5 - Obstacles to international experience

Summary

For those who think a cosmopolitan scholarly community is important to the United States both in its task of passing on accumulated knowledge to young minds and in its responsibility to produce new knowledge, it may be useful to offer a recapitulation of the impediments that stand in the way of the continued and expanded flow of American scholars for extended periods overseas. These obstacles fall naturally into four categories reflecting, respectively, the nature of the financial support available, the institutional context of the home colleges and universities, hostility faced by would-be travelers from the larger culture of this country, and conditions they face in the countries where they go. Some readers, having read the discussion of these obstacles in Chapters 3 and 4, may wish to proceed directly to Chapter 6. However those who are concerned with policy change to remedy the condition may find this drawing together useful.

To list these obstacles is not to suggest that they can be easily overcome or eliminated. Indeed, the best strategy for many may simply be circumvention. But recognition of problems is the first step toward their solution, and this enumeration is presented in that spirit.

Finding the funding

The increasing importance attached to assistance contracts and study abroad directorships as a means to gain experience overseas reflects the shortage of funds for conventional research-oriented study tours. Not only are there very few programs that provide overseas awards, but like the Fulbrights, most have lost value relative to faculty salaries.