UVA is in the top 12 U.S. universities for short-term study abroad programs, according to the annual Open Doors report released Nov. 16 by the Institute of International Education, a New York-based nonprofit.
The University had 2,431 U.S. students in 67 countries earning credit in education-abroad programs in 2018-19, including 1,980 students who studied abroad in short-term courses. UVA was ranked 20th in the nation for all credit-bearing, study-abroad courses.
“In a year of unprecedented challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s extraordinarily gratifying to see that UVA remains a national leader in supporting education-abroad opportunities for its students,” Steve Mull, UVA’s vice provost for global affairs, said.
Since the start of COVID-19 earlier this year, opportunities for students, faculty and staff to travel internationally have been put on hold, but global engagement has continued in earnest with many virtual opportunities.
As we get beyond the pandemic, I hope in the coming year, we plan to come back stronger with an even greater menu of study abroad opportunities for all our students,” Mull said. “We continue to work on the University’s strategic objective of providing every one of our students with at least one global experience before graduation.”
The Open Doors report, commissioned by the U.S. State Department, is the most complete census of education abroad in the United States; however, the study does not provide a total count of UVA students who have gone overseas.
Not included in the report are students who are not U.S. citizens. Also excluded are those who go abroad for non-credit educational experiences, such as internships, volunteer projects, research and performances. After adding all those students, 3,122 UVA students experienced study abroad in 2018-19, according to Mull’s office.
The Open Doors report also tracks international students coming to the U.S. higher education institutions. For the year 2019-20, UVA had 3,060 international students, while the Commonwealth of Virginia had more than 20,000 international students at the various higher education institutions.
According to the IIE report, these students contributed $717,478,309 to Virginia’s economy, helping create 2,600 jobs in Virginia and 1,698 at UVA in 2019.
(First published in UVA Today)
