News-Letter

Despite the disappointment fostered by the Tours and Villa Spelman liquidations, Hopkins can emerge as a leader in foreign study. I know that this sounds like wishful thinking, but why not look beyond the usual full-semester options, and focus on more flexible summer possibilities? Is there a way to revamp study abroad that is perfectly attuned to Hopkins' present condition? Ultimately, the school will need a new centerpiece program, not simply increased levels of paperwork and a greater roster of third-party offerings.

In confronting the study abroad deficiencies that are finally high among JHU's concerns, the first thing the University should do is focus on administrative change. In the wake of the closure of Tours, on-campus discussion has focused mainly on providing students with more information and better bureaucratic coordination of overseas study in existing venues. Indeed, new administrators and officers will allow the university to provide offerings that are, at the very least, competently organized. Competence, though, is a long way from excellence.

There is a way to turn Hopkins into a study abroad powerhouse; however, before charting any prescription for student travel, we must realize that, while 66 percent of students are enrolled in science and engineering programs, only 20 percent of those who study abroad are from their ranks.

Among the bulk of Hopkins' undergraduate population, there is simply little demand for traditional study abroad options. This partially explains why the Tours decision met little open protest, and why the most vocal opponents of the Villa Spelman closure were humanities graduate students. We need to find a way to democratize study abroad -- not by falling back on a Thomas Friedman-esque preaching of global and cross-cultural awareness, but rather by a commonsense appeal to self-interest.

Of course, pinpointing the University's interests is somewhat tricky. Hopkins appears to be caught in a double bind. On the one hand, recent events have challenged the school to defend its pursuit of "knowledge for the world." On the other, the University has intelligently decided to focus on improvements that are valuable to the Homewood campus, such as the renovation of Gilman Hall. It would be unwise to decentralize the school's resources or divert faculty from its excellent but small-scale liberal-arts programs, especially since the Tours program was eliminated due to a deficit of "appropriate expertise within the school."

Considering all this, I have a modest proposal. Although Hopkins supplies financial aid for the vast majority of conventional study abroad programs, the school does not provide competitive grants that are dedicated solely to supporting independent summer travel and overseas research. But it should. And by combining this funding with a network of overseas institutional contacts, while strongly tying such student travel to Homewood's curriculum, Hopkins might create a novel and academically rigorous flagship program.

While there are already internal funding opportunities for academic and research oriented travel, these grants are generally used for domestic study. By awarding competitive grants for individualized summer travel, Johns Hopkins would work around the rigidities of two-semester engineering and pre-med curricula while creating a hard incentive for science students to go overseas.

But how do we know that recipients wouldn't just take the money and blow it at Key West in one week? First, as has been noted in this paper and elsewhere, Hopkins needs an improved overseas infrastructure. This should not be confined to partner universities, but should include museums, archives, laboratories -- solid links that would aid all levels of Homewood academics. Second, demand results. The university extends independent study courses to all students (yes, even freshmen). Combining a couple of months of graded, faculty-mentored credit with substantial funding for summer travel could ensure academic rigor.

I have never questioned Hopkins' devotion to a truly international education. Yet, at this time, the university needs to rise above a few administrative setbacks and forcefully reassert this hard-earned reputation. Maybe it's time for an overseas experiment of different type.

--Patrick Kennedy is a junior Writing Seminars, history of art and English major from Watchung, N.J.

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