Students from underrepresented minority groups are nearly 40 percent of all undergraduates, but they make up only 26 percent of all college students who study abroad. African Americans are about 13 percent of all undergraduate students but only 5.6 percent of the students who study abroad.
The Council on International Educational Exchange and the Center for Minority-Serving Institutions of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, have announced a new three-year partnership in an effort to increase study abroad opportunities for students at historically Black colleges and universities and other minority serving higher educational institutions.
The new partnership will include student scholarships for study abroad, faculty training programs, and workshops for college presidents.
James P. Pellow, president and CEO of the Council on International Educational Exchange, said that “expanding opportunities for global education is an imperative for university leaders across the country. Our experience indicates that the most successful colleges are those that have strong leadership advocating for international education, engaged faculty shaping programs that are appropriate for each institution, and students that have the support they need to participate.”
Michael Sorrell, president of historically Black Paul Quinn College in Dallas, added that “as the world has become a more interconnected and smaller place, students from under resourced communities cannot afford to be left on the sidelines and marginalized in this new world order.”
How can HBCUs make the claim about study abroad opportunities when it emphatically fail to include Ph.D. students for study abroad opportunities. In fact, what better person to serve in the capacity as a representative of an HBCU than a doctoral student. In my view, this is borderline discriminatory based upon ones academic degree is pursuing or even their age(e.g., implicit bias in my view). For example, I have applied on numerous instances for study abroad opportunities was informed that ‘such opportunities are only for undergraduate students” by university personnel. Keep in mind, the electronic advertisement sent out to the university community only indicated ‘students to apply’.
In close, if HBCUs were really serious about study abroad for their students, they would immediately allow their own Ph.D. students the opportunity to take advantage of such opportunities.
Did I miss something?
The topic of the article is Partnering with HBCUs to create more study abroad opportunities for undergraduate students. Can we be happy for others without insisting a personal benefit for our self ?
If someone is pursuing a Ph.D, I’m sorry they are not disadvantaged (under represented maybe). I am excited to see such an initiative. May this program spur on many others … including Alums of HBCU and HWCU.