Work in progress - Development of intercultural sensitivity from study abroad programs

Study abroad programs offer enormous potential to develop graduates who have the ability to function effectively in intercultural contexts. Programs less than a semester in duration are becoming more common and may enable more engineering students to participate. This Work in Progress describes a qualitative, exploratory study of ways in which engineering students describe their cross-cultural experiences in a variety of shorter-term, experiential study abroad programs. The extent to which student characteristics and program design factors may affect development of intercultural sensitivity will also be investigated.