Examining Students’ Perceptions of Globalization and Study Abroad Programs at HBCUs

The objective in this paper is to explore students’ perceptions of globalization and study abroad programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Recent statistics reveal that in spite of the current growth in the number of US students receiving academic credit for their overseas academic experience, less than one percent of undergraduate minority students participate in a study abroad program during their degree program. The analysis is based on survey questionnaires administered to 263 undergraduate minority students at Alabama A&M University. The questionnaire contained questions related to respondents’ demographic characteristics and likert-scale questions pertaining to students’ perceptions of globalization and studying abroad programs. The data are analyzed using factor analysis and binary logistic regression. The results of the regression model suggest that while a number of variables such as major and classification are found to have statistically significant relationships towards globalization, demographic variables and information source variables are not good indicators of student perceptions of globalization. One interesting findings is that with a global mindset, business students seem to be more favorably inclined toward globalization than non-business students.