Record Number of Harvey Mudd Students Study Abroad in Spring 2020

Forty-three Harvey Mudd College students are studying abroad during spring semester this year, the largest group to participate in study abroad in the College's history. Students are studying in Britain, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Spain. This group of 43 students is also the most ethnically diverse in the College's history and represents a wide range of majors including biology, computer science, engineering, math and physics.

Nationally, students majoring in STEM are less likely to participate in study abroad programs during their college years than students in other majors. STEM students often have a harder time fitting a semester abroad into academic requirements that are tightly sequenced. STEM students also have fewer science and engineering-related programs to choose from and can have more difficulty obtaining credit at their home institution for STEM courses taken abroad due to differences in course material covered.

Harvey Mudd's Office of Study Abroad has been working to increase the opportunities and overcome the challenges for STEM students to participate in study abroad programs. In the early 2000s, only 5% percent of the College's junior class participated in study abroad programs; now the College regularly sends between 15 to 18% of the junior class abroad. This year's record number represents 22% of the junior class.