[Above: Greenville Tech students and instructors during their study abroad trip to Peru earlier this year.]
By Guest Contributor John Riley | department head for humanities at Greenville Technical College
Study abroad programs give students new perspectives on their world – and themselves
Our world has become a much smaller place within the past decade. With the boom of the Internet, smartphones, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, we are able to reach out and learn about other people in ways that would not even have been conceivable in the past. While these websites and gadgets have greatly helped us to gain knowledge at blazing speeds, another more traditional method for learning about other people (as well as about ourselves and the world in which we live) has been through study abroad programs.
The benefits of study abroad programs can range from the tangible to the intangible. For one thing, having studied abroad can be an added advantage on a person’s résumé when searching for a job. Job applicants who have a linguistic and cultural competence in a second language, such as Spanish, could be more sought after in such in-demand professions as health care and education than those who do not possess these skills.
Another benefit of studying abroad is that it broadens a student’s academic experience. For example, what better way to learn another language than to visit a country where it is spoken? In addition, studying a second language in a different country exposes students to new cultures and ways of life, allowing them to compare and contrast these other cultures with their own.
Meeting new people and personal growth are two other advantages of participating in a study abroad program. By meeting and interacting with people from other countries, you learn not only about them, but about yourself as well. A great way to meet people while abroad is to participate in a service-learning project. By volunteering your time, you can increase your personal and professional growth exponentially while helping others.
Study abroad programs have already been offered at four-year colleges and universities for many years; however, students at two-year community/technical colleges can benefit from such programs as well. Fortunately, some of the technical colleges in South Carolina have begun to see the benefits of offering this valuable opportunity to students; even so, much remains to be done.
Greenville Technical College has realized the importance of study abroad – and has acted upon it. From March 13-23 of this year, a group of 15 Greenville Tech students, faculty and staff participated in an 11-day study abroad program that took them to Lima and Cuzco, Peru. Although former GTC study abroad programs had taken students to different locations around the world, this was the first time for our students to travel to South America.
The purpose of the program was twofold: 1) to give students the opportunity to learn Spanish in a natural environment with native Spanish speakers, and 2) to expose them to Peruvian culture – both present and past. The program itself consisted of daily Spanish-language classes in the mornings. Students then participated in afternoon and weekend visits to pre-Columbian sites (in particular those of the Inca), as well as Spanish colonial sites. Evenings were generally left open for students to explore and learn in an unstructured environment. The experience proved to be invaluable for all. Not only were they given the opportunity to learn another language and culture, but they also learned to appreciate little things that they would normally take for granted in the United States.
As our world continues to become a more global community and students become more aware of other peoples and their cultures, the need for study abroad opportunities such as the one to Peru will only continue to increase. Having these types of programs in place will only help to prepare our students to participate more fully in, and to be active members of, the world in which they live.
