Wine Is for Drinking, Water Is for Washing: Student Opinions About International Exchange Programs

This article reports on a study done among students who participated in student exchange programs, both in the United States and other parts of the world, between January 2001 and May 2003. Issues such as why students decide to study abroad, why they select a certain institution, how their home institution compares to a partner institution abroad, and what they consider to be the relevance of their international experience were investigated. Students agreed with the literature on the topic to a large extent and were very positive about the experience. Some interesting differences of opinion between incoming (to United States) and outgoing (from United States) students were observed.