Why We Need More STEM Students To Study Abroad

Students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are much less likely to participate in study abroad programs during their college years than students in other majors.

According to Open Doors 2018, the Institute of International Education’s most recent survey of U.S. study abroad, less than 2% of all college students studied abroad in 2016-17, and of that small number of participants, only 5.3% were engineering majors and 2.8% were math or CS majors. The report highlights that while the number STEM majors in programs has increased over the past decade, STEM fields continue to be the most underrepresented fields in study abroad.

Yet international experience is vital for STEM students, who will be creating technologies that may impact the entire world. U.S. scientists and engineers also must be able to collaborate on multicultural, international teams in order to be successful in their careers and to tackle global challenges together.

What holds STEM students back from studying abroad? STEM students often have a harder time fitting a semester abroad into a tightly sequenced required program of study, according to IIE’s 2009 white paper, Promoting Study Abroad in Science and Technology Fields. Other reasons named in the report include a lack of encouragement from academic advisors, difficulty in obtaining credit at the home institution for STEM courses taken abroad, and fewer science and engineering-related study abroad programs overall. Yet another hurdle is language. Because STEM students often have to take more courses in their major, they don’t have as much opportunity to take a series of language courses, and that often limits their study abroad options.

Recognizing the challenges, many colleges and universities have been working to expand study abroad opportunities for STEM students such as making STEM curricula more flexible, weaving opportunities into the curriculum and creating new programs.

At Harvey Mudd, where we only offer STEM majors, we’ve worked hard to increase participation in study abroad. We were sending on average only 5% percent of our junior class on study abroad programs in the early 2000s; now we send 15-18% of our juniors abroad.

I spoke with Harvey Mudd director of study abroad, Rhonda Chiles, about the challenges and benefits of study abroad, as well as with three students who recently returned from a semester abroad: engineering major Rikki Walters, physics major Duncan Rocha, and physics and theatre double major Madeleine Kerr.

Maria Klawe:  Rhonda, what are some of the initiatives that have helped us increase participation in study abroad?

Rhonda Chiles:   We’ve been partnering more closely with our study abroad program providers, meeting with them and telling them our STEM-related needs. They work with schools from around the world to create a portfolio of programs, and we can choose which ones work best for our students. Over the past decade, our providers have worked hard to create more opportunities for STEM majors. It’s still going to be more challenging for STEM majors, but that challenge is less than it was before. Students can say, hey, I want to do this, I can do this, it’s really possible.

We’ve also started to do our own course matching. We work with program providers to get course descriptions and syllabi from the programs and then have our departments look at which ones will match up.  That makes a huge difference.

Klawe: Rikki, why did you want to study abroad?

Rikki Walters: I spent last semester in Nepal, living with a host family and taking classes from Nepali teachers, including intensive Nepali language.  Studying abroad was something I always knew I needed to do and wanted to do—you become a more global citizen, you understand different perspectives—it’s invaluable.

Klawe: Was it difficult to fit a semester abroad into your engineering major requirements?

Walters: I knew when I started college that I wanted to be an engineer and I wanted to study abroad. So, I started planning from the day I got here. It's totally possible to do, but it took a lot of planning. The Nepal semester program is run by Pitzer College, and they have been working over past few years to make it possible for Harvey Mudd students to participate by bringing in professors from the local universities to teach STEM courses. Since I was the only student that semester taking an engineering class, I was able to provide the professor with Harvey Mudd’s textbook so that he could cover all my required material.  It also helped that I took summer math courses and went on a summer engineering program to China, which helped me add credits towards my graduation requirements and gave me some room in my schedule.

Klawe: Duncan, tell me about your study abroad experience.

Duncan Rocha: I studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the IFSA Butler program. I took classes in Spanish at the program office and two universities in the city. Study abroad was something that was really exciting for me—I already knew that it is one of the best opportunities you are given in college. Being able to move to the other side of the world for six months is not something that people generally consider easy or part of the plan.  I really wanted to take advantage of the fact that I could do this, that there’s a whole program here that facilitates the process.

Klawe: Was it difficult to study abroad and meet your physics requirements?

Rocha: It was somewhat difficult to fit it in. I didn’t feel like I was trying to do the impossible, but I did have to think about how I was going to make up some of my classes. I didn’t take any STEM classes while I was in Argentina, so now I have two physics classes that I need to make up. I have a slightly harder load now for two semesters, but I like physics, so it’s not bad.  And the experience was definitely worth it.

Klawe: What were some of the highlights for you?

Rocha: I took courses in Spanish language, human behavioral studies and the history of art in pre-Columbian civilizations.  My favorite class was a political theory course on climate change as a global problem. I didn’t know anything about political theory, didn’t know the vocabulary they introduced us to, but the class looked at international relations through the lens of climate change, which I care about as a scientist. Seeing the other side of climate change, not just the science and the chemistry but also how people are talking about it in political theory, about how to approach and solve the problem, all in Argentina, was really interesting. I’d love for everyone to be able to study abroad if they want.

Klawe: Madeleine, what drew you to study abroad?

Madeleine Kerr: I studied theatre in London, U.K. I did an acting conservatory program through Fordham University. My decision to study abroad was about more than just studying abroad. It was more like a pivotal moment in my development as an adult. I was at a crossroad. I love two things a lot—physics and theatre. I had been on a physics track since my freshman year in high school—science, STEM, physics have been my goals. And theatre came running along parallel to it. I am a physics major, and I hadn't yet declared a double major in theatre.  I wanted to figure out how much I loved theatre. The London theatre program is rigorous and intensive—all theatre, all day long. I hoped to get a sense of whether theatre was something that I like enough to continue studying even when it gets difficult, even when I have three physics problem sets and I also want to do a rehearsal. Do I love theatre that much? And I found out that yes, I do love it that much.

Klawe: What were some of the highlights of your experience in London?

Kerr: The program was incredible. We learned stage combat, movement, voice training, accent training, Shakespeare acting training, physical theatre training. We had two academic classes, theatre history and dramatic criticism. We went to a play a week and wrote essays on the performances. The highlight of the whole semester was a pop-up theatre performance at the Tower of London, the original center of the city. We got to dress up in historical costume, performed monologues, classical dramas or comedies, and performed a series of stage combat scenes.  It was an incredible experience.

Klawe: How did you fit the semester program into your requirements?

Kerr: I met with the chair of the physics department before I went, and we sat down and figured out how to space out my classes so I don't have to take four physics classes in one semester. I’m taking a lot of credits for the next three semesters, but it will be fine. I don’t regret it at all. The theatre semester abroad counts towards my newly-declared second major, so it has all worked out well.  If anyone asks me whether they should do study abroad, I would say go. Just go. Study abroad. Please do it. Don't think. Sign up and go.

Klawe: How important do you think it is for STEM majors to study abroad?

Walters: I think that nowadays, STEM workers probably have the largest effect on society. We enable so many different ways to manipulate the things in this world.  As the designers and creators rather than the salesmen and businessmen, we don’t always see how the technology we create affects the world, and we’re not always the ones choosing how that technology is applied. Even if we read about the impact of technology from international news, we can’t fully understand it without physically going to another country, experiencing the society for ourselves and talking with the people there. With the tendency to believe more technologically advanced correlates to a better, more knowledgeable and wise society, we lose the ability to listen. It’s essential to listen because otherwise we don’t really know what people in other countries need—we’re just trying to make their society look more like ours. If we really want to help people, then we need to listen to them.

Rocha: It’s so important to experience the other side of the world. I know people who, after they graduated, went to make technologies that are used on the other side of the world. They are making great products, but it it’s important to actually go to a place you are designing for and learn what it’s like to live there. Meeting people who are living in developing countries is really important to the work we do here. We sometimes have our eyes shut, and we focus on the STEM. So, it’s particularly important to study abroad if you are trying to impact society for the better.