(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. - A societal shift to a globalized culture may be pushing student interest toward studying abroad. And in the search for employment after college, a resume that includes cross-cultural experience may be increasingly important.
"It's no longer that being from the U.S. or having a U.S. degree is enough," said Charles Braithwaite, the director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Global Classroom Project and senior lecturer in communication studies at UNL. "Study abroad is a necessity, not a luxury."
Thirty-eight percent of U.S. students studied abroad for a semester-long program, according to 2006 data from Open Doors, a nonprofit publication issued by the Institute of International Education. Six percent of U.S. students studied abroad for a full academic year.
"Students today seem to be more willing and interested in study abroad and in understanding how they might contribute to the global community," said Christine Timm, the associate director of UNL's Career Services.v
"Something people don't always think about consciously is what they're going to learn about themselves," said Sarah Barr, a UNL study abroad adviser.
Regardless of students' reasons to study abroad -- to travel, to be exposed to a different culture or to be able to compete in the job market -- they gain many other valuable skills and insight in the process, Barr said.
Through a cross-cultural experience, students can gain communication and problem-solving skills, language abilities, intercultural communication competence and social skills, Barr said.
In Braithwaite's Intercultural Communications class, students spend class time interacting with students at international universities in Yemen, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan and Spain. The students that we're talking to in other countries are now our competitors (in the job market)," Braithwaite said.
Opportunities such as the Intercultural Communications class can give students a degree of global awareness without leaving the country. Students can also take part in one of the many campus clubs and organizations with a cross-cultural emphasis, take classes in international studies or volunteer with organizations such as the Lincoln Friends of Foreign Students or the Conversational Partners Program.
"With the Internet and technology, the world has kind of shrunk, and (cross-cultural experience) is becoming more important," Barr said. "A lot of people feel like going to college is a given ... In the future, study abroad might be the same thing."
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