As an extension to a previous study that investigated 26 surveyed employers and ten directors of “campus international affairs offices” about their respective attitudes toward the value of study abroad, this article presents a study that focuses on the various types of employers who hire US undergraduates for entry-level positions. The purpose of this study was to examine what could be done to convince employers to respond in sufficient numbers to support the validity of the data.
Our goal in conducting this research is twofold: to contribute to this discussion by exploring relationships of various sorts between grading and motivation, and to broaden the discussion of the central question under investigation. We believe that study abroad is about a good deal more than grades and academic achievement. To this end, we widened the scope of the investigation. We considered an assessment of motivation that includes an evaluation of the degree to which the student is engaged with the host community and is making an effort to derive maximum benefit from the intercultural dimensions of the program, even though these efforts are rarely related to grades received. Cultural integration and learning are a significant and unique part of the study abroad experience and we considered it important to explore student motivation in these regards, while also tracking the impact of grades related to transcript practices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.