The Benefits of Study Abroad
New Study Confirms Significant Gains
By Mary M. Dwyer, Ph.D. and Courtney K. Peters
"It will change your life. You’ll come back a new person.” For years, the benefits of
study abroad have been described in these words. Everyone in the study abroad field
believed it could greatly impact a student’s life, but the exact long-term benefits were
unknown—until now.
The first large-scale survey to explore the long-term impact of study abroad on a
student’s personal, professional, and academic life shows that study abroad
positively and unequivocally influences the career path, world-view, and selfconfidence
of students.
The Institute for the International Education of Students (IES),
www.iesabroad.com, surveyed alumni from all IES study abroad programs from 1950
to 1999. Regardless of where students studied and for how long, the data from the
more than 3,400 respondents (a 23 percent response rate) shows that studying
abroad is usually a defining moment in a young person's life and continues to impact
the participant’s life for years after the experience.
Personal Growth
“Overall, I learned a lot more about myself in that one semester than I did in the three
and a half years in my home school because of the unique space in which I learned,
experienced, and spent exploring another culture,” says Carolyn Valtos (IES
Adelaide, 1992, www.iesabroad.org/adelaide/adelaide.html).
An overwhelming majority of respondents echoed Valtos’ feeling. When asked about
personal growth, 97 percent said studying abroad served as a catalyst for increased
maturity, 96 percent reported increased self-confidence, 89 percent said that it
enabled them to tolerate ambiguity, and 95 percent stated that it has had a lasting
impact on their world view.
Findings also show that study abroad leads to long-lasting friendships with other U.S.
students and still impacts current relationships. More than half the respondents are
still in contact with U.S. friends met while studying abroad, and 73 percent said the
experience continues to influence the decisions they make in their family life.
Alexa Sand (IES Milan, 1989, www.iesabroad.org/milan/milan.html), who is still very
close to U.S. friends she met abroad ten years ago, explains, “I think the shared
experience of living fully immersed in another culture made these friendships
particularly poignant and enduring.”
Intercultural Development
Study abroad educators often assert that one of the goals of study abroad is to train
future global leaders to be more effective, respectful of other cultures and political
and economic systems, and willing to take a stand for the world’s welfare, not just
what benefits a specific country. The survey findings indicate that study abroad is
succeeding in its mission.
When questioned about intercultural development, 98 percent of respondents said
that study abroad helped them to better understand their own cultural values and
biases, and 82 percent replied that study abroad contributed to their developing a
more sophisticated way of looking at the world.
“ The experience of living and studying in another country was so eye-opening … [it]
tested preconceptions and habits I wasn’t even aware were so ingrained in me,” says
Cynthia Perras (IES Paris, 1981, www.iesabroad.org/paris/paris.html).
It is significant to note that these intercultural benefits are not fleeting but continue to
impact participants’ lives long after their time abroad. Almost all of the respondents
(94 percent) reported that the experience continues to influence interactions with
people from different cultures, and 23 percent still maintain contact with host-country
friends. Ninety percent said that the experience influenced them to seek out a greater
diversity of friends, and 64 percent said that it also influenced them to explore other
cultures.
“It has been nearly ten years since I was a student in Vienna, but not a single day
goes by where its impact is not felt in my life,” says Jason Thornberg (IES Vienna,
1994, www.iesabroad.org/vienna/vienna.html). “My time there fundamentally changed
how I view the world and has given me the ability to view the world, and its issues,
from several perspectives.”
Education and Career Attainment
“My semester [abroad] launched me into a personal and professional involvement
with Spain that has already lasted 25 years. A political science lecture in Madrid
about U.S. and Spanish involvement in an obscure war in Sahara … led to a
graduate fellowship to Spain and North Africa, which led to work as a foreign
correspondent based in Spain,” says Gary Abramson