OIP Says BC Differs From Trend

According to a recent article by The Boston Globe, close to 3,000 students will be studying abroad this year, which is more than ever before. Unfortunately, more and more educators are finding it difficult to get their students to "venture out of their American bubbles," which may be a concern for the 1,200 Boston College students who go abroad every year.

Bernd Widdig, director of the Office of International Programs (OIP), agrees that this idea has become more of an issue, but he does not consider it a problem here at BC. "With the large number of students we have going abroad, every student is looking for a different kind of experience," Widdig said. "However, we do our very best to accommodate everyone, from the student who is fluent in multiple languages and wants to do a home stay, to the student who only wants to speak English and hang out with their friends."

BC offers over 60 study abroad programs in 30 countries, and students also have the opportunity to go abroad through external programs if they wish to go to a country where BC is not located or if they wish to do an internship. "When you're in a structured American program while abroad, there are certain advantages," Widdig said. "Yet, students in these programs may find it difficult to venture out into the city and meet local friends."

Even though the OIP tries to be as accommodating as possible to every student's desires when going abroad, they also try to challenge every student to go out of their comfort zone. Widdig said that the immersion of BC students into their local culture while abroad is of the utmost importance. "We really encourage the students to engage themselves as much as possible in the local culture and meet new people," he said. The OIP does this through having on-site coordinators in every program who help get the students acclimated with the area they are living in.

Another way the OIP helps students immerse themselves in their local culture is through service opportunities. Widdig added that many BC students do some form of service while abroad and it is a great way to learn more about the country they're staying in. "We try to keep our BC study abroad programs at around 50 students, which really help push the students to venture outside the group of Americans they came with," he said.

The Globe article also brought up the issue of whether technology and social media are making it easier for kids to shut themselves off from the foreign country that they are in. According to the article, "A University of California, Santa Barbara researcher found one group of students averaging 4.5 hours per day online, and 83 percent of their contacts were with other Americans, either at home or in the country they were visiting."

Widdig agreed that technology has become a problem with kids studying abroad. "Now they can talk to any of their friends or family back home at any time, and they can go visit their friends studying abroad very easily, which makes them less likely to be making local friends from where they are staying," he said.

Widdig said that whenever BC students come back from being abroad, they are asked whether they felt they were encouraged and given the opportunities to really delve into their country or city's culture and 85 percent of students said yes. Widdig said the OIP is still very concerned with the 15 percent who answer no and gave some possible reasons for why students answer this, such as their course load while abroad was rigorous or they were involved in a larger external program with hundreds of Americans where it is indeed hard to branch out.

Widdig stressed the importance of full immersion for students to the OIP. "We encourage all students to make local friends, take classes with locals, venture out into the city, but ultimately how much you get of your local culture is up to you," he said. ♦