Study Abroad News
Check out this story on a UNCW student
who went to live in an Icelandic eco-village for a
semester.
Rick Steves has published a book to help
people travel more thoughtfully. This is being
purchased for the UNCW library. It’s called Travel
as a Political Act. This will be particularly useful for
those of you doing study abroad to help you
process all the differences you observe between
home and your study abroad location/s. Find
some excerpts at
http://www.travelasapoliticalact.com/.
Photo at left: Temple, Royal Palace, Bangkok, Thailand (Tan, 1989)
The Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report discusses
trends in international education. Top study abroad destinations for US
students in 2008-2009 (the latest data) were: Britain (12%), Italy (10.5%),
Spain (9.3%), France (6.5%), China (5.3%), Australia (4.3%), Germany (3.2%),
Mexico (2.8%), Ireland (2.6%), and Costa Rica (2.4%). See
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/15/opendoors for a
synopsis of the report.
Huffington Post had a photo essay on “9 Amazing Study Abroad Locations.”
For Huff Post, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/extremestudy-abroad_n_737001.html#s144347 . We have one of the programs
listed (Public Health in Botswana) on our PLS recommended list. You’re
free to look into others with the help of the Department’s Study Abroad
advisor, Dr. Tan (tanp@uncw.edu), or the UNCW Office of International
Programs.
The NYTimes profiles study abroad in the Middle East:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/fashion/08Abroad.html?_r=1&hp
Inside Higher Ed publishes findings of research that suggests that study
abroad leads to higher GPAs and better graduation rates. See
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/13/abroad.
The University of Washington reports students double their alcohol intake
while studying abroad. This can lead to danger as students leave
themselves compromised in their new environment. See
http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=60726.