Examining the Impact of a Study Abroad Fund on the Global Engagement of Underrepresented Students

• In Event: The Experiences of Underrepresented Students in Study Abroad

Proposal

Studying abroad has generated several impacts on several skills and competencies which include: intercultural communication skills such as adaptability and sensitivity (Williams, 2005); self-efficacy (Cubillos & Ilvento, 2012); global citizenry (Tarrant et al., 2014); an understanding of the complexities of global issues, the ability to apply disciplinary knowledge in a global context and the ability to work with people from other cultures (Stebleton, Soria & Cherney, 2013). It has also been found that international experiences can impact significantly the development of students’ global and intercultural competencies, especially those of underrepresented backgrounds, low-income, and working class students (Stebleton, Soria & Cherney, 2013). Moreover, the study abroad destination impacts the choice of career post graduation (Lane-Toomey, 2014). Choosing a study abroad destination can also be a result of available scholarships (Lane-Toomey & Lane, 2012).

Given this background, this study seeks to examine the impact of a scholarship on students’ global engagement (Murphy et al., 2014). The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) provides scholarships which range from $1,250 to $5,000, in which underrepresented students are given preference in the selection process. Global engagement is here operationalized into four of the five domains included in Murphy et al.’s (2014) study: civic engagement, knowledge production, philanthropy, and voluntary simplicity. We opted not to include social entrepreneurship as a variable given that it was not found to be significant in the original study or to be relevant for the research as well as for FEA. Murphy et al’s (2014) study is an adaptation of a survey created by Paige et al. (2009), the Study Abroad for Global Engagement.

In order to highlight the impact of the FEA scholarship, a survey will be sent out to 268 FEA scholars (students who received the grant between 2011 and 2018) as well as to 9,159 applicants who were not selected for the grant. We expect to have three groups being compared in the analysis: a) FEA scholarship recipients; b) non-selected applicants who went abroad with other funds; c) non-selected applicants who did not go abroad.
In addition, we seek to answer the following research questions: i) does the destination (developed vs. developing country) play a role on students’ global engagement?; ii) how can non-profit institutions that provide scholarships and colleges and universities better support these students?

We believe this study can contribute to further understanding the impact of such scholarships on underrepresented students as we have three groups being compared in this study (Murphy et al.’s study only compared students who went abroad vs. those who did not). Furthermore, we believe that the host destination can play a significant role in the development of global engagement.

This study is currently being analyzed by the Internal Review Board (IRB) and we expect to begin the data collection in November 2020. The data collection should last approximately three weeks and the data analysis should last approximately a month.

Authors

• Kelber Tozini, The George Washington University

• Laura Engel, George Washington University