Returning From Abroad: A Comparative Review

Reintegration into the once-familiar community after a sojourn abroad poses unique challenges to the undergraduate population and more could be done to help returnees process their experience. Seven institutions of varying size were surveyed using a qualitative data collection instrument to determine how this sample pool supports their undergraduate students emotionally once they have returned from a credit bearing semester abroad. This capstone examines how institutions are moving students toward the fourth stage of Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle: Active Experimentation. Through this lens, a multitude of reentry approaches are explored with the aim being a comparison of the several support methods used to address the question of how to help students navigate the emotions associated with returning from an academic semester abroad. Education abroad professionals can adapt the variety of support tools presented herein to construct their own protocols best suited to their returnees. Returning From Abroad: A Comparative Review 7 Introduction The number of undergraduate students going abroad for higher education has been on an upward trend for the last decade, with more people studying abroad now than ever before (Institute for International Education, 2016). The Department of State’s (2016) 100,000 Strong Foundation aims to expand and diversify the number of students studying abroad in China, and the Institute for International Education (IIE)’s (2016) Generation Study Abroad initiative aims to double the total study abroad participation to 600,000 students by 2020. Through such efforts, the field of international education is poised to send even more students abroad in the near future. On campuses across the country, universities are calling for broader internationalization efforts and for their students to become global citizens (Greene, 2013). Yet, even as education abroad professionals diligently prepare to send more students abroad with in-depth pre-departure resources, videos, alumni mentors, and mobile apps, there remains an equally important need to address reintegration support efforts. A great deal more could be done to fully address this final phase of the study abroad experience. Arouca (2013) and Casteen (2006) noticed students were receiving an imbalance of information. Prior to departure, study abroad participants were required to attend a battery of pre-departure orientations and information sessions, engage in conversations, and read page upon page of literature in preparation for a semester abroad. Conversely, the attention spent on support post program was not proportional (Arouca, 2013). Students returning from abroad feel unprepared for what to expect upon returning and can be unsure of how to navigate the complexities of their new normal (Arouca, 2013; Citron & Mendelson, 2013). This capstone asserts there is a strong need for more support for students returning from abroad. By comparing the different ways in which sending institutions help their returnees address these feelings, the study hopes to illuminate the continued need to address the emotional facet of the study abroad experience. Returning From Abroad: A Comparative Review 8 The research of Wielkiewicz and Turkowski (2010) examined the feelings students have when they return and identified feelings of isolation and alienation from the familiar, views that are now more critical of their home culture, and experience a shift in the relationship they had with friends and family. These feelings are important because they represent the potential to minimize the personal growth and derail the development gains attained by the traveler while abroad (Wielkiewicz & Turkowski, 2010). If reentry shock is significant, it can weaken the benefits obtained abroad (Arouca, 2013). Were returnees prepared for such feelings and emotions upon reentry, they could focus and reflect on how their experience abroad contributed to their growth rather than wondering why they were feeling a rollercoaster of emotions (Arouca, 2013). Doing so would allow students to process their emotions and move on to more the more productive aspects of the experience abroad (Arouca, 2013). When students return home from studying abroad, the ability to eloquently speak about how their experience abroad challenged them and facilitated growth is neither innate nor immediate (Arouca, 2013). Having the skills to articulate the value of their time abroad is critical to their success as individuals and helps returnees process the emotions they are feeling by allowing them to communicate and articulate what they are experiencing (Arouca, 2013). While there is a great deal of literature on the emotional side of returning from abroad, there is a gap in studies on how to support students connect the dots for themselves. Research by Casteen (2006), and later Kammann (2008), demonstrated only 30 percent and 17.6 percent respectively of surveyed semester study abroad returnees felt that their home institutions prepared them adequately for what to expect upon their return. Their research reviewed student satisfaction with their home school’s pre-departure and pre-reentry preparation and, while many felt well Returning From Abroad: A Comparative Review 9 prepared by their schools for what to expect while abroad, only a small percentage felt well prepared by their schools for what to expect upon their return (Kammann, 2008). Reintegration into the once-familiar community after a sojourn abroad poses unique challenges to today’s undergraduate population and more could be done to help returnees process their experience (Arouca, 2013). The purpose of this study is to catalog how sending schools support their undergraduate students who have returned from a semester abroad about what to expect emotionally and how the materials they provide can help returnees navigate the emotional aspect of the reentry process. The capstone presents, compares, and critiques a sample of current models of how the field of university study abroad offices supports the emotional needs of their returnees from semester long programs abroad. Another aim of this capstone is to provide education abroad professionals a variety of tools for constructing their own platforms to have this discussion with their returnees, with a goal of providing education abroad professionals an insight into how other institutions are addressing the challenge of supporting their study abroad returnees.