"Despite the rhetoric that focus attention on students' encounter with "the other" and the subsequent increase in cultural competency and understanding, in actuality students' primary encounter during the study abroad experience is with themselves as national and global actors." Dolby

Both Slimback and Dolby use similar arguments to make different points: they stress the importance of cross-cultural encounters to promote personal growth and awareness. They differ, though, with the aftermath of the experience: what is the "final product" of this experience? The short and long term influences?

Slimback argues that study abroad experiences increase an individual's perception of him/herself as a citizen of the world, with a deeper connection with the common humanity that we all share, disregarding territorial boundaries. He claims "(…) take up-close and-personal encounters with those of other social worlds to instruct us about our common humanity and our deepest differences" Slimback

Dolby's approach concluded a more internal analyses, an identity. Seeing and experiencing cultural differences inspire people to inquire about their own culture and why we are the way we are. It promotes the development of a citizen, part of a limited community.