The Faculty’s push last year to streamline the “onerous obstacles” that discourage students from studying abroad has resulted in a marked increase in student and departmental interest, officials say.

Departments, House tutors and proctors have begun to take steps to publicize study abroad, and students are taking notice.

But this is only the beginning, says Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs John H. Coatsworth, chair of the Committee on Study Out of Residence.

Coatsworth says the committee hopes to double the number of students studying abroad in the next two to three years. Currently, about 8 percent of each Harvard graduating class has studied abroad.

According to Coatsworth, Harvard students study abroad at alarmingly low rates when compared with other schools, where he estimates 20 to 40 percent of students study abroad.

“If Harvard is to become just as international as any other university,” he says, “numbers need to increase by two to four times.”

Departments have already begun to discuss changing requirements to make it easier to study abroad. The University is also looking to create its own Harvard-run programs abroad, beginning with a pilot effort in Chile this spring.

This new push to internationalize the University began in earnest last spring with a Faculty vote to make it easier for students to study abroad.

Students no longer need to prove that their international experience will provide a “special opportunity” unavailable at Harvard, and they are no longer required to study the country’s language for two years before leaving campus.

Coatsworth says that the Faculty committee wants to “proceed as rapidly as we can [to promote study abroad] while ensuring quality.”

And students say Harvard’s new international focus is having an impact on their priorities.

“The fact that everyone is talking about how it’s now easier made it a viable option in my mind for the first time,” says Rosa P. Wu ’03, who recently decided to spend spring semester in China.

University encouragement has made study abroad “come to the forefront in people’s minds” across campus, Wu says.

A Spirit of Reform

Many departments have taken new steps this year to promote study abroad among their concentrators, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, say administrators and professors.