In an effort to get more students to think sooner than later about studying abroad, a new pilot program enables college freshmen to set up online profiles that match them with programs of interest around the world.
Martin made those remarks Tuesday after a presentation of the pilot program—officially known as “Freshman Cohort” — at the Institute of International Education’s 2016 Generation Study Abroad summit in Washington, D.C.
It was just one of a series of new and innovative ideas proffered at the summit to achieve the Generation Study Abroad goal of doubling and diversifying the portion of the nation’s students who study abroad by 2020. Currently, only about one in 10 American students study abroad, and the vast majority of those students are White and well-to-do, IIE statistics show.
Generation Study Abroad seeks to change those statistics around. No one thing may do the trick, but, collectively, it will involve discovering the efficacy of efforts such as Freshman Cohort and scaling them up.
A primary objective of the Freshman Cohort pilot program is not necessarily to get more students to go abroad during their freshman year, Martin said, but rather to illuminate how technology can be harnessed to achieve more “touch points” with the students regarding study abroad.
“Part of our mission is to empower every adviser to empower every student to engage in global opportunities,” Martin said.
