A Study on Experiencing and Development Global Citizenship of College Students – Based on the Experience of Two International Volunteering Groups at Myanmar

[[abstract]]Globalization impacts people in many ways, as it requires the transition to new citizenship which spans the boundaries of nations, culture, race, field, and space. Today, many countries face various “global risks” and need the collaboration of international government organizations, international non-governmental organizations (INGO), and the private efforts of citizens to overcome such problems. Volunteers working for INGO’s achieve great advancements in the area of international affairs. Also, I experienced valuable benefit to being an international volunteer in 2008 at Myanmar. Therefore, the purpose of this research will be to document the accounts of college students who became international volunteers, with information on their overall experience and work as a volunteer, and the overall effect the experience had in developing global citizenship. The methodology is based on qualitative study, and methods included group interview, and documentary analysis to discuss the research of two groups of college students, labeled as groups A and B. In 2008, both groups went to Myanmar Chinese schools for voluntary service. The research revealed that the experience from volunteering abroad can explore, develop, and even transform the characters, ideas, and overall attitude of global citizenship. Through the process of their service, the student volunteers reflect their breaking the limitation of the boundary, while experiencing intercultural diversity, international caring, interfiled partnership, new ideas, and attitude. Consequently, my findings sum up seven results of global citizenship characters through international volunteering as follows: 1. International volunteering can promote the ability of international dialogue while learning to live with different ethnic groups during the experience of international volunteer. 2. International volunteers can enrich and develop international caring and concern through “feel how they feel” and “if I were them”. 3. International volunteer can broaden a volunteer’s international view in “think globally and act locally” while cultivating the open mind of observation and reflection. 4. International volunteering can enhance the ability of international teamwork, communication and interfiled partnership. 5. International volunteering can promote professional capability while developing problem solving skills. 6. International volunteering can provide an extensive chance of youth civic engagement. 7. International volunteering provides a profoundly effective method in developing global citizenship. The findings have implications for those practicing and researching in the field of global citizenship, included the international voluntary training, knowledge of social sciences, trust, and professional capacity of service. Secondly, for those international volunteers, the attitude toward the service should be caring, but not compassion. Finally, for further research should in multiple ways.