As a new academic year gets off the ground, it s interesting to read some of the trends and highlights of faculty-led programs in Asia from Asia Institute s Short-Term Programs Report.
The Asia Institute is a program provider for faculty-led courses in Asia, and this report lists findings from their annual survey. The report describes itself as 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.
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.
Other Key Findings:
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 set up their short-term program.