Mass. students studying abroad up 5% from prior year, latest data shows

The number of Massachusetts college students studying abroad is steadily inching toward the previous high reached shortly before the pandemic halted much of global travel, according to a recent report from the Institute of International Education.

About 15,100 students attending college in Massachusetts studied abroad in either a short- or long-term program in the 2023-24 school year, the report found. That’s a 5% increase from the year prior, and just shy of the all-time high of 15,300 students from five years back.

“While the numbers may not quite be back to what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, I think there is a real concerted effort among institutions across the country to offer study abroad programs in a variety of destinations and locations,” said Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation and learning at IIE, which puts together an annual snapshot of study abroad trends.

That uptick in Massachusetts mirrors what’s happening nationally, as travel-related impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic recede into the background. Roughly 298,000 U.S. students studied abroad in the 2023-24 school year. That’s up 6% from the year before, but fewer than the 347,000 students five years prior.

Massachusetts ranks fifth in the country as far as sending U.S. students abroad — no surprise given its proliferation of colleges and universities. Top destinations in the last school year for Massachusetts students were the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France and Ireland, in that order, though institutions which sent the most students saw some variation.

At Northeastern University, the state’s leading study abroad institution, students favor Spain, Australia, Italy and the U.K., said school spokesman Dan Sarro.

UMass Amherst students also seek out those countries, though South Korea recently entered the top five, according to university spokeswoman Emily Gest.

“It has consistently been a top performer and in the top 10 destinations,” Gest said of the country, citing a strong Korean language program on campus, affordable pricing and a summer option abroad.

Nationally, nearly two-thirds of U.S. students studying abroad favor Europe, according to the report. But Japan notably became the fifth-most popular study abroad spot in the 2023-2024 school year, said Julie Baer, research and learning lead for IIE.

Denmark, Greece and Portugal also hosted their highest-ever number of U.S. students.

“We certainly have seen a little bit of a shift in terms of where U.S. students are interested in studying abroad,” Baer said.

The IIE counts any program conferring academic credit to a student’s home institution as a study abroad program, whether it’s two weeks or a full academic year. About 62% of students opt for programs lasting 8 weeks or shorter, Baer added.

At Boston University, nearly half of all undergraduates spend a semester abroad, said spokesman Colin Riley. (Nationally, 1 in 10 undergraduates do so). The most popular global spots for BU students include London, Madrid, Paris and Sydney. The most common majors for study-abroad students are business, film and television, international relations, psychology and economics, he added.

“Because there are so many study abroad programs, BU students have lots of options no matter their major,” Riley said. Nationally, the most popular fields are business and the social sciences.

The number of U.S. students studying abroad has consistently risen since IIE started tracking this statistic in 1985. The only exceptions were during the 2008 financial crisis — when the total number fell by 0.8% — and during the COVID pandemic, when the number careened downward by 91% to just 14,500 U.S. students studying abroad in the 2020-21 academic year.

IIE said its annual study abroad survey lags by a year due to the time it takes to collect data for students receiving academic credit after returning from their study abroad location.

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