Study Abroad in Western Europe: A Bibliography

Abstract

Over the past years study abroad has become a topic of heightened public interest in Western Europe. Political efforts have been made at the national level as well as in a multinational context, notably under the aegis of the European Community and the Council of Europe, to encourage the mobility of students in higher education. These efforts have followed the conviction that study abroad should not only be a means of personal and cultural enrichment for the individuals involved, but an instrument for improving the quality of higher education as well. abroad has increasingly been advocated as a salient element of a higher education curriculum which has to confront the needs of a society and a professional world, both of which are characterised by growing international interdependence and cooperation. This educational and political concern about study abroad in Western Europe has so far not been matched by a systematic and comprehensive scientific interest in the topic. Most of the literature on study abroad is relatively dispersed and not always easy to trace. This observation explains why it has not been possible for us to present to date an exhaustive and complete list of the relevant literature. We are nevertheless convinced that the present bibliography should be a useful instrument to prepare the ground for further research. The impetus to document literature on study abroad in Western Europe arose from research activities carried out within the framework of the Study Abroad Evaluation Project, an evaluation of 116 study abroad programmes, offered by higher education institutions in France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. This project is indeed the first major analysis of its kind, based on empirical data gathered in a multinational comparative context. Several smaller publications have been issued from the project so far [1], and the final report, which will be published in two parts, is scheduled for 1987/88. The current bibliography covers study abroad in Western Europe, comprising publications which focus on educational, political and psychological aspects of an individual or a group arrangement for a West European student to spend an entire degree course or part of it at a higher education institution in another country. Literature on other topics such as academic recognition and international higher education cooperation, is also included in cases where such literature is of direct relevance to study abroad. As a rule, literature on foreign students has not been included, as this is a subject which has so far been of far broader scientific interest in Western Europe and as a consequence has been somewhat more systematically documented than study abroad. Much of the literature on foreign students is not pertinent to our focus as it deals in general with educational, sociological, psychologi-