In the world of study abroad statistics, Tufts is among the leaders. According to Newsweek, who ranked Tufts as the "hottest school for study abroad" last spring, between 40 and 45 percent of undergraduates study abroad while at Tufts.
While this percentage is impressive, imagine if 100 percent of Jumbo grads had pursued international study.
This year, that is the case at Goucher College in Baltimore, Md. In a bold move, Goucher has made study abroad mandatory for all its students, turning what was once an option into a requirement. Though the decision was made four years ago by the college's Board of Trustees, this is the first year that it will be implemented.
Goucher students will have the choice of completing a semester or year-long course of international study, which may be a Goucher or a non-Goucher program, or they may choose from a list of three- or seven-week-long "Intensive Course Abroad Programs" that the college offers.
Goucher is among the first colleges to impose such a requirement, which will apply to all degree-seeking students who start there this fall and to all transfer students entering with 26 or less credits. After this academic year, all transfer students must study abroad.
In order to aid students in financing their experiences abroad, Goucher will provide each student with a $1200 voucher to be used for travel expenses.
According to Goucher's president, Sanford J. Ungar, the decision to make international study mandatory is meant to add a global dimension to all courses of study. "The idea is not that we want to turn everyone into a little international studies major or minor," he said in May to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Instead, "We want everyone to apply international awareness to whatever he or she may be studying."
At Tufts, this desire to incorporate an international component into the undergraduate experience has been voiced as well. The mission statement of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering says that the University aims to offer to students "a rigorous education with a global perspective."
Despite the University's propensity for emphasizing an international outlook, it has not made study abroad mandatory.
"We want to make [international study] attractive...and possible for students to do," said Sheila Bayne, Associate Dean of Programs Abroad at Tufts.
Bayne said that although Tufts encourages its students to study abroad, it is unlikely that international study will ever be mandatory. "It's better to lead people rather than to force them to do something," she said.
Students at Tufts tend to agree. "I don't think [study abroad] should be mandatory, because it is the student's own education, and he should be able to decide what he wants to do," said junior Lauren Basile, who is planning to study abroad in Ireland this spring.
Basile said she approved of Tufts' study abroad policies. "I think there is a strong encouragement to study abroad if possible on the part of Tufts, but it is more encouragement than pressure," she said.
Senior Aaron Schutzengel, who spent five weeks in Spain this summer through a non-Tufts program, agreed. "My Spanish professor strongly encouraged me to go, but there was no pressure," he said.
Schutzengel said he did not go abroad during his junior academic year because of his on-campus commitments like the Ultimate Frisbee team and his friends. But Schutzengel said that he felt "left out" from the study abroad scene at Tufts, since so many of his friends studied abroad.
Basile also has a lot of friends who are studying abroad this year. "I think the excitement to go abroad is contagious," she said.
Patrick Randall, a junior who has decided not to study abroad, said the feelings expressed by Schutzengel and Basile trouble him. "There is pressure to go abroad your entire year," he said. "[Students] feel like they must be missing out, but that should not be why they go abroad."
Randall, who is studying political science and Latin at Tufts, said that although he sees the benefits of studying abroad, especially for those studying international relations or languages, he still thinks Goucher's new requirement is "impractical and somewhat unfair."
Randall said that not all students, such as engineering students, would benefit from international study.
Bayne recognized the difficulty engineers face when considering their study abroad options. "We want to work...to create better opportunities for engineers," she said.
Bayne also said that even students who do not study abroad still gain international exposure. She said that about 15 percent of the student body is international, and that Tufts has international instructors and faculty who conduct research abroad. "[International students and faculty] bring that global perspective to the Tufts campus," she said.
Randall said that he sees value in gaining a global perspective, but he also said that "understanding people is more important than international contact."
It would benefit many Tufts students "to go to rural Mississippi more than it would for them to spend a semester in an upscale neighborhood of Paris," he said.
