ANN ARBOR— In a ” shrinking” world, study abroad is expanding, and the University of Michigan’s programs for overseas study and the students taking advantage of them continue to increase.

” Students still want to go to Europe,” says Carol Dickerman, director of U-M’s Office of International Programs (OIP), ” but there is an increasing interest by students in areas that reflect their ethnic heritage.”

Now it’s quite common for students to request a location in which they have family heritage. Jamaica, Latin America, Ireland, and Mexico are typical of this situation” areas where the student may feel ” at home.” But for those of African-American or European heritage, the cultural differences in some of these study areas can be a challenge.

” In Jamaica, African Americans find themselves as part of the majority whereas white students suddenly become the minority,” says Lynn Aguado, a student services assistant at OIP. The same situation could occur when students of Hispanic heritage enroll in programs in Africa or Asia.

Still, it is the language programs and cultural exposure that lure students to participate in programs abroad, said Aguado. The U-M offers overseas programs throughout the year. While most encompass the academic year or one semester, there are others available for students who want to spend a shorter time or the summer months studying abroad.

The university is expanding its 45 overseas programs into less frequented parts of the world and last year offered its first study abroad option in Australia, China, Korea and Ghana, West Africa. While classes taught at the University of Ghana in Legon are taught in English, students also have to enroll in a Twi language course. This type of requirement aids in culturally integrating the students at their chosen site, says Aguado.

U-M is also participating in a program with the Council on International Educational Exchange in Vietnam, a semester-long program focusing on language, culture and history. Other students are venturing to such non-traditional areas as Chile, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Indonesia and Russia. Becoming fluent in a foreign language is still a major impetus for students interested in studying abroad, says Aguado.

The increasing need for a second language in the business world attracts students from a variety of study concentrations. However, one student who recently came to U-M from Japan attended a program in Finland so he could learn Finnish. The student’s host family at U-M included a grandmother who only spoke Finnish. To converse with her, the student applied for study in Finland. The U-M permits students to complete language requirements through selected programs such as the summer session in St. Malo, France.

This year nearly 400 of the 16,000 students enrolled in the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts will be participating in study programs overseas through OIP, and a like number will be doing so through programs directed by other schools in the University. ” Before, people wanted to finish their education with European style,” Aguado says. ” Now, going abroad is more of a starting point rather than a finishing point.”

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