Abstract
This research is motivated by two factors: (1) the importance of study abroad programs to agricultural students and (2) a need for a reliable, accessible and searchable national database that describes agricultural study abroad programs. Apart from the pedagogical benefits, study abroad experiences enhance job market competency and provide opportunities to increase understanding of different cultures and values. Data from the Food and Agriculture Education Information System international programs’ database is used to assess U.S. study abroad programs in Asia. This research validated the data using 783 study abroad programs from 84 different land-grant institutions included in the database. Focusing on U.S. land-grant institutions for the years 2004-2010, 25 operate one or more agriculturally-driven study abroad programs in Asia. Study abroad results show that the most travelled Asian countries are China, India and Russia, focus predominantly on agriculture and are either research-based or teaching-oriented. Educators and universities could use this resource to develop partnerships with other institutions, review the breadth of international study abroad projects and serve as a recruitment tool to quickly identify campus-based experts.
 12 Sharma_2014 NACTA Journal.pdf | [ ] | 739 kB |
