Study abroad at Macalester College means both high academic performance and an acute awareness of diversity that is uniquely fostered by international experience. It enhances education in the liberal arts by engaging well prepared students in rigorous and stimulating learning experiences in a variety of countries outside the United States. Study abroad enables students to encounter foreign cultures through contact with faculty, students and the general public of the host country, and, in societies where the native language is not English, provides them with a useful and consciousness-expanding proficiency in a second language.

Since 1999, Macalester has sent students to more than 70 countries, using over 110 programs, and to approximately 8 domestic study away sites within the US. Using the national statistical methodology recommended by the Institute of International Education (IIE) for comparative purposes in determining level of off-campus study across U.S. colleges and universities, Macalester sends approximately 65-75% of its students on off-campus study in any given year, depending somewhat on how many students elect summer and January study programs. As a rule, over 80% of our study away participants are off-campus for at least one full semester.

Through study abroad and, upon returning home, through participation in international courses and out-of-class forums, Macalester students are expected to reflect on and evaluate their learning about foreign countries. They are encouraged to develop a sense of global citizenship and to gain the knowledge required for transnational understanding and leadership.