Peter McGovern is founder & president of EdOdyssey. As the study abroad specialist celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, he told The PIE about the influence of teachers, the sector’s most pressing challenges and why he’s excited about what’s ahead.
Introducing yourself in three words or phrases.
I would describe myself as driven, curious and humble.
How did you get into international education?
During my undergrad, I was studying abroad in Lima and my previous high school was bringing students to Peru and contracted me to design a study abroad program for them. I was the translator, ran it, and for me, that was really special. It was at the end of my study abroad experience, and I was able to build an itinerary with a lot of local friends and connections I had made.
That was probably my first foray into international education, although I didn’t know it. Then after graduation, I ended up as a world language teacher, then I was the head of international students at a high school, and then eventually got to EdOdyssey
How did EdOdyssey start?
Travel had such a huge impact on my life and I wanted to share that with my students, but I didn’t want to do a bus tour – I thought ‘I can come up with a better option by myself’.
My first program for students went to countries that I knew really well, where I’d lived, worked and studied – China, Peru, Spain.
Other teachers at my school also wanted that kind of thing, and it snowballed. I’ve always been fairly entrepreneurial, and I was doing a couple of these a year, and so 10 years ago this summer I founded EdOdyssey and it’s grown since.
Where does that affinity you have with China, Peru and Spain come from originally?
The high school I attended was really focused on global learning, and I was fortunate to travel quite a bit. Every time I had this incredible special experience abroad, I wanted to do it again.
I went to Peru in high school, and my Spanish teacher at the time had studied there. As a 15/16 year old, I was like, ‘whoa, my teacher from Maine, he’s speaking Spanish, he knows people there. This is so cool’.
Going into college, I knew a priority of mine was studying abroad and a big draw for me to Holy Cross is that they prioritise a full year abroad and as an undergrad I studied in Peru.
Later as head of international students in a high school, and we had a lot of Chinese speaking students so was really important for me to understand them so I spent a lot of time in China studying Mandarin.
I’ve co-founded a couple organisations that do a lot of work in China, have a lot of professional and personal friends [there]. And then in Spain, I did my master’s in Madrid.
Those are kind of three of my homes abroad, where I spent a lot of time and have built personal and professional connections.
Getting to know people and immersing myself authentically locally is really a core tenet of how we approach programming at EdOdyssey. So we’ve grown by fostering really special, authentic and intimate personal relationships in a dozen countries where we work.
What do you like most about your job?
My role over the last decade has changed constantly. I started as one person and today as a CEO of a growing team, I love being able to work with my colleagues. I am surrounded with some of the best in the field, guiding the different arms of EdOdyssey, so that’s a lot of fun.
I have so many great friends and colleagues in the field and what really unites us is that it’s mission driven.
No one seems to just stumble into international education, we all seem to be here because we want to be here and have been impacted by global education and travel in some ways. And I think having that purpose unites us through the challenges and highlights a lot of the work we do.
What are the challenges?
From institution to institution, and from country to country on a worldwide scale, there’s varying degrees of investment in travel and high impact learning as part of education. That can make access really challenging.
Another big thing is navigating the geopolitical situations. It’s part of our field, but sometimes it seems like with technology and advancements, some of these things move even faster. The dynamic change that we have to respond to is constant.
Interesting trends?
I see a lot to be excited about. Student numbers are growing. Colleges are doing more innovative things. Providers are playing a really exciting role to make study abroad more accessible, safe, organisationally streamlined.
One trend I’m seeing is a growing investment and focus on the first year, the entry point to undergraduate, particularly connected to study abroad, global or even domestic first-year experience programs.
Those courses are helping students discover themselves, different cultures and the power of the place around them, while also supporting that really big social, emotional, academic, personal transition to higher education from secondary.
How can you successfully promote study abroad to students?
We do a lot of work in secondary, middle and high school students, and have even worked with some primary students in our history.
“In the college and university area, a lot of students aren’t even familiar with what study abroad means”
Getting to engage with students at a younger age, I think is really powerful. It makes them understand study abroad is possible and also something that’s really fun, educational and eye opening.
In the college and university area, a lot of students aren’t even familiar with what study abroad means.
Having universities prioritise from the top high impact learning and study abroad is, like there’s tons of data supporting this, a huge positive win win.
They’re putting investments into this global education, and they’re seeing all of these wins for them, for retention, for admissions, for the students, for learning outcomes. And so I think universities prioritising more of this is going to be really important for the sector and it’s going to grow student interest, and hopefully also expand access because that’s definitely the biggest challenge right now, specifically financial access because it’s so expensive to travel.
How do you get university leadership to listen to that argument when they might be strapped for cash?
I think there is cash and it’s about prioritising how it’s being spent. A university that we’re working with spends about $200,000 in admin costs each fall as an investment in their freshman cohort that goes abroad.
Over the last four to six years, they calculate they’ve generated $6 million in tuition revenues because they’re attracting more competitive admission pools, and they’re retaining students at the highest level ever.
We shouldn’t think about study abroad like a cost, but as an investment in part of the structure of undergrad that can shift access – it should be thought of as part of running a successful undergrad experience.
The pandemic was a tough time to be a CEO of a study abroad organisation – there were some low level moments. But I have been so energised by what I’ve seen in the field and what I’ve seen at my own company in the past two years. I think we’re doing really good work together and are going to continue to impact the world in a positive way.
Study abroad and more authentic travel and engagement is good for students and good for the world. And I’m excited about what’s ahead.
