As university study abroad guidance trends head toward one-on-one coaching services, students and administrators agree Tufts does not have a need for such programs.
Wide Open World (WOW), a new organization based in South Orange, NJ, offers students the ability to receive coaching while enrolled at the University of Grenada, Spain.
The study abroad coaching for students, as defined by WOW, is a series of weekly half-hour meetings with designed coaches. The coaches are to help the students set and meet goals, to challenge and motivate, and to encourage them to take advantage of their new environments.
Such coaching services have been available for corporate and business communities, which prompted the founders of WOW to carry the idea over to university-level study abroad programs.
According to Terry Warren, WOW's U.S.-based director and co-founder, "Motivated students create more fulfilling experiences when they receive personal attention and support while studying abroad,"
Tufts has not employed study abroad coaches, but students do have access to on-site resident directors.
Foreign Study Advisor Sally O'Leary said that Tufts has multiple resources abroad designed to help students.
"Once overseas, all students have on-site orientation periods, so that goal-setting, keeping students challenged, and mentoring are ongoing and available for the duration of the study abroad experience," O'Leary said.
Resources such as information sessions, individual guidance, and pre-departure meetings exist on campus in order to prepare students for their upcoming time abroad.
Warren acknowledged that while on-site resident directors are useful sources of help for acute problems, she advocated the consistent support that the organization's one-on-one coaches can provide overseas.
WOW offers the services of both on-site directors and as well as personal coaches.
The WOW-sponsored University of Grenada study abroad coaches are all native Spaniards with experience in working with American students abroad. To become a coach, candidates must receive positive student evaluations and complete a training course to learn coaching techniques.
Whether this new method makes a significant difference in foreign academic experiences has yet to be determined.
Senior Jeff Larson, who studied abroad in Australia last year, said he probably would not have been able to meet regularly with a coach because of his extensive traveling.
Furthermore, while students said they may appreciate the benefits of counseling, time abroad is also a time to explore on their own.
Larson said his decision to study overseas was influenced in part by a desire to enjoy the "whole freedom feeling of being abroad."
Nevertheless, Larson also said that some guidance could have been of value. "There were times when it could have been easier if someone told me, for example, where to find a place to live, and what a reasonable rent is," Larson said.
Other students, like sophomore Shanti Settler, who plans to study in Spain next fall, saw promise in study abroad coaching.
According to Settler, the availability of one-on-one coaching may help expedite a student's comfort and familiarity with foreign territory.
Observing the experience of friends who have gone abroad without coaching, Settler said, "By the time you learn everything about the city, it's time to go home."
While WOW currently offers one program at the University of Grenada, Spain, the organization is planning to expand to the Spanish cities of Seville, Madrid and Salamanca.
