Study Abroad Strides

Hamline University is a leader in Minnesota when it comes to sending students on study abroad opportunities. According to the new Open Doors report released this week by the Institute of International Education and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Hamline sent the largest number of students on study abroad among universities of its kind in Minnesota. 

The Open Doors study examined data from 3,000 U.S. colleges and universities during the 2007-08 academic year. A record 262,416 students from these colleges spent time earning academic credit abroad, up 8.5% from the previous year. This latest increase marks decades of unprecedented growth in the number of American students receiving academic credit for their overseas academic experience, with four times as many U.S. students participating in study abroad in 2007-08 than in 1987-88. 

Overall, Minnesota schools sent 9,579 students abroad last year; 543 of them were from Hamline. More than 35 percent of Hamline’s undergraduate students participate in a study abroad experience during their college career. There are also an increasing number of opportunities for students in Hamline’s law school, graduate programs and MBA program to study in Germany, Spain and Finland or to complete a paid internship in Shanghai or Beijing, China.

“We have made great strides in establishing strong partnerships with academically strong institutions all over the world and in making study abroad affordable and manageable for our students,” said Dr. Kari Richtsmeier, assistant dean of international and off-campus programs. “A study abroad experience changes the fabric of a student’s being. Students become more self-aware, more confident and see themselves, their country and the world in a new light. The experience is transformative.”

The Open Doors report is published by the Institute of International Education, the leading not-for-profit educational and cultural exchange organization in the United States. IIE has conducted the annual statistical survey of the international students in the United States since 1949, and with support from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs since the early 1970s. For more information, visit www.opendoors.iienetwork.org.