Male Students in Study Abroad - CEA Alumni Ambassadors Speak Out

As beneficial and important as the experience of study abroad has become and continues to become, studies show an inequality in the groups of students actually engaging and participating in international education programs – namely male students.

According to the study, “Masculinity & Study Abroad: Male Participation in Education Abroad” conducted by James M. Lucas, PhD, of Michigan State University, two-thirds of all study abroad participants have been female over the last 10-15 years nationally.

While Dr. Lucas concluded this statistic to be the result of a number of factors, the issue we found most interesting stemmed from three questions of which many male students had a hard time answering:

1. Why should I participate on study abroad?
2. Why is culture important to my career?
3. What is the value-added of study abroad that outweighs the cost?

In an attempt to combat Dr. Lucas' statistic and hopefully help many male students answer these questions, we turned to our dedicated group of male Alumni Ambassadors for some firsthand insight. We posed the same type of questions to our Ambassadors as listed above, and received intriguing responses that we think will really be able to assist male students who are considering study abroad.

Starting next Wednesday, April 10th, we’ll begin a weekly blog feature that highlights these Ambassador responses. Topics discussed include factors that aided our male alumni in choosing to study abroad, why they think it’s important for male students to study abroad, how study abroad has assisted their educational and career goals, etc. We've gathered some really great content so far and hope you join us next week to read it for yourself!

So who are these male CEA Alumni Ambassadors exactly, and where did they study abroad? Allow us to introduce you to a few of them!

Name: Aaron Dash
Home Institution: Junior at Tulane University
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Granada, Spain, Fall 2012

Name: Conor Farrell
Home Institution: Junior at Towson University
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Barcelona, Spain, Fall 2012

Name: Conor Horgan
Home Institution: Senior at University of Pittsburgh
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Seville, Spain, Spring 2012

Name: Matthew Morgan
Home Institution: Junior at Hofstra University
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Paris, France, Fall 2012

Name: Michael Adams
Home Institution: Junior at California State Polytechnic University Pomona
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Fall 2012

Name: Derek Bandurak
Home Institution: Senior at University of Pittsburgh
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Barcelona, Spain, Spring 2012

Name: Jordan Kohl
Home Institution: Senior at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Prague, Czech Republic, Spring 2012

Name: Brian Heimowitz
Home Institution: Junior at the University of Miami
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Florence, Italy, Fall 2012

Name: Mark Brewster
Home Institution: Senior at Penn State, University Park
CEA Study Abroad Experience: Barcelona, Spain, Spring 2012




Meet us here next Wednesday to get to know these Ambassadors more in depth, and to hear more about the male perspective of studying abroad!