What does BYU excel in? According to this year’s Open Doors report, it’s studying abroad—here’s why.
Whether practicing French in Paris with a baguette in hand or documenting understudied languages in Amazonian Ecuador, students going on a study abroad receive a unique chance to explore the unknown. During the 2021–2022 school year, 2,878 BYU students participated in study abroad programs, earning BYU the Institute of International Education’s #1 ranking for most students in the United States studying abroad. On March 19, 2024, the Kennedy Center hosted a campus-wide party to celebrate this achievement and encourage even more students to participate in study abroad programs.
As students entered the event, they received mini foam fingers and donuts to commemorate BYU’s achievement. Throughout the day, volunteers at the event witnessed many “mini reunions” as students and professors, who had once gone abroad together, reunited back at BYU campus. Malcolm Botto, International Study Programs (ISP) coordinator, believes these relationships provide an explanation for BYU’s ranking. He explained that as professors get to know students in their language courses, they are better able to create “program[s] that [are] attractive to students, but also that [are] educationally fulfilling.”
Botto also notes that the 2021–2022 academic year brought new challenges for studying abroad due to lingering restrictions from the COVID pandemic. However, he says, “BYU has really strong relationships with people across the world . . . so [BYU students and faculty] were ready to take off as soon as the restrictions were lifted.” In the end, the ISP office successfully set up 198 different programs for students to attend as soon as the pandemic would allow.
Botto urges students to get involved, saying, “Explore the possibility of looking at your discipline in a new context, learning new languages, and understanding new cultures.” Finding programs that suit personal interests, he says, “will really allow you to have a deeper experience that will be more meaningful in the long run.”
Check out the Kennedy Center Website to find a study abroad program today.