2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Characterizing Chemical Engineering Students’ Decisions with the Push-Pull Model of Study Abroad Choice

Presented at International Division (INTL) Technical Session #5: Best Practices

Effective cross-cultural communication is a crucial skill for engineering students as they enter increasingly international workplaces. One way students can advance this skill is through studying abroad, which can also help students gain new perspectives, resourcefulness, and creativity. Understanding students’ reasoning when selecting a study abroad program can be valuable for institutions as they design international programs. In this study, we compared students’ reasoning for program choice in Virginia Tech's chemical engineering unit operations lab, where undergraduate students are required to enroll in a summer lab course and can choose between taking the class in Virginia, directly enrolling at the Technical University of Denmark, or participating in an exchange program at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Five to seven students in each of the three tracks were interviewed about their experiences and decision-making process for choosing a track. Using Mazzarol and Soutar's (2002) theoretical framework of the push-pull model of international exchange choices, we qualitatively analyzed the answers for the push factors. Push factors in their decisions are the motivations that drive the decision to study abroad, including what the student hopes to gain from the experience. This study applies this framework to a unique context. Results of this study can inform U.S. institutions about what students value when making study abroad choices. This information can be used to improve programs based on student insights and can be helpful when deciding which aspects to highlight in advertising.

Authors

Andrea Schuman Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Dr. Homero Murzi http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-3849-2947 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University [biography]

Dr. Homero Murzi (he/él/his) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Homero is the leader of the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab where he leads a team focused on doing research on contemporary, culturally relevant, and inclusive pedagogical practices, emotions in engineering, competency development, and understanding the experiences of traditionally marginalized engineering students from an asset-based perspective. Homero’s goal is to develop engineering education practices that value the capital that traditionally marginalized students, bring into the field, and to train graduate students and faculty members with the tool to promote effective and inclusive learning environments and mentorship practices. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs Teaching Scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow, a Global Perspectives Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and was inducted into the Bouchet Honor Society. Homero serves as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chair for the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI), the Program Chair for the ASEE Faculty Development Division, and the Vice Chair for the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN).
Miss Alaa Abdalla http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7983-1752 Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Education [biography]

Alaa Abdalla is a first year PhD student in Engineering Education with a background in Mechanical Engineering. Her primary research interests are cultural factors in engineering learning, assessment methods, and design of learning environments. Her ultima

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