Beyond Borders: Evaluating the real impact of an Asia-based short-term study-abroad program for a business capstone unit

Study-abroad programs are widely utilized by higher education institutions for providing enriching experiences and critical employability skills. Within higher education institutions and the governments funding them, study-abroad programs are perceived as an important basis for providing students with global cultural competences, sensitivity and appreciation of different cultural contexts, and enhanced employability. Short-term study programs have emerged as particularly attractive and the fastest-growing segment of the experiential learning program market due in part to these broader benefits, in addition to meeting accreditation requirements for the internationalization of the curriculum and being more aligned with accredited curricula for universities. Yet, despite the growth and use of these programs, there remains a distinct paucity of systematic research in evaluating the outcomes of these programs. This paper evaluates student-reported outcomes within a business industry consulting project unit, comparing a short-term study-abroad delivery to its equivalent on-campus delivery option. While showing the significant benefits of these programs in the two delivery formats, our findings highlight that comparatively few additional benefits accrue to short-term study-abroad students when evaluated against their on-campus peers. This paper presents a challenge for future research into the use and impact of these programs as a distinct method for transformational learning.