Austin Rettinghouse is not your typical study-abroad student. He’s male. He’s majoring in Japanese, not humanities — the most popular field among students studying abroad. And he’s going to Asia, when more than half of international students go to Western Europe

The Fresno native will take classes at Nagasaki University this coming school year, thanks to the Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship, a program aimed at helping underrepresented students – those with financial need, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities – to study abroad.

The program also encourages applicants to look beyond traditionally popular destinations such as Italy and Australia.

Rettinghouse is one of six CSUMB students to receive Gilman scholarships for the coming year. The competitive program offers grants of up to $8,000 to defray the costs of tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance and airfare. The program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department and administered by the Institute of International Education, awarded more than 860 scholarships to undergraduates for the 2015-16 academic year.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for these students,” said CSUMB’s international programs manager Holly White. “Many of these students would not be able to study abroad without the financial support this program provides.”

The belief that international study better prepares American students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world is central to the vision of CSUMB’s Office of International Programs.

CSUMB isn’t alone in that belief. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, employers say that international experience matters in hiring decisions. Chief executives fret that today’s graduates lack the skills to succeed in a global economy. Even the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, recently called global education a “must-have.”

"In the 21st century," Duncan said, "a quality education is an international education."

Most Gilman scholarships award $5,000. Two CSUMB students received an additional $3,000 supplement awarded to exemplary students studying a language on the government’s critical needs list.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship recipients for next academic year, their majors, travel destinations, and amount of award: