Enhancing Global Understanding with Study Abroad

Abstract

Expanding opportunities for short-term overseas study require social work educators to consider ethical implications of these courses. Maximizing global understanding requires skillful facilitation, culturally respectful engagement, and learning activities consistent with ethical codes. Drawing on 10 years of experience leading study abroad trips the authors outline principles for instruction grounded in values of social justice, dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships. Successful study abroad programs expand student understandings of the impact of globalization. Reciprocity between participants and host country nationals is promoted with interactions based on mutual respect.     

Eating a home: food,imaginary selves and Study Abroad testimonials

Discourses around Study Abroad (SA) consistently portray a transformational experience for participants who return home forever changed. This article investigates how such change is inscribed in texts addressed to Australian tertiary students considering SA. Acknowledging the significant role of the non-study component of SA in triggering change, this paper focuses on the non-academic domain of food, recurrent in the corpus, 102 SA testimonials from returnees from French-speaking environments of Canada, France and Switzerland, posted on an Australian Group of Eight university website. It investigates the templates provided to shape the imaginary of the readers as to their ideal selves and to legitimize and ascribe value to particular foods and related practices. Are students guided towards the perpetuation of their habits, or in these ‘foreign fields’, is there an opportunity to shift habitus, with food contributing to the reconstructed self? Drawing on Bourdieu and on theories of motivation and of the ideal self, the article proposes a reading that resolves the tension between the integrative use of food, and the future exploitation of the SA experience as a mark of distinction.     

Conjoint Analysis of Study Abroad Preferences: Key Attributes,Segments and Implications for Increasing Student Participation

An adaptive conjoint analysis was performed on the study abroad preferences of a sample of undergraduate college students. The results indicate that trip location, cost, and time spent abroad are the three most important determinants of student preference for different study abroad trip scenarios. The analysis also uncovered four different study abroad need-based segments. In order to increase study abroad participation rates it is recommended that universities determine which of these segments they want to target, and then develop a set of study abroad offerings and communication strategies custom designed to address the particular needs of each targeted segment. Recommendations on how to market to each segment are provided.     

Study Abroad and Developing Reflective Research Practice Through Blogs: A Preliminary Study from the United Kingdom

Blogs are seen as an important strand of social networking and a significant way of disseminating research ideas and sharing knowledge and perceptions with new audiences via digital platforms. The use of blogs within off-campus activities, such as study abroad field visits, have the potential to enhance students’ social media skills and confidence about becoming active researchers in public through communicating field research experiences and reflections on what they see, learn, hear, and do. Via a semi-structured questionnaire administered to UK-based university students participating in a recent Criminology program field visit to Slovenia in Europe, we assess the extent to which blogging facilitates student reflective practice on their lived experiences of undertaking research in culturally unfamiliar environments. We show that blogging combined with the whole experience of international fieldwork has a “learning gain” for students exemplified through a willingness to engage in reflective practice, self-awareness, and transferable skills.     

从限制到鼓励:国外择校政策透视

20世纪80年代以来,西方发达国家义务教育阶段的入学政策出现了一个逆转:从限制择校到鼓励择校。由“大政府”向“小政府”的转变,是推动西方发达国家教育政策转向最主要、最直接的动力。择校政策的实质就是试图借用市场手段来实现改革的目标。目前,公众与研究人员对择校政策的态度褒贬不一。就我国国情而言,近年内不宜推行择校制。     

Serious social media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college

A considerable body of research indicates that social support plays an integral role in determining students' successful adjustment to college. Unlike previous research that has evaluated face-to-face support interventions that occur during students' first semester at college, the current study reports on a student-centered social media site designed to enhance students' perceptions of social support prior to their arrival on campus. Results indicated that site usage increased students' perceptions that they would have a diverse social support network during their first semester at college, even when controlling for other potent predictors. The importance of social support perceptions for college adjustment is detailed and the ramifications of the social media intervention are discussed.     

国外中小企业境外拓展的经验借鉴

发达国家通过税收激励、金融帮助、情报支持、保险保护、双边协定保护等鼓励政策,刺激中小境外拓展。发展中国家通过降低跨国投资“门槛”,利用多种保险机制及其他鼓励措施,推动中小企业走向境外。借鉴他国经验,结合国情,我国应在立法保护、政治风险保障、经济保险保证、财政信贷鼓励、实施核准制登记制等方面,推动中小企业境外拓展。     

To See the World or Stay at Home: Applying an Integrated Student Choice Model to Explore the Gender Gap in the Intent to Study Abroad

Although interest in study abroad has grown consistently in recent decades, study abroad professionals and higher education scholars have been unable to explain or rectify the long-standing gender gap in study abroad participation. This study applies an integrated model of the student-choice construct to explore differences between male and female intent to study abroad. Results indicate that, not only can various forms of social and cultural capital predict student decisions about curricular opportunities during college such as study abroad, but gender plays a substantial role in altering the ways in which those forms of capital shape student decisions differently. These findings present a range of implications for researchers interested in better understanding the decision making process of college students as well as study abroad professionals and national policymakers intent on narrowing the gender gap in study abroad participation.     

略论出国留学教育决策的战略性调整与政策取向

根据国家对出国留学教育决策的战略性调整，当前应当注意研究和解决好今后一个时期我国整体留学工作的深化改革和政策创新方面的若干问题。     

Capital,habitus, and education in contemporary China: Understanding motivations of middle-class families in pursuing studying abroad in the United States

Abstract

The growing Chinese middle class and their accumulation of wealth and economic capital have seen an increasing number of Chinese students pursuing their education in the West. Due to this growing number, motivations behind their decision to study abroad warrant scholarly treatment. This article discusses the motives of Chinese middle-class families and their children in seeking studying abroad. The paper reports on a recent study of 166 students on American campuses from 2017 to 2018. It uses Bourdieusian concepts of capital, habitus, and the idea of social mobility and social reproduction, to understand Chinese middle-class families’ strategic decisions around studying overseas in relation to employability, labour market competitiveness, and family support. Studying abroad, therefore, is construed by Chinese middle class families as a way of pursuing and preserving their social status and social mobility.     

Exploring the orientations of international students in Mexico: differences by region of origin

This study examined the dispositions, experiences, and expectations of international students in a developing country to understand the increasing phenomenon of reverse student flows and the role of the political economy in international student mobility. Students’ dispositions, experiences and expectations—referred here collectively as “orientations”—served as the guiding framework for this study. Data were drawn from survey responses from 279 international students at universities throughout Mexico and analyzed to explore the orientations among students from Europe, Latin America and North America. Findings showed significant differences among international students’ dispositions, experiences, and expectations by these geographical regions of origin. In a broader context, this research addressed the important role of developing countries as not only senders but also receivers of international students. This research also demonstrated the ways that the political economy shape the orientations of students studying abroad.     

清末民初潮汕留学浪潮述略

清末民初全国出现了轰轰烈烈的留学热潮,这股热潮也自然波及到潮汕地区。当时有众多的潮籍学子留学外洋。他们满怀救国图强的爱国热情,在国外广泛地吸收新知,努力学习先进的科技、文化和民主思想。回国后,他们兢兢业业,发挥自己所学之长,为祖国的近现代化建设奉献自身的力量。同时他们积极投身家乡的社会改革,启发民智,在潮汕地区的近代化过程中起到了不可忽视的作用。     

Strategic escapes: Negotiating motivations of personal growth and instrumental benefits in the decision to study abroad

Studying abroad is one way in which university students can develop personal capital and distinguish themselves in an increasingly congested graduate labour market. Data show that studying abroad indeed provides employment benefits, with evidence pointing to even greater positive effects for students from low socio‐economic status backgrounds. Focusing on a group of Canadian students about to embark on a study exchange, we find no evidence that career‐instrumental reasons played a role in participants’ decisions to study abroad. Rather, they sought personal growth and escape from the everyday frustrations of being an undergraduate student. We argue, however, that these motivations nonetheless have to be understood as strategic, since going on a study exchange abroad allows students to escape temporarily, while ‘staying in the game’ of becoming credentialed at home. We discuss the role of socio‐economic status, as well as the policy implications of these findings.     

Bullying: Group differences of being victim and being bully and the influence of social relations

Bullying refers to several aspects of social interaction and communication. As a negative indicator of social inclusion, it has a high impact on students' well-being/health. Therefore, the present paper focuses on bullying of risk groups (gender, migration background, …), the influence of social relations on bullying and its context on school-well-being. 353 secondary school students (Austria) participated. Results indicated that boys were more likely to be bullies as well as victims. Regression analyses indicate that being female and positive teacher-student-relationships are significant predictors of being a bully less often and a positive peer-relationship is a predictor of being a victim less often. A negative correlation was found for both being a bully and being a victim and school-well-being. The findings highlight that social relations rather than being member of a minority group are important factors causing bullying and victimisation. Results will be discussed, taking into account methodological-analytical conditions.     

Understanding College Readiness: The Limitations of Information and the Possibilities of Cultural Integrity

ABSTRACT

The college readiness of high school graduates has become a core objective of the education policy of the United States. Early college readiness programs now exist in 38 states, and early college transition curricula have been developed in 29 states. This article evaluates the oldest of these programs, the Early Assessment Program (EAP), operated through the California State University (CSU) system. The authors argue that the EAP, grounded in enhanced information and choice – tenets of rational choice theory – is inadequate to meet the goals of the university. Remediation challenges at the CSU have remained substantial. An early college readiness program that also incorporates the theory of cultural integrity will have a more substantive impact on college readiness, particularly for marginalized youth.     

近代留学的中科院技术科学部院士群体状况分析

通过对近代留学的中国科学院技术科学部院士进行多视角的计量统计分析，得到了院士群体状况的量化分析结论。其中，有关近代留学的中科院技术科学部院士籍贯分布地域的不均衡以及学成年龄构成的状况等统计结果，对当代人才培养和科技决策有一定的参考价值。     

利用网络英语新闻促进大学英语教学的实验研究

由于缺乏真实性语言输入,现阶段非英语专业大学生普遍不能熟练、准确地使用英语表达思想,且交际的内容过于空洞,欠缺深度。鉴于此,笔者将网络英语新闻内容穿插到大学英语的课堂教学,并进行了为期一个学年的教学实验,采用测试和访谈等研究手段,发现利用网络英语新闻不仅能够调动学生的学习积极性,活跃课堂气氛,还能引导、帮助他们树立正确的英语学习观念,有效地提高其书面表达能力,进而提高他们的英语学业成绩。     

成长困境的寓言--《从百草园到三味书屋》主题别解

分析对《从百草园到三味书屋》主题既往理解之不足.对"百草园"、"三味书屋"意象的象征寓意进行把握,指出《从百草园到三味书屋》是对童年成长过程必然经历自然天趣与文化规束两个阶段、二者共同参与塑造生命形象的寓言写照.     

高等教育国际化:大学生国际能力测评及影响因素实证研究

经济全球化和高等教育国际化对当前大学毕业生提出了新的要求,即具备"国际能力"。依据课题组开发的国际能力测评量表,对北京地区8所院校的大学生进行了抽样测评。研究发现:(1)大学生国际能力表现平平,国际能力的三个维度的平均水平有明显差异;(2)大学生国际能力在学生个人特征和家庭背景等方面存在差异,对学生国际能力有显著影响;(3)在控制了个体特质和家庭背景等方面的变量后,国际能力受到学生的国际化活动参与度变量的显著影响。     

按生产要素分配:现阶段收入分配的制度选择

我国的收入分配制度先后经历了几次变迁,从把按劳分配作为唯一的分配原则,到现在按生产要素分配的原则。无论从马克思的分配理论考察,还是从我国现阶段的资源稀缺性、经济活动质量、以及效率优先、兼顾公平的社会分配原则考察,按生产要素分配的原则必然成为我国现阶段收入分配的制度选择。