Study Abroad: Bringing OU Students to the World

By CIS Dean Scott Fritzen

Objective: To increase access to meaningful study abroad and global learning experiences for all OU students.

OU has a proud tradition of study abroad, with participation nearly doubling in the 2010s. Having a study abroad experience, particularly one that is tailored to one’s degree program, is one of the highest-impact learning practices that a student can have at any university. Yet the experience can seem simply out of reach to many of our students. The obstacles are diverse and sometimes combine to form a brick wall. Students may never have imagined themselves studying abroad. They may come from families that have not traveled internationally or they may simply be unable to afford to study abroad (or assume that they cannot), whether because of the additional cost or their need to work to fund their studies. Finally, a solid program abroad for their area of study — one that helps them maximize progress toward a degree and the development of pre-professional competencies – may simply not be available.

Our focus and priority is to make study abroad opportunities accessible to all OU students. As of 2021-2022, about 5% of the undergraduate student population participates in study abroad programs in any given year. We have set an ambitious, even audacious, goal of making a meaningful move toward doubling this percentage within a five-year period, a significant increase over pre-pandemic study abroad levels. This would place OU among the top ranks of public research universities in the country on this dimension.

To meet the strategic objective of increasing access to meaningful study abroad experiences for all OU students, we have identified five basic approaches, with a number of tactics and initiatives to support them. As shown below, a cross-cutting approach is to focus on increasing the diversity of participation in study abroad programming, as well as the diversity-enhancing impact of the programming itself.

- Fostering improved curriculum and program accessibility to study abroad. To this end, we will take a whole-of-university approach to increase the availability of study abroad programming that works for students in every field.

- Improving the affordability of study abroad opportunities by adopting cost-control measures while making study abroad scholarships a major focus of the university’s development campaign.

- Fostering improved program design and innovation through enhanced faculty engagement and support for programs that increase the diversity of program options and geography (i.e., programs in the Global South) as well as across program leader demographics (race/ethnicity, academic discipline, etc.).

- Developing effective student engagement strategies, such as adopting a student-centered approach to all our study abroad outreach and advising processes.

- Enhancing OU’s approach to data analysis and risk management in study abroad.