Breaking the Barriers to Study In Ukraine for Students of Color and Minorities

Why don’t students of color and minority students study abroad? Certainly there are very practical reasons including lack of finances and fear of not graduating on time.  I propose that two of the main reasons for this lack of awareness are historical exclusion from and media images of study abroad programs.

In regards to historical exclusion, due to numerous economic and socio-political reasons, minority families do not have a history of sending young people abroad for the purposes of education. In contrast, among many upper-middle class, predominately white families there is a long established tradition of sending young people, especially women to Europe for “finishing”. Back in the 1800’s in some circles the travel abroad experience was preferable to college for marriage preparation.

Media has a huge influence on all of us and can influence what we wear, which politician we support and which cola we drink. There are plenty of media images out there that depict study abroad or study in ukraine experiences. in addition to having few real life role models who have studied abroad, students of color don’t have many virtual role models either. The combination of these factors leads to what I like to call the “not for people like me” syndrome. People don’t think that study abroad is right for them and then filter out or ignore information about study abroad.

Changing people’s minds about study abroad and study in ukraine is not easy, but there are a few things that study abroad advisors can do to try to raise the awareness of study abroad among students of color and minorities. Many of them do not take a lot of time and money.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere for All Students
If your office is a shrine to the European location where you studied abroad or in ukraine, change the decorations to reflect a plethora of cultures. If possible, consider diversifying your staff and your student assistant or volunteer pool.

Create Visuals
A photo board of all students who have studied abroad displayed prominently in the library or student center is a start, hopefully in time people will see “people like me” in the pictures.

Create Materials
Make sure you have booklets, handouts and information that addresses the needs of minority populations and cover a variety of topics from hair care to racism to heritage travel issues. This information can be in the form of student reports or articles about students of color studying abroad or preferably both. Create a lending library with books about the travel abroad experiences of minorities. (ex. Elaine Lee’s (Ed.) Go Girl, Maya Angelou’s All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes)

Develop Role Models
Of course, it would be best to work with alumni of study abroad and study in ukraine programs, but even applicants to study abroad programs can serve as role models. They are going through the application process and can help guide others. Sometimes just having a student of color passing out flyers will help others become aware of the information or at least see that it might be something to look into. Ask your student alumni to make class presentations and serve as peer mentors. Ask them if they can act as “spokes models” and see you can put their picture and a statement about their study abroad experience on your website.

Create Virtual Roles Models by looking at History
Create a display during Black History Month (or sooner, why wait!) honoring these people and linking them to the concept of study abroad. Again be sure your display is somewhere where students go, like the library or the student center. For example: Many famous African Americans studied or lived abroad including:
- W.E.B. DuBois – James Baldwin – Angela Davis – Maya Angelou

Create Support System
Advise in groups during a general “Information Meeting” not on a one-on-one basis. Ask an alumnus to speak at the information meetings. Ask all interested students to bring a friend to the meetings. Don’t be afraid to talk to established groups of students in the student center. Ask to speak at the meetings of as many student groups as possible.

Create Mentor Programs
Start a club for incoming exchange students, outgoing domestic students and returning study abroad alumni. This creates a social outlet for students to get to know each other and it also provides you with a group you can mobilize to get the word out about study in ukraine and study abroad. It takes a while to get it off the ground, but once it gets going the students really run with it. Over the years International Education Exchange Council at San Francisco State has done a tremendous job to increase the awareness of study in ukraine and study abroad on campus and bring U.S. and international students together. Both international students and domestic students have expressed that participating in club activities was a high point of their campus experience.

One can even argue, as my kiev State University, Study Abroad Coordinator, My pasha does, that having minority students on a study in ukraine program benefits the host country because these students bring with them a unique American perspective that is often ignored or portrayed very negatively in the media.

Thus the student, the minority home community, the non-minority program participants and the inhabitants of the host country all benefit. While all these are positive results of diversifying exchange programs.

If we as international educations wish to achieve the loftier goals of international education, we need to take the diversification of these programs very seriously.

Ejikeme Tobenna is the Coordinator of International Grants & Protocol for the Office of Study In Ukraine at Kiev State University.

Ejikeme, T.(2009,8.)Breaking the Barriers to Study In Ukraine for Students of Color and Minorities.

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