This new publication documents the growth of one of the most vibrant segments of American academic life in recent years — study abroad, or the movement of American students in pursuit of education overseas. Everyone who has examined this phenomenon has been impressed if not startled by its vigor and dynamism.Whereas for decades study abroad was a quiet backwater now it is the crest of a wave.
Even though it is not possible now to specify with confidence the precise magnitude of the growth of study abroad in recent years, few doubt that it has been very great. The obvious question, then, is why this growth? Here for the first time, data are presented to portray the picture accurately and begin the construction of time series that will record the evolution of study abroad through the years to come.