U.S. Senators Dick Durbin D-Ill. and Norm Coleman R-Minn. introduced legislation to the Senate on Wednesday that would expand the number of students annually studying abroad to 1 million.
During the 2003-04 school year 191,000 undergraduate students studied abroad, and The Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Act of 2006 aims to improve that figure, a press release states.
The Senate moved the bill to its Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, the Library of Congress states.
In an open letter to the President, Durbin wrote “The United States is a military and economic superpower, yet it is continually threatened by a serious lack of international competence in an age of growing globalization.”
“Our lack of awareness is now seen as a national liability,” Durbin wrote.
The University’s Office of International Programs Web site reads that students who study abroad can gain experience, get better jobs, grow personally and learn about making the world a better place. The University offers 110 regular programs and 120 internships in 70 countries for a variety of majors and minors.
-Edward Oser