Fears of terrorism might have caused the cancellation of several recent flights to the United States, but they do not appear to be deterring Northwestern students from international travel.

William Anthony, director of NU’s study abroad office, said 406 students applied to study abroad for next Fall Quarter and for the entire upcoming academic year. He estimates this will lead to a 10 to 12 percent increase from last fall in the number of students studying abroad.

The increase includes a rise in the number of applicants from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Last Fall Quarter only nine of the 335 students who studied abroad were in McCormick. This year, 26 McCormick students have applied to study abroad.

Anthony attributed this increase to a new awareness of study-abroad opportunities among McCormick students. Brian Patton, a McCormick freshman who said he hopes to study abroad in Switzerland his junior year, echoed this opinion.

“As (studying abroad) becomes more widespread, we have better opportunities to learn about it and know people who went on it,” Patton said. “We try to do it ourselves because we know the possibilities are there.”

The overall rise in study-abroad applicants follows a period last spring when students were hesitant to travel overseas because of the sever acute respiratory syndrome epidemic and the pending invasion of Iraq, Anthony said.

“It’s hard to gauge the impact on group psychology of a pending war, but one tends to stay home,” said Anthony, noting that the decline in applications for summer programs forced some to be canceled. He said summer programs were particularly affected because their application deadlines were close to the start of the war.

This year 76 students have applied for NU’s summer study-abroad program. Anthony said he does not know if any of the programs will be canceled but said “they look pretty solid.”

As the situation in Iraq became less severe, student interest in study abroad increased, said Bill Murphy, academic director of the Mali, Africa, study abroad program.

“Paradoxically, the students became more interested (in study abroad) because of all the events in the international arena,” Murphy said. “They are more interested in having a part in the wider global world of ours.”

This mirrors national trends, said Lori Saunce, marketing manager for Educational Directories Unlimited, Inc. The organization is the parent company of StudyAbroad.com, a directory of national study-abroad programs.

Saunce said students showed more interest in Arabic-language programs during the beginning of the war in Iraq because the government expressed a need for translators.

In spite of this, the majority of NU applications for study abroad were not for Arabic-speaking countries but for destinations in Spain, France and England.

Julie Gamble, a Weinberg sophomore, said she applied to study abroad in France both to further her French skills and to gain an international perspective on current events.

“I want to learn a different culture outside of American (culture),” Gamble said. “I want to experience new things.”