Many students who manage to weave study abroad into their time at Princeton look back on this decision as one of their wisest while at college. But recently Princeton students have been reluctant to go abroad — only 2.4 percent this spring— prompting the University to consider changes in its study abroad options.
Granted, the lack of popularity of study abroad among Princeton students may simply indicate the popularity of life here. Harvard, whose reputation, resources and campus, like Princeton's, make students feel it's almost blasphemous to leave, displays an even lower study abroad rate than Princeton. But many are also discouraged from study abroad by concerns about quality, convenience and academic compatibility.
It's encouraging to see the University working to make study abroad more accessible. But Princeton's handful of popular overseas initiatives, including the ecology and evolutionary biology semester in Panama and the summer Princeton-in-Beijing language program, do not reflect the wider picture of study abroad.
Lacking extensive foreign establishments of its own, Princeton generally directs students to consortiums or other schools' approved programs. As a result, the study abroad prospects many students consider may offer inferior academic quality and administrative convenience, introduce tricky issues of credit-transfer, and may lack the prominence necessary to attract students.
Such problems seem especially acute for science and engineering majors, who are hard-pressed to find foreign institutions where comparable education can be pursued without major disruption of a normal academic route.
As the University works to revamp the study abroad menu, it must focus on improving the range, quality, convenience and academic logic of overseas opportunities. Princeton could mimic the new incentive structure introduced at Harvard, which curtails some distribution requirements for students who go abroad.
The best approach, however, may be the simplest: establishing more University-run programs overseas. Universities of comparable enrollment and endowment size, like Stanford and Columbia, which operate much more extensive overseas networks, have proven this goal feasible.
A more inviting study abroad program would play a key role in the University's push to make students more internationally aware.
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