Students of four decades

Do individuals change – and change for the better at that – when they study abroad? The research study discussed in this volume set out to examine the assumption, so prevalent among international educators, that there is a direct and positive relationship between student sojourn experiences in another country and the subsequent course of the students’ lives. Focusing specifically on former German and U. S. high school exchange participants, to test this assumption the authors explore such key questions as: What does “change” mean to the former participants, and how do they differentiate it over time with respect to their personhood, their careers, and their place in society? How do returnees actually value the various aspects of changes they identify – positively or negatively? How is change to be observed over time in concrete manifestations and behaviors? How do returnees feel they have contributed to supporting the typical rationale for exchange programs? How have the results of returnees’ experiences been used by their own societies since the exchange? How do sojourn-caused changes identified by returnees differ by generations of students? Combining a grounded theory approach with survey and interview data collected over time, the authors offer answers to these questions and discuss the practical implications of the findings for prospective exchange programs.