CHESTER, Pa., Feb. 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- College students contemplating studying abroad are expanding their list of potential destinations. According to 2004 website traffic to StudyAbroad.com, a leader in international education, students are showing interest in countries like Kuwait, Ghana, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
StudyAbroad.com compiles a yearly list of the countries students seek information for most often. As in previous years, Italy, England and France topped that list in 2004. Some locations baffled study abroad experts though. Cuba was 15th, despite tightened travel restrictions in June. Malaysia, Sweden, Ghana, Egypt and Russia all made the top 20. Taiwan, Thailand, Colombia, Kuwait, Singapore, Venezuela and Morocco made the top fifty. The entire list can be found at http://www.studyabroad.com/2004numbers.html.
Experts are curious as to why the list contains so many unlikely locales. John Duncan, StudyAbroad.com manager, offered the explanation, "What draws our users' interest is usually a combination of current events and media exposure. If a country gets attention in the news, it typically gets attention on our site. But what is fascinating is observing the disconnect between interest in a country and actual participation in a program there."
He went on to say, "Italy had the most interest of any country in 2004 with 76,300 website visits, but only 18,936 students actually studied abroad there. In contrast, England had 7,000 less visits than Italy, but almost twice as many (31,706) students studying there."
Italy and England have consistently landed in the top five, both in interest and participation, but Kuwait, Malaysia, Venezuela and others have seen drastic increases in interest in recent years. Malaysia, for instance, had little interest from U.S. students in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but was in the top 20 in 2004.
But as Duncan said, interest differs from actual participation. Just because students show interest in studying in Kuwait does not mean they are actually going there. According to Duncan, lack of participation could be a result of inadequate resources or sparse information about the country. A shortage of suitable classes may also be a factor. A student interested in studying in Venezuela might not be able to find an appropriate program. However, as student interest increases, the possibility of more countries offering more programs increases.
"The bottom line," said Duncan, "is students are getting more adventurous in the study abroad destinations they show interest in. Maybe soon they'll get more adventurous in the countries they actually study in as well."
StudyAbroad.com
StudyAbroad.com is the Internet's leading source of information on educational opportunities for students to study in other countries. It is a comprehensive directory of study abroad and intensive language programs organized by subject and destination. StudyAbroad.com is a service of Educational Directories Unlimited, Inc. (EDU), a leading Internet company serving higher education. Based in suburban Philadelphia, EDU's steady growth since its inception in 1989 has led to its inclusion in the Philadelphia 100 and Inc. 500 lists of fast growing businesses.