Restricting Opportunity or Providing Access? A Qualitative Content Analysis of Study Abroad Websites

• In Event: 31.050 - International Perspectives of Organization and Governance at Institutions of Higher Education

Abstract

This study explores how institutions communicate and engage with students about study abroad opportunities with a view to identifying institutional practices that make study abroad more or less accessible. We address this purpose through a qualitative content analysis of education abroad websites. Preliminary findings indicate that institutions with high study abroad participation rates tend to focus attention on addressing a primary barrier to study abroad for most students: its price. In contrast, institutions with lower-than-expected participation rates reflected a reliance upon outside organizations to coordinate abroad programs. Results provide preliminary evidence for ways in which an institution’s practices and policies can function as relics of study abroad’s exclusionary past, or as inclusive programs that provide opportunities to diverse student populations.

Authors

• Melissa Whatley, North Carolina State University

• Amy Elizabeth Stich, University of Georgia