First, Do No Harm: Ideas for Mitigating Negative Community Impacts of Short-Term Study Abroad

Abstract

This article presents the results from a research project on the host community impact of college students participating in university-sponsored international experiences. It finds that little reliable data is available on the impact that our students have on host communities. The article concludes that nondamaging international experiences require a substantial amount of planning, experienced group facilitation, and solid debriefing of students and community members. We recommend that geographers with a critical perspective and extensive foreign expertise should help guide the development of these experiences and urge their universities to screen study abroad for unintended negative outcomes on local communities.

Key Words:

• short-term study abroad
• impact on host communities

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to our student researcher Kara Brown who did much to get this research project started and provided thoughtful critiques in its early stages. Dr. Sarah Banks, a sustainable tourism expert, also contributed substantially to this project in its formative stages.

Notes

1. Research on the effects of study abroad on students remains underdeveloped. How long do students need to be abroad before they start to gain cross-cultural skills? What experiences and assignments are necessary to meet learning objectives? Of the few studies that examine the impact on students, some are very disturbing. Gmelch (2004) studied the journals of students enrolled in anthropology classes at the University of Innsbruck. Students attended classes Monday through Thursday and traveled on the weekends. Analysis of student journals found that they were surprisingly shallow, naïve, and simplistic; students gained very little from simply traveling.

2. Short-term study abroad is the largest growing proportion of international programs at this time, and, in our view, much more likely to have negative impacts on host communities than individual or small groups of students who go on semester or year-long study abroad at a foreign university.