Parents are worried that if their children do not acquire international knowledge and experience they will fail to survive in the advancing global and international economy. IIE statistics show that the number of Americans studying abroad has steadily increased from 6 to 11 percent over the last decade. Despite these increases there are those who think even more should be done to encourage study abroad and the international exchange of students.
Many colleges require students to have a computer.
I would urge college presidents to tell their students that a passport is required as well. Students need to be connected to the world-not just the Internet. In preparing the university's goals for the next decade, President Loren J. Anderson carries the message of international education with the PLU 2010 dialogues he conducts with university alumni, parents and friends in his travels in this country and abroad. The world is getting smaller, economically and politically, and we are all getting more and more interconnected, but we have discovered that we are not getting along together any better. Today's statistics prove that PLU is already among the leaders in the internationalization of university education.