Three-quarters of the class of 2009 studied abroad while attending college, and an average 70 percent of students in the past 10 years have studied abroad, giving Austin College the highest percentage of study abroad participation among liberal arts colleges, as reported by the Institute of International Education.

Austin College students have furthered their educations on the North and South American continents, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia in the 2009-2010 school year. In January alone, students visited 25 countries on five continents -- all except Australia and Antarctica. Austin College biology professor George Diggs covered the coldest continent with a sabbatical trip to Antarctica, where he created videos of penguins, leopard seals and humpback whales, and photos of animals and a small tuft grass he saw on the Antarctic peninsula.

During January, students also visited the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand and Hawaii, as well as New Mexico, Washington, D.C. and New York City.

The January Term courses are not tourist excursions. The travel has specific goals and related activities. Courses from this January included "War in the Heart of Europe: World War II," which took students to various battlefields and important cities in reference to the war; "Social Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa;" and "Peru, Ecuador, Galapagos: Explorations of the Natural World from Scientific and Cultural Perspectives."