Come September, Pittsburghers will get a vivid reminder of how small the world has become. But if we're not careful, we can still get lost in it.

Think about it: The G-20, which will meet at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Sept. 24-25, is barely 10 years old. It would have been virtually unthinkable a generation ago that the leaders of nations such as Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and India would sit down at the same table as the president of the United States to set global economic policy.

The United States produces 30 percent of the world's economic output, a commanding figure considering we represent less than 5 percent of the world's population. But that's down from the 46 percent of the world's economic output we produced at the end of World War II. Half the world's middle class resides in the developing world, nations -- like several G-20 members -- we once referred to patronizingly as the Third World but which now represent the fastest growing financial and consumer markets.

That is the world into which students at Robert Morris University and other colleges and universities graduated this past spring. And I'm sorry to say that in one respect collectively we have not done a good job preparing our students for this new global economic reality.

I'm talking about the abysmally low number of students who spend time studying overseas. Only 1.4 percent of American college students participate in study abroad programs each year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Pennsylvania has one of the highest study abroad rates, but with only 2.2 percent of the state's students studying overseas, we have little reason to brag.

Employers are increasingly looking for workers with international expertise and language skills because they know it makes their organizations far more competitive in the marketplace. According to a 2001 study published in the Academy of Management Journal, corporations with CEOs who have had international assignments outperform companies whose leaders lack this experience.

The Committee for Economic Development, a business advocacy organization, estimates that U.S. corporations lose $2 billion a year because of inadequate international expertise. In a 2006 report, the organization ticked off several examples of costly and embarrassing cross-cultural blunders by no less than Microsoft, including a translation error in a Latin American version of Windows XP that offended women; inadvertently placing the disputed Kashmir region outside of India in a time zone map in Windows 95; and a video game banned in Saudi Arabia because it included chanting of the Koran as a soundtrack for violent scenes.

Aside from boosting America's economic competiveness, increasing the number of students who study abroad can be an important component of U.S. national security policy. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, higher education officials pleaded with lawmakers not to seal off American colleges and universities from international students. Bringing international students to the United States is a great form of public diplomacy, allowing citizens of other nations to experience the best this country has to offer and to gain an appreciation for our values.

For the same reason, we need to encourage more American students to spend time studying abroad. The vast majority of our students will convey a positive impression of the United States to the people they meet overseas. And the experience will better prepare a future generation of American leaders to work collaboratively with their counterparts around the world.

Given the rising costs of higher education, it may seem galling for a university president to suggest that students reach even deeper into their pockets to pay for what was once regarded as an indulgence. The onus certainly falls on me and my peers at other institutions to make study abroad affordable for as many students as possible.

One way to do this is through tuition exchange agreements with international universities. These allow students from an American institution to study at an overseas university for the same tuition they pay in the United States, and vice versa. RMU has such agreements with universities in 11 nations, including China, Israel, Turkey and Ireland -- and we certainly are not alone in this regard. In some cases scholarships are available to fund study abroad trips.

We also need to give our students as many study-abroad options as possible. Students don't have to spend an entire semester or year overseas to reap the benefits of international experience. Studies conducted by the University of Delaware and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities show that short-term study abroad trips, as little as two weeks overseas, can improve students' international expertise. Like RMU, many institutions offer these kinds of trips.

The point is that no student, or their parents, should assume that they can't afford to study abroad. It's a small investment that will yield tremendous returns, not only for our young people but for our nation.