education Across Borders

Abstract

This is a study of experiential learning of studying abroad during college and how this experience may be linked to gains on student academic achievement. Utilizing data from a national survey, this research aims to accomplish dual goals: (a) to identify the impact of studying abroad on student academic achievement and measure the effect; and (b) investigate how this impact varies by different types of program design (e.g., duration, logistics, curriculum) so as to shed light on best practice. To that end, the author applies quasi-experimental method to quantify the academic returns to study abroad at causal level. Key findings are summarized as follows: (1) studying abroad slightly increased college GPA; (2) Students can gain the same academic benefits from studying abroad, whether they are female or male, white or minority, STEM or non-STEM majors; and (3) For credit programs directly related to a student’s major, with an opportunity to work on a research project, and one semester long experience yields higher returns than other program designs. Homestay with a host family also induces marginal benefit. In this digital era, people may wonder “Is it worthwhile to study abroad when you can learn everything at home?” This research’s answer is yes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I used the conversion table from the College Board, How to Convert Your GPA to a 4.0 Scale http://www.collegeboard.com/html/academicTracker-howtoconvert.html.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the author’s research when she was at Teachers College, Columbia University. The author thanks the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) at Indiana University for the data, and appreciates support from the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis and the Center on Chinese Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, City University of New York, New York, USA

    Jing Li

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  1. Jing Li
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Correspondence to Jing Li .

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  1. Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Uttam Gaulee

  2. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Shyam Sharma

  3. Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Krishna Bista

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Li, J. (2020). Go Places: Examining the Academic Returns to Study Abroad. In: Gaulee, U., Sharma, S., Bista, K. (eds) Rethinking Education Across Borders. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2399-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2399-1_13

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