Evidence shows humanities students are more likely to do a study abroad program than STEM students with engineering among the least likely group to study abroad. This is because STEM programs, and especially engineering, have very prescribed course requirements leaving little flexibility for study abroad. 8-12% of science students may study abroad but just 5-8% of engineering students may do that – compared to up to 45% of humanities students.

This has the odd effect of the US exporting humanities graduates and importing STEM and especially engineering graduates – when considering the “pipeline” effect of study abroad and where that often leads to some taking jobs abroad or moving abroad.

This post was written with AI assistance.

U.S. vs. International STEM Students

Pipeline A: U.S. STEM Students

US STEM students are generally unable to do study abroad programs with only single digit percentage participation. In the humanities, 35-45% of students will study abroad. STEM student study abroad opportunities are limited due to prescribed course pathways with limited flexibility.

A side effect is US STEM students have little global experience – and limited outbound migration options to other countries.

Low global exposure → low outbound mobility → low migration rates

• Study abroad participation is extremely low among U.S. STEM majors (engineering ~5–8%, physical sciences ~8–12%).
• STEM curricula are rigid, lab‑based, and sequential, making semesters abroad difficult.
• U.S. STEM students rarely learn a second language in college.
• Outbound migration from the U.S. among STEM graduates is low; most stay in the U.S. labor market.
• Their “global experience” is often limited to:
  • multinational teams
  • online collaboration
  • occasional conferences
  • exposure to international colleagues in U.S. labs
• U.S. STEM graduates are globally connected but not globally mobile.

Pipeline B: International STEM Students

High global exposure → high inbound mobility → high U.S. retention

International STEM students are the inverse:

• They have already migrated once to study in the U.S.
• They typically speak two or more languages.
• They often have stronger math/science preparation from secondary school.
• They are disproportionately from countries with strong STEM pipelines (India, China, South Korea, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, Brazil).
• They are more likely to pursue graduate degrees (MS, PhD), where mobility is even higher.
• Many stay in the U.S. through:
  • OPT (Optional Practical Training) Visa
  • STEM OPT extension
  • H‑1B Visa
  • L-1 Visa
  • TN Visa
  • O-1 Visa
  • employment‑based green card routes

Result:
International STEM graduates are globally mobile and globally experienced—and they disproportionately fill U.S. STEM roles.

The U.S. Imports STEM Global Experience Instead of Producing It

This is the key insight:

The U.S. does not produce globally experienced STEM graduates.

It imports them

• U.S. STEM students → low outbound mobility
• International STEM students → high inbound mobility
• U.S. STEM workforce → heavily composed of people who were trained abroad

This is why:

• U.S. tech companies rely heavily on foreign‑born engineers.
• U.S. universities rely on international PhD students to run labs. Academic institutions have no cap on hiring H-1B visa workers.
• U.S. scientific output is deeply tied to global migration flows.

Meanwhile:

• Humanities/journalism → high outbound mobility
• STEM → high inbound mobility

Who Has Global Experience?

U.S. STEM students

• Usually monolingual
• Limited international exposure
• Rarely study abroad
• Rarely migrate abroad
• Global experience is imported into their environment via colleagues

International STEM students

• Multilingual
• Already globally mobile
• Often have lived in multiple countries
• Comfortable navigating visas, bureaucracy, and cross‑cultural environments
• Bring global networks into U.S. labs and companies

U.S. STEM environments feel globally cosmopolitan even though U.S. STEM students themselves are not.

• The humanities pipeline produces globally mobile Americans who write about Europe: Humanities → outbound mobility → global narratives
• The STEM pipeline produces globally mobile non‑Americans who work in the U.S.: STEM → inbound mobility → global workforce

The U.S. exports humanities students and imports STEM students

The global experience deficit of U.S. STEM students is compensated by the global experience surplus of international STEM migrants.

Thus, the US imports global experience by hiring STEM workers from abroad.