He was not nervous about boarding the plane. He had never been inside an airport before.
At the time, I was leading a group of students to Texas for an experiential learning opportunity in sports. While some students were excited about the trip itself, one student was overwhelmed by something many Americans take for granted: access to travel and exposure beyond their immediate environment.
For perspective, I have encountered this phenomenon quite often throughout my career, and it has inevitably changed my role as an educator. I now approach experiential learning through a global lens. Whenever possible, we travel and learn. When travel is not feasible, I bring the world to my students by connecting them with international universities, organizations, and experiences. Seeing, connecting, and interacting is believing. Experiences like these have also reshaped how I interpret the promises many universities make about preparing students for a “global workforce.”
Navigate the website of most universities, and you will find some variation of a commitment to preparing a globally competent workforce. This language is often embedded within institutional vision and mission statements. Universities frequently claim they are preparing students to compete in an increasingly interconnected world. Yet, too often they promote cross-cultural readiness without ensuring equitable access to international experiences or meaningful engagement with global perspectives before graduation. How, then, are universities ensuring that all students benefit from this stated global commitment? Is global learning merely associated with studying abroad, or is it intentionally interwoven throughout the curriculum?
Study abroad programs are often promoted as pathways to employability and workforce readiness. For example, Palm Beach Atlantic University highlights benefits such as cultural competence, language fluency, adaptability, and the ability to work effectively in diverse environments; skills increasingly valued in today’s global economy. NAFSA reported a six percent increase in study abroad participation between 2023 and 2024, which may indicate that universities are doing a better job of promoting international experiences, or that the next generation increasingly understands the value of engaging with global systems.
However, it is equally important to examine who is actually participating in these opportunities. Despite overall increases in study abroad participation, there has been little growth among students of color and students from rural communities.
As someone who has led study abroad trips for more than 20 years, I can say from personal experience that the primary barriers preventing many students from studying abroad are finances and lack of family support. The costs associated with international travel can be overwhelming for students and their families, including airfare, accommodations, food, and transportation within the host country. For some students, the challenge begins with obtaining a passport. I still encounter students who do not have one, and often those same students come from families in which immediate family members do not have passports either, contributing to a lack of familiarity and support for international travel.
Not only do I continue to meet students who have never traveled outside the United States, but some have never traveled beyond their home state, and some, like the student standing in awe inside the Orlando airport, have never even been on a plane. Experiences like these are why I always host pre-departure sessions and provide additional support for students who have never flown or traveled internationally.
Over time, these experiences have reshaped and strengthened my approach to pre-departure preparation. More importantly, they revealed something larger than travel anxiety. They exposed how economic inequality shapes access to opportunity long before students ever enter the workforce.
If study abroad is not an option, then a globally focused curriculum must be at the forefront to ensure students are prepared to compete in an increasingly interconnected workforce. However, many universities still fail to embed global workforce preparedness consistently across ALL academic disciplines. If global readiness is truly part of an institution’s mission or vision, then how is it being implemented so that ALL students graduate prepared to work in diverse environments?
The reality is that I am not seeing these efforts meaningfully interwoven throughout all curricula. Not every faculty member views it as a requirement, and not all faculty members have traveled abroad or engaged extensively with international perspectives, even though global competency often appears as part of the university’s stated goals. Essentially, you cannot effectively teach what you do not know or have not experienced.
As an experienced educator and someone who fully embraces global readiness for students, I believe there must be a more concerted effort to promote study abroad opportunities by providing financial assistance and institutional support whenever possible. Advisors also need to be properly trained to help students identify scholarships and connect them with seminars, workshops, and informational sessions that reach ALL students. Too many students, including graduate-level students, are simply unaware that these opportunities exist.
The advisement process should not only focus on helping students navigate their curriculum track, but also on discussing career pathways, including how study abroad and international experiences can enhance employability and workforce readiness. For students who may never study abroad, universities must ensure there is a comprehensive review of the curriculum in EACH major so faculty members can intentionally incorporate global skills and international perspectives that prepare students to compete anywhere in the world.
Achieving this may also require universities to invest more intentionally in faculty development by supporting international travel, participation in global organizations, and collaboration with universities across different regions of the world. Faculty members can engage in team teaching and international partnerships that expand both their own exposure and that of their students. Likewise, students can collaborate with peers at partner universities abroad, increasing their exposure to different learning styles, cultures, and geographic perspectives.
Students should not have to overcome financial barriers simply to gain the global exposure many employers now expect.
If universities truly believe in equity and workforce readiness, then international learning opportunities cannot remain optional advantages reserved primarily for those with financial means. They must become part of a broader commitment to equity, access, and economic mobility.
Global education should not reinforce existing opportunity gaps. It should help close them.
