UC study abroad’s enrollment increases

By Dorothy Augustyniak
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

Even terrorist attacks in America have not deterred many
University of California students from pursuing opportunities to
study abroad, new data shows.

Despite the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and reports of growing
anti-American sentiment in some parts of the world, there was a 20
percent increase in enrollment in the UC’s Education Abroad
Program for the 2002-2003 academic school year, according to
program director John A. Marcum.

An increase in enrollment in study abroad programs astonished
second-year mathematics student Diana Tran who plans to study in
China this summer.

“Discovering that more students have actually enrolled in
EAP after Sept. 11 is amazing,” Tran said. “This gives
the message that students are not afraid of pursuing their
education overseas,” she said.

UC Statistics show an increase of enrollment in studying abroad
in the past decade. Enrollment in UC’s Education Abroad
Program has doubled since 1990, and since the 1999-2000 academic
year, enrollment has increased by about 16 percent per year,
according to the UC Office of the President. Since the attacks of
Sept. 11, about 5,700 students have requested applications for
studying abroad for the 2002-2003 academic school year.

More than 50 percent of the students are expected to study in
Europe, including more than 500 in Spain and more than 400 in the
United Kingdom, according to Marcum. There are also contingents of
students who will study in China and Japan through the auspices of
the Education Abroad Program.

Many students are taking advantage of the various new options of
overseas study for a semester, or a summer abroad, rather than a
whole year.

UCLA EAP Administrative Director Emily Mohajeri Norris was
pleased to realize that enrollment has increased even after the
events of Sept 11.

Norris believes there are two main reasons for the cause of
increased enrollment. She said the events of Sept. 11 have served
as a wake-up call to students that they need to be engaged in the
world, and the best way to do this is by studying overseas and
understanding other cultures’ perceptions of the world.

“There are some universities across the nation that send
about 30 percent of their undergraduates to study abroad and
that’s where UCLA is heading,” said Norris. “Due
to its popularity, studying abroad is becoming more integrated into
undergraduate education,” she said.

Norris isn’t the only one happy about the increase. UCLA
administrators and UC officials welcome the trend, as they look for
a way to deal with massive enrollment increases to UC schools over
the next 10 years.

Though numbers are up, safety still remains an issue for some.
For example, students studying in Israel through EAP were brought
home at the UC’s request during winter quarter due to ongoing
violence. The Israeli program has not yet re-opened.

On Saturday, UC’s EAP held a spring orientation for
students from five Southern California UC schools, prepping them
about safety and lifestyle concerns before they leave the U.S. For
example, students traveling to some countries were told to bring
necessary medical prescriptions from the U.S., rather than
depending on getting them abroad.

Though there have been reports of growing anti-American
sentiment in some parts of the world, most students currently
studying overseas through the UC EAP said they are enjoying their
stays and have not experienced any threat to their safety. For
example, UCLA student Antonio Raimundo, who is currently studying
at University of Bologna in Italy, expressed his perspective on
safety from an EAP Web site that students can view to read about
other students’ experiences abroad.

“I do know one thing. I feel much safer here,” he
wrote. “I feel that in America right now, from what I can
read and what I have heard, there is a sense of paranoia and fear.
To prospective EAP students I would say that studying abroad poses
no more threat now than it did before. I do not feel safer or less
safe than I did on Sept. 10,” he said.

UCLA student Luis Lopez currently studying in Pontifical
Catholic University of Río de Janeiro in Brazil, has the same
perspective as Raimundo.

“So far my whole experience here even after the Sept. 11
events has been safe and positive. So far Brazil has been peaceful
after the Sept. 11 events,” Lopez said. “Overall I
wouldn’t have it any other way; stuff back home sounds
serious and Brazil is a safe haven, being here has detached me from
all that and most importantly I feel safe,” he said.

One student who has studied abroad prior to Sept. 11 decided to
do it again. Shu Farmer, a UCLA graduate student studying East
Asian Studies and Asian American Studies, plans to study in China
for a second time next year.

“The events of Sept. 11 did scare me a little bit, but
there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go again,”
Farmer said. “Despite the terrorist attacks, students should
study abroad because it demonstrates to the rest of the world that
we are not afraid to engage in the world.”

The UC opened its first Education Abroad Study Center at the
University of Bordeaux in France in 1962. Ever since, about 40,000
UC students have studied in more than 150 universities in nearly 50
countries.

For more information on EAP programs, visit their Web site at
www.uoeap.ucsb.edu/eap/default.htm, or visit their office in 1119
Hershey Hall.