Over There

The Committee on Education Abroad (CEA) recently released a report suggesting ways to encourage Harvard students to undertake an international experience before they graduate. The report has many good insights. It correctly assesses the need for more departmental advising for students who wish to study abroad. Encouraging departments to be more flexible with requirements for the students who are studying abroad is also a step in the right direction. Most important, the CEA also recognized the unique commitment that Harvard students have to their extracurricular activities, commitments which would deter many students from skipping entire semesters. To counter this reluctance, one of the CEA’s main proposals was extending financial aid for summer study abroad programs, making summer study an option for many more students.

However, before Harvard devotes all of its money to financing students studying abroad over the summer, it is also important for Harvard to spend money to improve its study abroad infrastructure. Many students are reluctant to go abroad mainly due to the lack of available satisfactory study-abroad programs. There are a limited number of programs from which Harvard accepts credit in the first place, and the number of attractive options is further diminished by the undemanding curricula used by these programs.

To combat this quality problem, the CEA should also encourage Harvard to invest money to improve on its existing summer study-abroad programs, to create more Harvard-sanctioned term time study abroad programs, and to establish partnerships with elite schools and institutions around the world. One of the CEA recommendations is that Harvard science departments work to develop opportunities at laboratories and field stations around the world—the same should be said for all the Harvard departments. Harvard currently has a villa in Italy and a laboratory in Chile (and a forest in New Zealand). More property would be better, as it would provide students with interesting housing and research opportunities across the world. This investment in international property should be matched by one in international academia. Harvard must not continue to pawn off students on other schools’ study abroad programs, even if it offers financial aid for them. Harvard must form its own partnerships with sister international schools. As it stands, the academic rigor of most study abroad programs available to Harvard students pales in comparison to that of Harvard courses. While immersion into the local culture and language study are often the most important things about study abroad, academics must not be completely pushed to the side. Only through these partnerships can Harvard begin to dictate quality standards for international study. With more property and more partnerships, Harvard will make it immensely easier and more rewarding to skip out on Cambridge, whether over the summer or during term time.

Besides opportunities during the summer and during the semester, Harvard undergraduates should also be able to gain international experience through their classes. The CEA proposes that when the January term is put into place, professors should take their students on field trips around the world to enhance their studies. This is an excellent idea, but this proposal does not have to wait until the implementation of the January term; the proposed changes should begin to happen now. Some Harvard departments already take their students on faraway field trips during breaks. For example, the Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) department is offering an all-expense paid trip to the big island of Hawaii before school starts in September 2005, and all sophomore EPS concentrators are welcome to participate. Though not technically an international trip, this kind of opportunity is perfect because it allows students to do real, relevant coursework with their professors while experiencing a different culture. And the timing of the trip allows students who need to make money over the summer, or students who have extracurricular commitments, to still get a quasi-international experience. If EPS can think up something like this, imagine the possibilities for other departments, if given enough support.

Aside from more class-related international experience, the CEA should also increase opportunities for students to have non-study international experiences, like internships or volunteering, over the summer. Programs like these already exist through the Office of Career Services—notably the Weissman International Internship program. Building from these models, Harvard should step in and extend these kinds of opportunities to more students.

In short, we commend the CEA for coming up with a very thorough report. While financial aid for summer study abroad is an excellent idea, we also encourage the CEA to look into ways that Harvard can improve its international resources—whether property or academic partnerships—and increase the academic rigor of study abroad programs. We also urge the CEA to focus on alternative ways for students to gain international experience outside of studying abroad during the semester. A step in the right direction, it is now up to Harvard’s administration to fund these new initiatives so that every Harvard student, science concentrator or humanities concentrator, rich or poor, American or foreign, has the opportunity to learn in a new and exciting environment.