The following is a guest post to
IHEC Blog by
The Asia Institute about their
2016 Asia Short-Term Programs Report.
The Asia Institute’s
2016 Asia Short-Term Programs Report is an in-depth look at 632 short-term faculty-led programs developed in Asia in 2016. The report’s findings offer valuable insights into how U.S. universities are developing short-term experiences in Asia, and provides benchmarking data, which Study Abroad and Global Program Offices can use to assess their own program offerings. In addition, for the first time, the 2016 Asia Short-Term Programs Report includes survey responses received from 90 faculty leaders who developed or led short-term programs in Asia in 2015 and/or 2016.
Highlighted Findings:
• In 2016, China, Japan and India remained the most popular destinations for short-term programs in Asia. However, short-term programs in China continue to decline year over year, by 6.2 percent from 2015 to 2016.
• Between 2014 to 2016, short-term programs with a length of less than two weeks continued to decrease. Short-term programs with a length of over four weeks increased during the same period.
• Nearly 79 percent of faculty leader respondents acknowledged that recruiting students was their largest challenge when developing their short-term program. 36.2 percent also noted that they led their short-term program with less than 10 students.
In addition, the
2016 Asia Short-Term Programs Report also identified the following notable findings:
Program Cost
The average on-the-ground cost for faculty-led programs in Asia was $155 per day. When considering short-term program costs where tuition was included, but international airfare was removed, this figure has increased by 50 percent since 2014.
Program Disciplines
39 percent of programs in Asia were related to arts and science majors. 21 percent were business programs. 17 percent were engineering disciplines. Compared to 2015, arts and science and engineering programs increased slightly while business programs continue to decrease from 25 percent in 2014 to 21 percent in 2016.
Program Operations
Study abroad and global program operations continue to become more centralized. In 2016, 56 percent of short-term program operations were centralized, while 44 percent were decentralized. This compares to 53 percent and 47 percent in 2015.
Program Collaboration
While study abroad and global program operations become more centralized, 29.2 percent of faculty leaders note that working with their university or college offices, including the Study Abroad Office, Legal Council etc. was a significant challenge to setup their short-term program.
To learn more about the report findings, please download the
2016 Asia Short-Term Programs Report.
About the Asia Institute
The Asia Institute was founded in 2006 by connecting the four key sectors of society (private, public, not-for-profit and education) through a partnership network with a mission to build the leading education platform connecting Asia with the rest of the world. Over the past nine years, the Asia Institute has worked with nearly 1750 students and faculty, and has quickly become a leading host partner for many educational institutions in areas such as short-term programs, student recruitment, experiential learning, faculty exchange, and career development. To learn more about the Asia Institute, please visit:
www.asiainstitute.org
