A HOST COUNTRY PARTICIPANTS’ LIVED EXPERIENCES OF A US LED INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IN A NONTRADITIONAL SETTING

Anyone who has had the experience of studying or supervising American students abroad is familiar with students’ testimonies about how their experiences abroad have influenced their perceptions, or changed their life in a positive way: Testimonies documented from different study abroad programs included statements such as: “Now I know that as a result of this experience, I can do just about anything I put my mind to.” “ I have learned to take chances in my life , something that I really never did before” “ I now know that the United States is not the center of the universe” “ that has been the best year of my life” “ …Now , I can be more understanding of people from elsewhere who come to America and have to learn English” “I also learned how to empathize with others, and be sensitive to the needs of children…”

At the same time, a growing number of refereed and published articles highlight the benefits of study abroad. As a result, we are witnessing a growing desire across the US higher education institutions to develop undergraduate and graduate academic and internship programs with an international field experience component. Furthermore, the post 9/11 triggered a greater interest in understanding the world and how people in different societies perceive the United States.

At this point in time, by virtue of events that followed 9/11, there is a scramble among colleges and universities for getting American students abroad and specifically to nontraditional destinations. While nobody will deny the impact that these US driven study abroad programs may have on the host country citizens,the impact on the host country nationals is still unknown. Indeed, the paucity of information on the US lead study abroad program is particularly acute in nontraditional settings where scholarly research on the phenomenon is virtually nonexistent.

With the proliferation of different types of study abroad programs, it is important that colleges and universities that have placed study abroad at the forefront of their academic and internship programs examine and document their programs’ impact on host country participants. This study documented the perceptions, beliefs and expectations of 42 host country participants in a U.S. led internship program sponsored by a Midwestern university.