Phillip Thomas
Phillip Thomas
Beloit College
Participant in the 2010 ACM Student Symposium on Off-Campus Study
- Programs: Beloit College Exchange Program: Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow (Fall 2008 ) and CIEE: Rennes, France (Spring 2009)
- Graduation: May 2010
- Majors: Russian and French
Why Don't Men Study Abroad? Beloit College as a Case Study
Nationally, over the last 20 years approximately 60 percent of U.S. students studying abroad have been women, despite the tremendous growth in overall participation rates and the extension of study abroad to most fields of study. The gender inequality in study abroad is even more dramatic at many liberal arts institutions. At Beloit College, for example, 70 percent of study abroad students are female.
Why is it that colleges known for their international focus fail to send more males abroad, especially since study abroad is often cited as one of the most important educational experiences a student can have? In the fall of 2009, I took an interdisciplinary course on study abroad, in which fellow students Sherrick O'Quinn, Will Roper, and I examined the underrepresentation of males in study abroad.
In this session, I will report on recent research undertaken on this topic in the U.S., factors potentially affecting study abroad enrollment patterns at Beloit College, and the findings from interviews that we conducted with Beloit College senior men about decision-making related to study abroad.
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