Students' Motivation Behind Short-term Study Abroad Programs

Over winter break this year I participated in a short-term study abroad trip to Spain. I signed up with a friend at the beginning of our fall semester, and then I attended an information session meeting about two weeks before the deadline. I was the only one in the group of 20 students who had already signed up for the trip.

As the program was faculty-led, it was designed for 16 students, and there were only five spots remaining. The study abroad office and the professor accompanying the trip were baffled. This Lehigh in Spain program had never been so popular. To accommodate the high demand, the program was expanded to 18 students.

Of the 18 students, we all had different reasons for joining the trip: some were Spanish minors looking to gain credit to fulfill that minor, some just wanted to go abroad (like me), some needed extra credits to graduate, and some were too constricted by their academic requirements to go abroad any other time.

Melissa is a rising senior with me at Lehigh. With her major requirements she has not been able to study abroad for a full semester, so she decided to participate in the Lehigh in Shanghai program. She said, “I really wanted to go abroad at some point during my college career though, so a six-week program is perfect for me.

“With the Lehigh in Shanghai program, we start off with two weeks of culture courses and basic language courses. Then for the last four weeks, we work at a Chinese company with a job related to our major and professional interests. The program is designed to give students work experience in an international setting.”

Melissa is excited to see the sights of Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, but she is more excited to live and work in a new, different culture. She said, “I hope to learn how to work in an unfamiliar company setting, and I hope to make connections with the international company where I am placed. Learning how to adjust to a foreign setting and how to make relationships with different types of people are important life skills that I hope to gain this summer.”