The dean of the New York University Stern School of Business makes the case for international study as “a core component of undergraduate education in the 21st century.” She points out that even as a global world becomes the norm and international experience is increasingly recognized as vital in all professional fields,
the percentage of colleges that require a course with an international or global focus as part of the general education curriculum fell from 41 percent in 2001 to 37 percent in 2006. And 27 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities have no students at all who study abroad. But even among the colleges and universities that do promote “semester abroad” programs, most offer these as add-ons to the required course of study, providing students with only a taste of life in another nation and a small selection of elective courses.
By “taste of life in another nation,” she really means “a chance to drink for five months in another country.” While increasing the number of opportunities for all college students to study abroad is the key imperative, coupled with that must be a drive to increase the effectiveness (i.e., immersion and intensity) of these programs. Certainly study abroad can and should involve pubs; that just shouldn’t be the only thing it involves.
