Students From Saint Benedict and St. John's University Spend Most Time Abroad

The Institute of International Education (IIE) has recently released its annual report. The latter is called Open Doors. This report surveys trends in U.S education with respect to students spending parts of baccalaureate programs in foreign countries. Open Doors 2007 has found that the College of Saint Benedict and St. John's University have had most students spending full semesters abroad as part of their curricula.

More than half of the entire student populations at these two institutions spend time in other countries as parts of their studies. These two schools have sent nearly 400 students to foreign countries for mid-term durations during the academic year of 2005/2006. Both institutions operate on the semester system and the IIE defines a full semester as mid-term. About 100 additional students from the College of Saint Benedict and St. John's University went abroad for shorter durations during 2005/2006. These two institutions of higher learning have 16 programs which involve studies in some 13 countries other than the United States.

These programs have been run for about a quarter of a century. The IIE has found the College of Saint Benedict and St. John's University to stand consistently at the vanguard of U.S. educational institutions that foster studies abroad, over the past four years. Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota lead in international education, sending over 30 thousand students abroad.

Students who complete stints abroad during baccalaureate studies are valued more highly by potential employers than their peers who are limited to domestic educational environments alone. International exposure adds to the abilities of students, and their potentials for superior performance levels in future work situations.