Study “Beyond the States”

I was recently interviewed by the founder of the organization, Beyond the States, Jennifer Viemont, https://beyondthestates.com/category/podcast/. I discussed the impact of international study on the future career development of students. In this instance, the organization promotes and assists families of high school students looking for an affordable means of sending their children to college – in Europe.

While I’ve usually addressed this topic solely from the perspective of students enrolled in U.S. higher ed institutions, it was an opportunity to share my thoughts with an audience likely to consist of parents; and of students choosing to be outside the U.S. for three to four years.

I emphasize the need for families to make purposeful choices and to become more knowledgeable about the known outcomes of studying abroad when it comes to student career development (and the strengthening of skills valued by employers).

Given all the uncertainty surrounding travel during the pandemic, it’s hard to step back and take a 360 degreee view of the tremendous opportunity for a student studying outside the U.S. for a lengthy period of time. Usually, researchers are forced to survey and interview students in college who are abroad for very limited time periods: 2-3 weeks in summer or at most, a semester…

Careful planning. Clarity of academic and personal goals. Understanding how a lenghty time abroad shapes a young person’s worldview. Focusing on strenghtening a core set of academic and personal skills and competencies which employers value. These are a few of the threads I focused on in the podcast.