Studying Abroad Not Always Foreign

Despite how much the world has changed in the past dozen years, students studying abroad now are learning one thing today that I learned then: The number of miles traveled is not necessarily an indication of how foreign the classroom study abroad experience will be.

In my case, I arrived at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines in 2001 after 24 hours on three planes, one boat and a (sweltering) bus with a broken air conditioner. I was halfway around the world and – palm trees and daily tropical downpours aside – the university was similar to the one I was used to back home. Classes were taught in English, the professors were approachable, and asking questions was encouraged.

It took Jennifer Bell less than half that time to travel in nonstop, climate-controlled comfort last summer from her home in London to Philadelphia – where the language, pop culture and weather all seem familiar – to find an educational experience at Drexel LeBow decidedly different from the one at Leeds University in Northern England, where she majors in business.

“The way everyone interacts in class is very different here,” Bell says. In the UK classroom, formalities still reign. “You pretty much sit in the room and listen to the teacher. You don’t ask a question, or if you do you get a funny look from everyone else.”

As an exchange student spending the year at LeBow College, Bell finds that Dana D’Angelo’s marketing consulting class stands out as the biggest departure from what she’s used to. The class is participating in a consulting competition for Mazda, utilizing a budget provided by the company to provide market research and create a campaign for the upcoming rollout of the Mazda3.

“Doing a class-wide proper project, and working toward something physical that we actually get to create, I think, is a much better learning experience than just sitting and taking in facts and churning them out at the end of the term,” she says. “We make productive decisions.”

Marisa Engler is spending a year at Drexel LeBow on exchange from Reutlingen University’s European School of Business (ESB) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which partners with Drexel to offer a [dual degree](/academics/undergraduate/experiential-learning/international-opportunities/international-management-esb). Engler says at ESB, she would sometimes be in formal lectures all day, from 7:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., with only a 30-minute lunch break. She was surprised to learn she would have only five classes per quarter here, but quickly figured out why.

“We had nearly no homework or readings at ESB during the semester, and I realized that here, you have to do a lot of work on your own for every single class,” she says. “I was not used to having homework, getting grades for attendance and participation, quizzes every week, midterms, group projects and finals.” At ESB the norm is one test per term: the final exam.

The way everyone interacts in class is very different here

Engler adds: “In Germany, professors are persons of authority and you normally would not talk to them about personal stuff. The relationship is based more on an academic level.” Here, she says, it seems the relationships tend to be more casual and friendly.

Claire Goff, a Drexel LeBow student participating in the dual-degree program at ESB, is adjusting to the long days of lectures and the heightened importance of that one, big final exam. “Class participation isn’t as big of a deal. Usually the lecturer just lectures the entire time,” she says.

Like me, Louis Luong is an American student who traveled halfway around the world to study. At City University in Hong Kong, he’s also experiencing a classroom environment that isn’t so different from what he became accustomed to during his three years at LeBow. City University is known for being a western-style university with a diverse body of students who come from Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas. There, Luong can see the effects that different learning environments have when the students all come together in one big group.

“It is clear that the local students would rather remain quiet and let their peers from international and exchange programs answer the instructor,” he says.

No matter what study-abroad experience one chooses, it’s sure to be a valuable learning experience. But if a student has a strong preference for a specific type of classroom atmosphere, they may want to take that into account before choosing their destination.