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Green dots represent Education Abroad Enrollments. 

Green dots represent Education Abroad Enrollments. 

Spain most popular for UNM study-abroad programs

This story was corrected and updated on Oct. 28

Spain is the most popular country for UNM students to study abroad, according to data from the University’s Global Education Office. Mexico is second with a large number of faculty-led programs, and the United Kingdom is third.

One of the many things college students are invited to do during their time in school is study abroad. However, there are various factors to consider before making a final decision such as finances, what type of program to do, credit transfers and, most importantly, where to go.

With the rise of globalization, especially in the job market, international jobs are becoming increasingly popular. This makes being bilingual or having international experience, such as studying abroad, invaluable. Overall across the United States and at UNM, study abroad enrollment is on the rise.

UNM Study Abroad Advisor Annette Mares-Duran said that studying abroad pays off in the long run, when individuals are settled into their careers after UNM.

“That is what students are looking for now, whether they are going to be in business or engineering or anything,” she said.

The cities of Madrid and Granada are the most popular Spanish destinations, according to data from the Global Education Office, with over 70 UNM students visiting each locale over the last four years.

Spanish is the fastest growing non-English language in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. With the number of Spanish-speaking Americans expected to rise over the next decade, speaking and understanding Spanish would be a career advantage.

That’s played into the popularity of Spain as a study abroad destination, as it offers Spanish intensive language programs in its curriculum. These programs allow students to go and study with little to no knowledge of the language.

Mares-Duran says being bilingual is an increasingly valuable asset for those looking for a job. It That skill bodes especially well for students who “see themselves in a leadership position in any field in the future.”

David Wright, associate director of education abroad at UNM, said that there is even more value in being able to examine different concepts and issues through the lenses of other cultures.

“You can take a lot of what you’ve learned at UNM and, through the experience of studying abroad, you can develop different ways of looking at that from the perspective of the host’s culture,” he said.

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Wright said that type of critical thinking is being increasingly sought after in today’s increasingly globalized society.

He said that the number of UNM students studying abroad has risen dramatically in recent years. That trend that has cemented itself in the fact that the University projects to, for the first time, send 1,000 student abroad in the next year, according to Wright.

“This is just something that’s really taking off,” he said.

Ashley Neighbor is a student at the Communications and Journalism Department. Daily Lobo News Editor David Lynch contributed reporting to this story.

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