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KU ranks seventh in students taking part in study abroad

KU is seventh in the nation in the percentage of students who participate in study abroad programs before graduation and employs innovative ways to help students take their academic careers beyond U.S. borders, according to two recent reports.

The Institute of International Education recently issued its annual "Open Doors" report, which showed KU has posted regular increases in the number of students who study abroad. In 2005-06 academic year data, about 29 percent of KU undergraduate students were completing study abroad programs before leaving KU. The number puts KU in a tie for seventh place with Michigan State University among public research universities.

Overall, 1,346 KU students studied outside the United States that year. The total has risen every year since 2001-02. The number has nearly doubled in less than a decade -- 763 students studied abroad in 1998-99.

Nationwide, students have shown reluctance to pursue international study lasting a semester or longer. KU has responded with more shorter programs, many that can be taken during winter or summer breaks. The approach has drawn national acclaim.

A recent report in the Chronicle of Higher Education touted KU as an institution that has not only increased the number of shorter programs but also used other successful methods to boost study abroad numbers. The report cited KU's 60 short-term programs this year that were designed by faculty. That is an increase from 42 the year before. The trend is part of an effort to ensure students and faculty do not view studying abroad as time away from academic careers.

Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco, director of the Office of Study Abroad, told the Chronicle that about 64 percent of KU's study abroad students take part in the shorter programs each year.

"I think this is the first step into longer-term study abroad," she said. "The wave of the future includes many departments developing options for a major where students can spend a semester studying at a foreign institution."

NOTABLE ALUMS

As director of Voice of America, 1968 KU journalism graduate Danforth Austin oversees a worldwide multimedia broadcasting operation in 45 languages reaching more than 115 million people each week via radio, television and the Internet. He previously was an executive at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones after starting as a reporter for the journal. Chancellor Robert Hemenway recently appeared on the show. For more, see story on page 5