Honors Projects
Overcoming the Obstacles Prohibiting Honors Students from Studying Abroad
Abstract
The goal of my study was to understand the constraints to studying abroad at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels and suggest strategies to negotiate those. From using the hierarchical leisure constraint model as a foundation for bringing to light the limits hindering study abroad opportunities, I am seeking to inform honors students on how to handle these constraints in tandem with recognizing ways to overcome them. By administering a survey to the Honors College student body last fall semester inquiring about student interest in studying abroad and why a large percentage of the honors student population declines this global opportunity, my goal was to gauge honors students’ perspectives on international study as a milestone of their college experience and how studying abroad can positively impact their professional aspirations. I plan to analyze the results of my survey in accordance with my previously conducted research in order to come to a more solidified conclusion regarding my research question along with a representative sample of responses from the honors student body at BGSU. Additionally, I sought to uncover students’ outlooks on how studying abroad is correlated with personal growth, professional networking, handling culture shock, and expanding global perspectives through my original research. I intended to take advantage of the diverse mix of majors within the Honors College, which aided in a more indicative study of honors students’ academic pursuits.
