ABSTRACT
If everyone were convinced that study abroad is good for all students and, more particularly, that we should all be global citizens, then this volume would be focused on best practices without an obligation for inquiry, documentation, explanation, or justifi cation. Despite its long history (over 2,000 students were “studying abroad” at the University of Bologna in the early 13th centuryto say nothing of the presence of international scholars in the ancient academies, from Greece to Persia to India and China), study abroad is not yet an ordinary learning experience for most American college students. As several chapters illustrate and most chapters allude, the idea of global citizenship is more problematic and less widely accepted than study abroad. Yet there seems to be nearly universal acceptance of the need within colleges and universities for greater global awareness, for deepened cross-cultural understanding, and for acceptance of the pragmatic value of experiential learning.
