The ranking reflects the increasing importance of international trade, with the study abroad program helping students be better prepared to enter the workforce with diversified ways of thinking, according to officials at the university.
“There is no better experience to broaden your perspective,” said Karla Guinigundo, associate director for Global Initiatives at Miami about studying abroad.
“Until you have that firsthand experience living in another culture, interacting with people from another culture, it’s really hard to think outside your own cultural mindset,” she said.
Students who receive that global viewpoint will find it beneficial as they transition into the workforce, according to Guinigundo.
“Learning how to communicate with people from another culture is something that employers are really looking for today,” she said.
Miami graduate student Emily Schwarz agrees.
“(Studying abroad) has been really beneficial,” said Schwarz, of Oxford. “I have changed my career path because of it. I have gone into international education because of the experiences I have had abroad and the skills I have developed there, wanting to work with all different types of people.”
In three years, Schwarz has studied in Kenya, China, South Korea and Japan, all on study abroad programs with Miami. She has also studied in Luxembourg, where Miami operates a campus.
The IIE ranking, based on the percent of undergraduates who study abroad, is for the 2012-13 academic year. Miami sent more than 1,600 students to study abroad that school year, according to the university. Approximately 38 percent of Miami’s undergraduate students study abroad by the time they graduate.
Top destinations for Miami students include Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and China. Miami ranks 25th nationwide among all universities for total number of students, both undergraduate and graduate, for study abroad participation.
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