Data Collection and Students with Disabilities Who Study Abroad

For a second year, the Institute of International Education is collecing data on students with disabilities for their annual Open Doors survey. While all data collection efforts in the field are important I think this is perhaps one of the most important questions to be answered on the survey and I encourage all colleagues in the field to contribute to this effort.

The following basic disability statistics for study abroad were obtained from the Open Doors 2008 website here.

OPEN DOORS 2008 BASIC DISABILITY STATISTICS FOR STUDY ABROAD

Note: This is the first year that IIE has collected data on students with disabilities studying abroad. Due to the low response rate, this data should not be interpreted as a national-level finding.

116 institutions provided disability data for their study abroad students in 2006/07. Out of the approximately 39,400 total study abroad students at these institutions, 42.7% had no disability, 2.6% had disability and 54.7% had unknown disability status.

Types of disability reported were:

Learning Disability - 50.5%

Mental Disability - 25.4%

Physical Disability - 8.0%

Sensory Disability - 5.8%

Other Disability - 10.2%

Purdue University, San Diego State University and Linfield College reported the highest total numbers of students with disabilities studying abroad.

An additional summary of the Open Doors data collection efforts on students with disabilities who studied abroad in 2006-2007 is available on the Mobility International USA (MIUSA) website here.

IHEC Blog readers may also be interested in a recent article entitled “Tracking Student with Disabilities Who Study Abroad” by Michele Scheib March/April 2009 issue of NAFSA’s International Educator which you can access here.

See previous IHEC Blog posts on students with disabilities studying abroad here.