Capitalizing on Cuba: Exploration of U.S. Study Abroad Programming in Cuba

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday V)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Programming development concerns in education abroad

Proposal

Neoliberal reforms continue to undermine U.S. public funding for higher education, leading to the corporatization and privatization of universities (Giroux, 1983). The neoliberal reforms pressure universities to create a minimally regulated market that advances the maximization of entrepreneurial initiatives (Harvey, 2007).
These reforms have drastically shifted many aspects of the university. Scholars, Slaughter and Rhoades (2004), developed the theory of Academic Capitalism to better understand how universities are leveraging resources in this current era. Using this theoretical lens, this research explores the internationalization process of U.S. university as they engage in student mobility efforts, commonly described as study abroad.

A noteworthy development in study abroad practice is the expansion of study abroad programming to the developing world. This expansion is seen as a purposeful decision by many in the field to move students away from traditional locations (e.g. Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) to build the infrastructure programming with study abroad in less traditional locations (e.g. sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia). However, there is a lack of empirical evidence identifying the motivations for these exchanges.

To examine these motivations, this study uses a qualitative methodological approach involving in-depth interviews with U.S. and Cuban international education administrators and faculty engaged in study abroad efforts between the countries. Cuba was specifically selected as a research site since it is a non-traditional location that has historically approached political and economic policies governing society and educational sector in a way that is in opposition with the neoliberal reforms occurring in the U.S. and has received an exponential increase in U.S. study abroad student enrollments (IIE, 2017). The central question this research seeks to address is: How does the ideological approach to internationalization affect study abroad programming in non-traditional locations (in particular Cuba)?

This study is of significance as it will captures the voices of both U.S. and Cuban educational administrators and faculty to inform study abroad programming and assessment practices to become more inclusive of the needs of international partner, particularly those in non-traditional locations. Understanding and appreciating university voices in different societal contexts ultimately leads to more sustainable study abroad programming, which is essential to the implementation of U.S. higher education institutions’ internationalization plans. To elevate the academic communities of non-traditional locations this study reorients scholarship by placing the international academic community as a central and equal partner in the development of study abroad programming.

Author

• Taylor Clay Woodman, University of Maryland