More and more German students spend a part of their student days in foreign country, but just a few in the United States. While the Erasmus-program provides an uncomplicated and inexpensive stay at a foreign university within Europe, a lot of students hesitate spending time at an American university for financial reasons alone. Therefore, German, and American university students get to know each other only in a few cases. But getting to know each other is the precondition for any partnership. Only those who know each other can develop joint plans.
Until now in particular programs have been promoted and sponsored that mainly enable German high school students to spend a year at an American host family and visit the local American high school. A lot of them have a great time in the USA and make lifetime memories. The demand for those programs has always increased since they were first introduced. Because of the high demand it becomes challenging to find suitable host families. Whether the student develops a good view on his host county depends highly on the host family. While the demand for high school exchange programs increases also the probability rises that the teenager spends his time with an unsuitable family and therefore develops a lasting negative view on his host country. Furthermore, most exchange students, due to their young age, don´t develop longtime relationships and especially don’t network. In a lot of cases even the relationship to their host families breaks of after being at their home country again.
For these reasons, the focus should be shifted from high school student exchange programs towards university exchange programs in the future. The European Erasmus-program should be taken as an example to follow. The advantages of the Erasmus-program are easy apparent. The student learns the language of his host country, develops an understanding for the foreign culture, networks and in some cases even finds a life time partner. A program comparable to the Erasmus-program should be developed for German and American students. It is important to avoid creating obstacles for possible exchange students. Therefore, the program should provide a free exchange year at the foreign university. Most German students, who basically don´t pay any tuition fees in Germany, are not willing to pay thousands of dollars for tuition fees in the United States. Also access for visas for a year abroad should be easy to get and be for free. Every German university should have a qualified partner university in the United States. To decision makers in the United States it should be pointed out that exchanging American university students to Germany is also in the interest of the United States. It also must be noted that there is huge information gap between Germany and the United States regarding the quality of universities. While it is common knowledge in Germany that there are lots of universities in the United States of high quality and in general German students are interested in spending a year at an American university, that is not the case the other way round. In the United States the high quality of German universities is not well known or it is not known at all. That fore American universities should advertise Germany as an interesting country with high quality of life in general and specifically the high standard of German universities. While advertising Germany as a country to study it should be pointed out that a country that belongs to the top economies in the world has to have top universities.
Furthermore, the transatlantic cooperation should be strengths and extended on the field of scientific research by the implementation of new joint ventures. There is nothing better for a relationship than jointly pursuing a goal. On the field of scientific research nationalities usually are of secondary importance. Instead the jointly project is of main importance. The field of scientific research is just the right thing for transatlantic cooperation’s because this is a field that is not primary lead by financial interests. Beyond that cooperation in important fields of scientific research can lead to mutual dependence (not to a one-sided dependence!) of countries. Mutual dependence strengths the cooperation of partner countries and usually leads to good long-term relationship.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your contribution. The financial component of exchange programs is certainly a huge hurdle in achieving a more balanced exchange of students between the US and Germany. Your idea of pairing universities is a great start to tackling this issue. How would you convince US decision makers to allow German students to study for free at an American university, when tuition fees are so high and not likely to decrease anytime soon? Do you have an organization/institution in mind that might fund a free exchange year? Thanks!
Hi Daniel,
thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I really like the Autobahn for Humankapital. For education, potentially the Erasmus Mundus programm would be a good starting point / benchmark. It lists joint master and phd programs and offers some programs that include a stay in a “third country” (outside Europe, some US institutions are included). However, only relatively few US schools are engaged. Giving this platform a larger stage and increasing promotion efforts would be a first step! Were you thinking of something like that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Mundus or http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/programme/about_erasmus_mundus_en.php
“There is nothing better for a relationship than jointly pursuing a goal” what a simple, but perfect summary of the goal of this atlantic expedition.
I thought your suggestions were excellent, but I slightly disagree with the premise that we should shift all focus away from high school to university exchange opportunities. I had the opportunity to study in France and live with a host family in high school and it was equally (if not more) meaningful than a semester I spent abroad in Spain in university. I believe authentic international exposure at a young age is crucial to inspiring global problem-solvers. I think that the challenges you describe, such as not developing long relationships or networking, speaks to a need to improve cultural and language learning in schools at earlier ages, and not necessarily a need to limit exchange programs in high school.
That said, I do think we should have partner universities and the fees should be significantly reduced!
Hi Daniel,
Hi Amy,
thanks for your article and comment. Most high school exchange students indeed loose touch with their host families. I am also no longer in touch with my host family in Virginia. But still, I wouldn`t agree that exchanges at university level are preferable. In my experience, being a high school student abroad gets you much deeper involved with culture and everyday life. Amy, you described a similar experience. We need something like a transatlantic Erasmus, but high school exchanges remain important. I guess there is no real conflict between fostering both (maybe in regards to funding).
Cheers
Justus
Hi Daniel and Justus,
I support the idea to increase post-highschool abroad programs, as Daniel suggests in the article. However, I must disagree that we should lessen emphasis on abroad programs in high school. A negative experience could happen to anyone, anytime in their life to give them a bad taste of a country or culture. And while relationships change as we grow older, I don’t think it’s fair to say that a relationship means any less to younger individuals. Moreover, I don’t see any evidence in your article supporting these ideas and there is quite a bit more research providing the contrary (that high school language and abroad programs are beneficial). Besides that point, I very much enjoyed reading your article and could support increasing programs as the ones you suggest.
I’d be interested to hear more about why you are unenthused about high school programs if you have a chance to comment.
Kind regards,
Lindsey
Hi Daniel, Thank you for your article. You are on spot: Exchange opportunities for German and American students should definitely be increased (although I agree with @amy-weaver that high school exchange programs are equally important and oftentimes lead to long-lasting relationships). I had the opportunity to pursue my Master’s in the US and was lucky enough to receive both financial and organizational support from my scholarship organization – otherwise, I don’t think I could have made it.
You probably know that there already exist some university partnerships, for example the Hessen-Massachusetts exchange program (http://www.massachusetts.hessen.de/front_content.php), so the main question to me is: How can we scale them?
Also, when it comes to Americans coming to Germany, I believe that our universities need to do a better job in offering high-level courses in English. While I would love for Americans to learn German as part of their education here, I think that fluency in German would be too much to ask for if someone wants to spend just a semester in Germany. What do you think?
Hi Daniel,
I think the value of student exchanges can hardly be overestimated. I myself spent an academic year in California and found it extremely enriching, not only academically, but also, and especially, personally. I was lucky enough to gain a scholarship; otherwise this intense and formative experience would have been out of reach for me.
– Mareike
Hi Daniel,
thank you for your article. In my article, I have also emphazised the importance of transatlantic cultural exchanges and have proposed an extension of Erasmus to include the United States, so I agree with you fully in that regard. I have to disagree, however, with your proposed shift from high school to university exchanges, as this to me seems highly exclusive. Especially in Germany, not every student is even allowed to enter university, which is why Erasmus also encourages vocational trainings and internships. I have neither spent a year in the US during my high school nor my studies, due to financial reasons. I instead volunteered in South Dakota for 6 months and have gained an inside into American society that a university surrounding could have never provided me with. I am therefore very cautious when it comes to furthering the elite (and as university students, we are the elite) at the costs of the rest of society. What do you think?
Hi Christin,
you are pointing out a very important aspect: the exclusiveness of university education. I am curious: Where did you volunteer? Was it a specific program? We should foster exchanges on all levels.
– Florian
Hi Florian,
I volunteered at the Cheyenne River Youth Project in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. It is an NGO located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and I worked with the children and youth of the Lakota tribe. It is a very remote area (the nearest univesity is 3 hours away) and one of the poorest counties of the United States. It was no specific program, I found it on my own while researching volunteering opportunities in the US, but the organization welcomes volunteers from all over the globe constantly. Comparing my experiences with those of my fellow students who studied in the US for a semester or two, I noticed two things: First, barely anybody is aware of indigenous cultures in the United States as they represent a minority both in society at large and at universities. Second, we experienced two different Americas. Mine was underrepresented, suppressed by mainstream white society, and a different culture alltogether; theirs was young, educatedand somewhat wealthy. Because we need as many different viewpoints as we can to develope true cultural understanding, I agree with you that is is of pivotal importance to “foster exchanges on all levels.”
Daniel, thanks for your article and your input.
I think exchanges are a very important tool to establish partnerships. I do not think we should decrease involvement in exchanges during high school though. Not everyone will study but everyone should have the chance for an exchange – especially when you are still in school and you live with a host family while in the U.S. you really get to know the culture by living within a family. Whereas some students stay within their groups of other international students – which is kind of a bubble. Nevertheless more exchange students on both sides would be perfect. I did a semester abroad at GWU and the program now has difficulties because the German university has a hard time finding American students who want to come to Germany – one reason is that they would still have to pay the fee, the other is that – at least during grad studies – a lot of U.S. students work full time and do not want to give up their jobs. So all in all we need to find ways to make studying abroad more attractive for American students – and maybe more affordable for German students. We also should still support exchanges during school or au-pairs etc. as living within a family might create the strongest and longest lasting bonds.
Hi Daniel,
Very interesting post. As an American who did a year abroad in Germany during University I completely agree with the points you make and wholeheartedly agree on the benefits. I was fortunate enough to have universities both in undergrad and during law school who had partnerships with German universities that allowed me to go abroad and for Germans to come to the U.S. That being said I hear that a major sticking point is that it is hard to create such partnerships due to conflicts over who will pay tuition. As you mentioned German students are not generally interested in paying American tuition which leaves the question of who will pick up the tab? I believe that both of the Universities that I attended had an “exchange” program where American students kept paying tuition to their home university when abroad leaving a spot for exactly one foreign student who was effectively being subsidized by the American student’s tuition. However this seems to create a bottleneck and discourages Americans from going abroad. I would be very interested in your ideas on how to alleviate this and provide a more equitable exchange program.